Installment 2 - It's a homemade extravaganza!

Frugal? Like natural treatments? Good with your hands and a blender? Then you’re just the lady/gent for the job… the job of making your own at-home beauty treatments. For yourself. Because let’s face it, sometimes your usual beauty routine can fall flat, and your skin will need a little boost. So in this installment, I shall be filling you in on some fantastic treatments that are relatively inexpensive, easy to make and will have you glowing anew.

The first treatment is for my beloved sensitive skinned sisters. Let me just say for starters that this treatment is a bit – for lack of a more elegant way of describing it – icky. It contains oatmeal and raw egg. That’s right, raw egg! First, you’ll need to blend a cup or two of uncooked oatmeal into an ultra fine powder, then mix it thoroughly with an egg yolk, and voila! A moistening, soothing facial mask. Leave it on for 15 minutes to a half hour, rinse with warm water, and then give yourself a splash or two of cold water.

The next category is apple cider vinegar. All right, so not exactly the same theme as above, but this stuff does everything. While you’re using it for beauty, you can also remove hard water from your fixtures, disinfect your kitchen counters and keep your chickens from pec… well, I’ve gotten way ahead of myself here. Instead of extolling all of the virtues of apple cider vinegar, I’ll just give you two recipes for two different treatments.

1. Hair. First, find either a very basic conditioner without a lot of junk already in it; OR, three or four tablespoons of pure olive oil. Mix in a teaspoon or two of vitamin E, and ¼ cup of vinegar. You may need to add more or less depending on how much hair you have to work with, so go ahead and experiment. Rub this into your hair thoroughly and let it sit for an hour or so. Now rinse your hair out really well. If you have to, give it a wash with a moisturizing shampoo, then condition as you normally would. This treatment does a few things at once; 1. It makes your hair shiny and soft, and 2. It can help relieve a dry, itchy scalp.

2. Face. Apple cider vinegar is a light acid. This being said, it can help reduce oiliness, exfoliate and aid in both the cure and prevention of breakouts. For a mask that is simultaneously moisturizing and cleansing, mix one tablespoon vinegar with one teaspoon olive oil. Add a dash or two of flour to give it a bit of thickness; slather it on and let it sit for roughly ten to fifteen minutes, then rinse clean. You could also try just slapping on a bit of raw vinegar and leave it over night to help clean and tone skin.

Finally, let us discuss hair. You likely have it; most of us do. There’s probably a good chance you’ve done awful, horrible, agonizing things to it; again, most of us have. And even if not, everyone’s hair could use a moisture boost now and then. So for this purpose, let us look at a wild, delicious smelling concoction; the protein conditioner. Mix one or two eggs (depending on amount of hair) with ¼ cup coconut milk, and half a heavily mashed banana. Slather it into your hair – which you would be wise to cover with a shower cap – and let sit for an hour or more. Rinse, rinse, rinse!

So this concludes our adventures in homemade beauty! Next on our agenda… how to lighten up!