Make Your Own Facial Cleansers. It's Easy!

To avoid expense, chemicals, and non-hilal ingredients I've been researching facial cleansers that I can make at home. What I found is something I'd like to share with you.

When we're in hijab and not in niqab our face is the prominent first impression we give. For all of us women keeping our face cleansed is essential to health and appearance. For muslimahs a clean facial appearance is an especially significant aspect of the social impression we present.

So for the health and wellness of your face, if you don't already have a cleansing method that satisfies your needs, I've researched some hilal facial cleansing solutions you can easily make at home.

First I'd recommend removing eye makeup with baby oil, which protects your eyes & eyelashes from the harsher effects of soap.

The Baking Soda and Water Cleanser

This cleanser may feel excessive in repeated use. But if you need a thorough facial cleanse, it seems a remedy can be found by simply using baking soda and water. Here's the recipe and the recounted experience of a user.

 Baking Soda/Water

http://becauseisaidsoandothermommyisms.blogspot.com/2013/05/5-homemade-facial-cleansers.html

Up first was a simple sounding paste made with baking soda and water. I first tried this at night. My initial reaction was that this felt gritty in my palm, but adding more water made it slightly softer. My skin felt okay after the first usage, but I worried that it was too harsh to use regularly. By the second night, with twice daily usage, my skin felt smooth and my cheeks were not as dry. The acne on my forehead appeared to be clearing up, but I wasn't sure. After the third day, I was convinced that my skin was indeed looking better, but I could not tolerate the abrasive texture of this cleaning method any longer. I couldn't even bring myself to do this twice on the third day. So, my plan to last a week had failed. I don't remember where I came across this idea originally, but I do know that it was not my favorite homemade face wash! This works fine to wash my hair, but not my face, apparently.

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If you have skin that is more oil free the baking soda & water cleansing may leave you feeling dry. One other seemingly effective cleanse for oil free skin is the oil cleansing method. This is the favorite method of the baking soda & water researcher. Here is what she says:

The Oil Cleansing Method (OCM)

Oil Cleansing Method (OCM)

http://becauseisaidsoandothermommyisms.blogspot.com/2013/05/5-homemade-facial-cleansers.html

This one seems a bit strange, but it also sounded relatively simple, so I decided to try it next. It's just a mixture of two oils, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and castor oil (found in the laxative section of the grocery store) It may seem counterintuitive to wash one's face with oil, but this actually feels really lovely and seems to produce very desirable effects. I learned a little chemistry lesson while researching this: oil dissolves oil, so using oil to make a cleanser is actually ideal for skin, since it naturally has oil. Plus, it's nourishing and not over-drying. Unlike my horrible experience with the Clean & Clear, this did not over-dry my skin (which, you are probably aware, makes your oil glands go into over-gear producing more oil to compensate, a vicious cycle).

On the first night, I combined a 50/50 mixture of my EVOO and the castor oil, because that was the proportion recommended for "normal" skin. I started with a small batch of just 1 teaspoon of each and mixed them in a small plastic bottle that is meant for travel sized portions of toiletries.

To Wash:

1. Apply oil mixture to DRY skin. Gently rub in. I do this all over my face, including my eye lids.
2. Soak a wash cloth in hot water. (I make it as hot as I can tolerate since it cools quickly.)
3. Apply wash cloth to face and allow the steam to clean your face. I usually wait about 1 minute for the wash cloth to cool off completely.
4. Gently wipe oil from face with the wash cloth. This removes eye makeup pretty well so for the most part, I have not needed to use my homemade eye makeup remover. I also do not find that I need to apply moisturizer after washing since the OCM is so hydrating.

My initial reaction to the OCM was that my skin felt good afterward, and it was not too oily. I quickly learned to keep wash cloths on hand in the bathroom instead of in the linen closet (since Logan was going through a phase of sleeping on the floor in the hallway, blocking my access to the closet). The main difference was the waiting portion of the cleaning routine. Normally, I would wash, rinse immediately, dry my face, and be done. I have since come to love the waiting because it forces me to just sit and be still for 1 whole minute, evidently not something I typically do! It's like giving myself a mini-facial, which is very pampering, in my opinion. On the morning of the 24th, I forgot keep my face dry in the shower, so I just decided to skip washing for that morning. I used my homemade face oil after the warm water splash and that got me through the day just fine. My skin seemed to be clearing up and I had less acne, but I was anxious to try out some other cleansers, so I kept experimenting.

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And finally here's a silent video which contains a number of cleansers and masks you can try. Enjoy your viewing and your peacfully cleansed face.