Saturday, February 28, 2009

Homemade Beauty Recipes Made from All Natural Products

By Marilyn Etzel

Who said that beauty couldn't be easy and inexpensive? The traditional trend is that the more expensive it is the better it must be. Nonsense. Create your own beauty at home.

Beauty products can claim that they are organic or natural on the bottles but be not totally truthful. The actual natural products can comprise a small part of the cream, oil, or shampoo. The fillers and other preservatives could be irritating to even the healthiest of faces.

Here are a few facts. Cosmetic products begin in the lab as chemical formulas. This is the same way that medicines begin. The use of natural ingredients for medicines and cosmetics goes back centuries to ancient civilizations. Today, cosmetic companies believe they are going one better when they add artificial ingredients to achieve the same result. Unnatural additions can bother your skin when applied.

If you'd rather get back to basics, here are a few natural beauty ingredients you may have lying around your kitchen right now. When picking out fruits, vegetables, herbs, or plants for creating your own beauty products look for those that were grown without pesticides or other harmful chemicals.

1. Lemons - Lemons have been a well kept beauty secret. Lemon juice is a natural astringent. Cut a lemon in half and rub on your face to remove excess oil and to help lighten dark spots. Reduce lemons and water to create a lemon hair spray.

2. Roses - Red, white, yellow, or pink, they are all fragrant and beautiful. Rose petals are soft and, when added to a hot bath, transfer that fragrance to your body. Create your own rose water by steeping roses and adding coconut milk.

3. Strawberries - We all hate how strawberry seeds get in our teeth and bridgework. But, those seeds are good for more than being a nuisance. Use those small seeds as an exfoliant for your body and face. Combine strawberries with coarse salt crystals and some olive oil to create an exfoliating scrub.

4. Bananas - Bananas contain potassium which is naturally found in the body as an electrolyte and maintains the water balance in the body. Crush a few ripe bananas and mix with yogurt and egg white for a facial beauty mask.

5. Honey - Honey contains antibacterial properties for a healthy body. Those properties can be transferred to the skin with a honey facial mask. For dry skin, mix some natural honey with cooked oatmeal. Oily skin requires an astringent like vinegar in combination with the honey. Splash your face with warm water to open pores and then apply the mask.

Get back to nature by putting together your own beauty treatments from plants and other ingredients that are not harmful to the body and contain no fillers or preservatives. You might have to mix up your favorite moisturizer or beauty mask once every two weeks or so but that's a small price to pay for natural beauty. - 15252

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