Natural Beauty

I may seem to be a person who's into salon treatments, spas, etc. but truthfully, I've only had 2 hot oil treatments in a salon, twice for body scrub and my facial treatment experience, maybe less than 10 times. 

The reason for this is because I don't really like to mess around with what doesn't need fixing. Besides, these are things I can do myself at home. And my preference for using natural products we already have in the kitchen. Ok, fine. And because I'm a cheapskate too! I mean, why pay for something that you can do a better job at?

So, here's my run-down of the beauty tips and tricks using natural products. This may look like too many things to do. It's not really, as long as you don't do all of them at the same time! For me, it's on as-needed basis only.

1. Coconut milk  I was probably younger than school age when my mother started using this on my hair. Oftentimes, this was because our viand had some coconut milk in it and she'd usually save some for my hair. Fast forward to the day when I developed some vanity. My hair had been my crowning glory growing up and so I took pains to maintain and enhance what I had. As early as grade school. It became a weekend routine to have my coconut milk treatment, done by just adding half a cup of water to freshly grated coconut and squeezing the milk out of it. In college, I heard about "hot oil treatments" and experimented heating the coconut milk and adding a bit of lemon juice.

Coconut milk darkens the hair, makes it smooth and supple and shiny. Sure, it took a couple of days for the smell and oiliness to come off. But you have 5 glorious days of fabulous hair! The only consequence of this is that my hair darkened from being naturally light brown. 


2. EVOO- Extra Virgin Olive Oil. My love for this developed when I was pregnant. I'm uncertain whether I read this tip from somewhere or I thought of using this in lieu of Body Shop's cocoa butter stick. Sure, I was greasy everyday but lo and behold! 9 months later I was stretch-mark free from my pregnancy. And one bottle lasted for months. Cheap, huh?

While my tummy was free of stretch marks, other parts of me didn't come out unscathed. My hair suffered the most post-pregnancy. About that time, people were going organic and natural and so there were tips all over the web using olive oil for hair treatments, body scrub by adding sugar or iodized salt to it. Whatever the claims are about this miracle product, they are all TRUE and EFFECTIVE. That I can promise you. 

My friend who writes her blog http://www.appleandbees.com/ will do a feature on this, so watch out for that.


3.  Petroleum Jelly - I'm sure a lot of you know about using this for the feet. But what I do is to wrap my feet in Cling Wrap before putting on socks. I always end up kicking everything off while sleeping but at least I had a good number of hours before that for the jelly to work. Lazy me can't do this straight for 1 whole week but that's what I advice you to do for faster result and then once a week after that for maintenance.

4. Avocado Mask. Just research on the benefits of avocado. haha! This isn't a must-do for me but whenever we have it at home, I scrape off whatever is left on the peel and apply it to my face. Waste not, alright? I don't mix anything else with it. This is especially good for those with dry skin as the natural oil helps to moisturize your skin.

photo credits to grannydr.com

5. Yogurt and Oatmeal Mask. Firstly, I wouldn't buy yogurt just for this. It would be an expensive waste especially when all you need is a spoonful of this and oatmeal to make a thick paste. It's enough to cover your face. So, it's only-when-available-at-home- basis for me.
 

photo credits to ladyzona.com

6. Water.  Last on the list but of greatest importance is drinking lots of water everyday. This is not just for vanity's sake but for your entire body. It's somewhat a challenge for some people to meet the daily requirements of water intake. My tip is to always bring water with you. Our entire family always brings a bottle of water whenever we leave the house. For each of us. And at night we bring a jug of water up to our room too. Always have water readily available and pretty soon you'll always feel the need to drink it.


Somewhere along the way I've had some misses too with my experimentation. You might come across them somewhere so here's my 2-cents on them.

Mayonnaise for hair which I tried in high school made me smell like salad for an entire week. 

Baking Soda as facial scrub. Even just reading about this made me doubt if it's going to do any good. Firstly, baking soda is used to rid pots and pans of stains, albeit with vinegar. So it may be too abrasive and strong. But I gave it a try anyway. My verdict? Stick to commercially available exfoliants. Nothing bad happened to my face but I just don't want to risk it.

It's not a long list after all, right?  And quite easy to prepare too. Maybe this will convert you into going natural and healthy and cheap. If only I can find a remedy for occasional zits too. 


'Til next time!


Sandee