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Face The Lockdown With These Soothing Face Masks
While shops, schools and institutions lockdown, and you are forced to socially distance yourself, it doesn’t mean you have to cut down on your self-wellness! In fact, you can turn these extra alone hours into some quality time with yourself. We’ve gathered some easy and effective recipes for homemade face masks and other simple treatments, that will certainly make your skin (and you) feel more relaxed.
Prepare a face mask of your choosing from the recipes below – make sure all ingredients are organic for added benefit!
The Green One
Or actually it is a purple face mask, because it contains magical blueberries! Antioxidants from the blueberries protect the skin from cellular damage, and have vitamin C in them, which strengthens blood vessels – pretty awesome what those cute blueberries can do, other than making our face purple, right? This mask is also great if you have dry skin, as it has moisturising and softening effects.
Mix ½ cucumber, ½ soft avocado, some yoghurt and a few blueberries together, then, add some oats until the ingredients thicken to a paste. Put the mask on evenly across you face, and leave it on for 15 minutes, but rinsing off.
The Pink One
This face mask makes your skin glow! It is made out of strawberries and honey, which both contain AHAs as their magic ingredient. AHAs have a peeling effect on the surface of your skin, which makes room for new, more evenly pigmented, skin cells, and also reduces clogged pores. Let nature do its thing with this mask!
Mash 3-4 strawberries (depending on their size) in a small bowl, and stir together with some honey – add enough honey until the mixture turns into a smooth paste. Keep this mask on for 10 minutes, and then rinse off.
The Beige One
A special shout out to our vegan stay-homers for this one! To make this skin-glow mask, mix coffee grounds, coconut oil, cocoa powder and oats together – one teaspoon of each. The coffee grounds works great as a natural exfoliator, removing dead skin cells and increasing blood flow to your skin. The mineral rich cocoa has antioxidant properties and also boosts blood flow, while the oatmeal works as an anti-inflammatory and moisturises as well as gently exfoliates your skin. Let the mask sit for 5 minutes before rinsing off.
The Yellow One
Last but not least, we have this goodie for those with oily skin. Mash 1 banana in a bowl, then add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and one tablespoon of virgin olive oil, and mix into a paste. The banana moisturises and softens your skin, while the lemon juice tightens large pores and reduces the your skin’s oil production! Leave this one on for 15 minutes.
Face Steam
Before you get started on the actual face mask, it is important to prepare your face. You can do this by washing removing any makeup and washing your face gently, then follow with a face steam.
Boil two cups of water
Pour the boiled water into a bowl
Add some chamomile or mint tea, or your favourite essential oil, for a little special twist. This is optional, but helps with softening your skin before applying the mask.
Place your head over the bowl with a towel over your head, concentrating the steam near your skin.
Stay under the steam for 5-10 minutes, take some deep breaths in through your nose and enjoy the soothing effects of the steam warming up your face, opening your pores and calming your skin.
Now it’s time to apply the face mask that you prepared! Take your time and massage the preferred mask onto your face and let it sit for the recommended amount of time. When the time is up, wash the mask off with lukewarm water, or better yet, take a nice hot shower! Afterwards it’s a good idea to finish off with a splash of cold water on your face, which will close your pores and give your skin a refreshing feel. And there you have it, all that’s left to do, is enjoy the magic, all-natural workings of your homemade face mask.
Extra Quick Tips
It is important to make sure that you do not use any ingredients which you are allergic to, and if you experience any itching and irritation, wash the mask off immediately. If you have extra sensitive skin, it would be a good idea to use face masks which only include one or two ingredients – natural yoghurt and mashed cucumber would be a great, simple choice here!
If you are in the mood for something simpler than a full-blown face mask spa treatment, you can do a quick icing treatment instead! Icing the skin has the benefits of reducing inflammation and puffiness. It also lessens the appearance of pores, increases product absorption and promotes blood circulation, which makes your skin glow! The only preparation needed is to make ice cubes – Simple as that! To spice it up, you can use green tea or chamomile tea with aloe vera water for the ice cubes. Then, use a shower glove, a cotton pad or a small cloth when you massage the ice cube gently onto your face, making small circles.
We hope you’ll have a lovely quality quarantine time with yourself and these wellness ideas, and we would love it if you would like to share your experience by tagging us on your Instagram stories – we’ll make sure to repost! Sharing is caring and let’s all stay safe, stay home, and have some fun while we are at it.