Social distancing may discourage a run out to the mall for beauty products, but your pantry is a great source for natural cosmetic staples. Dive into the cupboard and come up with essentials for beauty rituals to relax and enhance you. Get creative with ingredients that you probably already have on hand. Soak away your stress with a green tea poultice. Whip up an ooey-gooey banana face mask to soften skin. You don’t have to leave home to feel soothed and look delicious.
Ditch the Botox for Bananas
Got bananas? Then who needs Botox? You can make a soothing face mask with a ripe banana. Moisturize and soften your skin by mashing a ripe medium banana into a smooth paste and applying it to your face and neck. Leave the mask on for 10 to 20 minutes, then rinse it off with water. You can also make a natural acne remedy with a medium banana, 2 tablespoons honey and 1/4 cup plain yogurt.
Naturally Nourishing Hair Mask
Make a hair mask by combining four tablespoons of olive oil with four tablespoons of honey. Olive oil will nourish both the scalp and hair, while honey is a natural humectant.
Apply this mixture to your hair from the roots down to the ends. If your hair is long enough, put it up in a bun. This will keep messy goo out of your face and enhance saturation of your hair. Leave on hair for 20 minutes before shampooing it out.
Exfoliate with DIY Poultice
Exfoliate and soften rough skin on elbows and heels and gently massage tired, sore muscles with a soothing soak in a warm tub and a DIY poultice. Fill a muslin bag with green tea leaves, rice and Epsom salts. Tie the end and toss in your bath.
Smooth Hair with Chamomile
Douse your hair with a chamomile tea rinse after shampooing. Make an aromatic rinse by brewing a pot of chamomile tea
and allowing it to cool down to a lukewarm temperature. Pour into a water bottle. Your hair will be smooth and smelling gorgeous.
Try a Dry Moisturizer
Jojoba oil is a dry oil that absorbs quickly to hydrate both face and body. Although jojoba oil is called an oil, it is actually a polyunsaturated plant wax that’s liquid at room temperature. It not a vegetable oil, and it has a very long shelf life, which makes it good for cosmetic products.
Use jojoba oil on its own or combine about 1.5 ounces with a few drops of rose or orange-blossom essential oils or coconut oil. You can make a wonderful aromatic natural moisturizer by pressing some whole scented flowers such as orange blossoms or jasmine into a jar of coconut oil and leaving for a few days until the coconut oil absorbs the scent. Then discard the flowers.
Make Your Own Lip Balm
Admittedly, you may not have a stash of beeswax pellets in your cupboard, but you can still buy them (unlike hand sanitizer) on Amazon. Mix beeswax pellets with sunflower oil or softened coconut oil. To make the consistency easier to spread, add a drop or two of rosewater. For a lovely scent, add a drop of peppermint oil.
This balm also can be used to sooth a cooking burn or a sunburn. Mix aloe with beeswax and sunflower oil. Add in one or two drops of rosewater if desired.