HELLO OCTOBER! I wanted to start off this month with an exciting new post! Well...this is actually quite old content but I still use this recipe and I find it works amazingly well. I thought you, my readers, would enjoy seeing this especially if you haven't seen it before! SO HAPPY OCTOBER ~ (This is my favorite month and Halloween is my favorite holiday so I am excited).
Lolitas are suppose to have the image of perfect skin just as a porcelain doll would have flawless skin. There are certainly amazing BB cremes and foundations that can really help the look of having flawless skin, however I find that some of the best are also some of the most expensive. If you already pour money into fake eyelashes and all of your cute lolita coords then spending $50.00 USD on foundation can seem rather cumbersome. So I have found that with me, having healthy skin underneath means I can skimp on the designer foundations and use something from a drugstore.
I stand by this oatmeal scrub recipe!! When I am being good and using it every day my skin feels so refreshed and it tends to limit zits, pimples, and redness for me. What may sound crazy is that is only uses TWO INGREDIENTS! Oatmeal and tap water!
Oatmeal is not only super healthy for your waistline but for your skin as well! I know some people don't like oatmeal and others hate the way it smells but oatmeal is my go-to all natural scrub for summer. It's especially easy because you only need two things: oatmeal and water! I love making scrubs where all I have to do is open a kitchen cupboard. Firstly I can make breakfast at the same time I am doing my beauty routine and secondly it costs less than buying scrubs in store or online! Who doesn't love saving money?
So why is oatmeal so good for your skin? The number one thing oatmeal does is act as a moisturizer. A term that might be familiar from biology classes is polysaccaride. In summary a polysccaride is a very complex carbohydrate. When you eat a polysccaride it provides energy and breaks down into gluclose. Usually polysaccarides are fibrous and help lower cholesterol, but not always. What polysccarides do when applied on your skin is really good for you too. Since polysccarides expand in water they link together to create a thin mask on your skin. It keeps your pores moisturized as well as protects the skin from any irritants from getting in.
Also oatmeal helps with sunburns, chickenpox, poison ivy, rashes, insect bites, and much more! Just apply the facial scrub explained below to the irritated area. If there is simply too much to cover at once, take an oatmeal bath! ^^ I had my mom fix oatmeal baths for me all of the time when I got the chickenpox when I was little. I practically lived in the bathtub!
The benefits of using an oatmeal mask don't stop at mositurizing. Oatmeal contains saponins which is a metabolite found in natural things such as plants, and for skin it acts as a cleanser. For something that is used to naturally help chemical exposer, of course it does a wonderful job cleaning your skin! The saponins act as sponges to soak oils, odors, and anything trapped in them away and off with the next wash! This is why oatmeal is found in one variation or another in a lot of facial cleaning products.
THE RECIPE
This basic recipe is super fast to do. Simply plug the sink, take a small handful of oatmeal and run it under lukewarm water until it becomes damp. Squeeze out the water and collect it in your free hand - the water from the oatmeal should be a transparent khaki color. Put the water on your face especially in the dry areas of your face. If you don't have any dry spots go ahead and put it where you have acne. Next take the damp oatmeal and rub it all over your face. Oatmeal will drop off, but that's why the skin is plugged! Oatmeal can clog the drain! Let the mushy oatmeal sit for a few minutes and then rinse it off with water. I use a small mesh strainer to fish out the oatmeal and put it in the bathroom garbage. Then de-plug the sink and let the water drain!
A friend of mine uses collodial oatmeal all of the time - I do it sometimes. Colloidal oatmeal is just oatmeal that has been ground up into a super fine powder. I have three coffee grinders in my house; one for coffee, one for spices, and one for beauty materials such as oatmeal. If you only have one coffee grinder then clean it really well before and after. Put in your oatmeal and grind it up until it is a super fine powder. When it's a thin powder you can really make it into a paste with a little bit of water. (If it is not becoming paste-like then add a teaspoon of baking soda to the mix, works every time!)
Adding a drop or two of honey to your oatmeal masks are an excellent variation. Honey is also good for your skin. Sorry vegans - blue agave nectar doesn't do the same thing here. Honey is so full of so many nutrition for your skin and tummy that I could dedicate an entire blog to it! But, someone already has a webpage all about honey so I shall link it here. The site even lists recipes for anti-aging, ance removal and every other facial treatment under the sun involving honey so check it out!
Likewise lemon is amazing for your skin, but a little bit of lemon goes a long long way! Livestrong has dedicated many articles to how beneficial lemon is for your skin, hair, and body. Thanks to all of the vitamins crammed into lemons, it's a wonder add on to oatmeal masks, especially if you have sensitive skin that cannot take all of the lemon juice!
I am constantly refilling this cute jam jar full to the brim with oatmeal. In a week I shall need to fill it again!
Just a handful of oatmeal is needed, this is at most what I use unless I am making a really thick paste-like mask.
Quick in-and-out under the warm water and the oatmeal is already mushy!
Even though most of the water drained while I carefully picked up my camera, you can see some of the transparent tan-ish colored water from the oatmeal. Be sure to use all of the nutrients in that water! Rub that
amazing water on your skin and then scrub with the oatmeal! If your skin is sensitive don't rub too vigorously but if you have tough skin like I do then go for it! If the oatmeal is too thick then you may need to get more dry oatmeal and restart the process since thick oatmeal doesn't spread well. After scrubbing I like to leave it on my face for a couple minutes. Then you just rinse it all off with warm water (and check for any oatmeal that may have gotten into your hair) and you should be done!
It helps to plug the sink while doing this so your skin doesn't clog with oatmeal bits. The same applies if you are using this in the shower or bath - plug the tub before you start. I use a mini plastic strainer to gather all of the oatmeal bits and then I just throw them out.
Random note: MY NAILS ARE SO SHORT! My nails were so damaged after removing the tips that I had to cut them down all of the way to let the damaged nail grow out. Applying vitamin e oil to the nail and cuticle every day is helping them grow out a lot faster though! :D
