Homemade Facial Masks: Who Needs the Spa?

The facial mask is an essential of any good skin care routine, and there are facial masks to remedy any number of skin problems. Exfoliating, moisturizing, pore tightening, soothing, and toning can all be accomplished with different facial masks, but what you may not know is that you don't have to spend a lot of money on commercially produced facial masks.

You can give both your skin and your budget a treat by using some tried-and true recipes to create your own facial masks at home!

You may be surprised to learn that many of the ingredients for home-made facial masks are probably already sitting in your kitchen. But before you begin preparing one, you should take the time to analyze your skin because you want to use only those ingredients in your mask which will correct your skin problems.

For dry skin, you'll want a moisturizing mask; for oily skin, you'll want an oil absorbing and pH balancing mask.

Whatever your skin condition, it is very refreshing for the body and soul to sit back and relax with a facial mask that will pamper you and your skin. After all, when your skin feels refreshed and clean, you feel better overall as well!

You can either try the following recipes, or do a bit of research and come up with your own. There are hundreds of other online recipes for facial masks, so you will certainly not run short of inspiration!

Purifying Clay Face Mask

Regardless of your skin type, a clay face mask will do a great job of purifying your complexion.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp aloe vera gel
4 drops rose essential oil
2 tbsp rosewater
3 tsp green clay

These ingredients, though they sound exotic are usually available from beauty and health food shops.

Thoroughly mix the ingredients, then apply thinly to your face and allow setting until dry (usually about fifteen minutes). Remove gently with warm water, and finish with an application of good moisturizer. You can make more of this mask than you need for a single application and refrigerate the remainder for as long as thirty days.

Banana Face Mask

If you aren't crazy about banana bread, but don't know what to do with those extra-ripe bananas, this is a terrific face mask for oily skin. You can even freeze the bananas and thaw them when you are ready to proceed.

Ingredients:

Three drops lemon juice (concentrate is as good as fresh)
1 Tbsp honey
1 banana

Puree the banana in a blender; add the honey and blend again. Then add the lemon juice. Apply to your face for twenty minutes, then ruse a cool water rinse and washcloth to remove.

Soothing Yogurt Face Mask

While this mask will work with all skin types, the cooling properties of the yogurt make it especially good for dry or sunburned skin.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unflavored, full-fat (this is important) room-temperature yogurt (use a brand with no artificial chemicals)
2 tsp soft honey

Mix the yogurt and honey, apply, and let sit for twenty minutes. Remove with a washcloth dipped in hot water. You can adapt this recipe for oily skin by adding two or three drops of lemon juice.

In addition to these masks here, using one with paw paw is also great, as the papain ingredient in payaya helps to break up the surface dead skin cell layer to refreshens the skin and to reveal the younger looking skin just below.

These are just three of the hundreds of facial mask recipes which you can find online, and all of the recipes will let you care for your skin with completely fresh, natural, and affordable ingredients. Your face will think it's had a day at the spa!

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