Want to Get Soft Hands? Make Your Own Homemade Hand Scrub!

Want to get soft hands? Yeah, me too. I've often heard that nothing gives away your age more than your hands. But expensive hand creams aren't the answer. They can be loaded with chemical fillers and they always ignore a vital step in getting soft hands: exfoliation. Instead, fight dry, cracked winter hands with a food-based homemade scrub formulated especially for your hands!


How to Make Homemade Hand Scrub

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 1/4 cup sea salt
• 1/4 cup organic sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Need high quality sources for raw honey, sea salt, coconut oil and more? Check out my Resources page!


Instructions:

1. Stir together the honey and coconut oil in a medium bowl.
2. In another small bowl, blend the salt, sugar and lemon juice until it becomes crumbly.
3. Pour the salt mixture over the honey mixture and stir until smooth.
4. Store in a small glass jar or bowl.

Directions for Use:

1. Gently massage a marble-sized amount of homemade hand scrub into your hands for 30-60 seconds. (Don't forget to exfoliate between your fingers!)
2. Rinse with warm water and pat dry. The coconut oil provides enough moisture so you probably won't need to follow up with anything else. If your hands are extra dry, you might want to apply some homemade whipped coconut oil.
3. Repeat 1-2 times per week.

Why These Ingredients?

• Coconut oil: provides quality moisture and antibacterial/antiviral/antifungal properties. Helps soften skin so it's ready for exfoliation.
• Honey: heals and softens the skin. It's mother nature's best kept beauty secret!
• Salt and sugar: both are excellent for exfoliating and can also be healing for the skin.
• Lemon juice: brightens, softens, and helps remove odors from your hands (like onion!).

Good-Bye Dry, Cracked Winter Hands!

I always wondered how to get soft hands (especially in the dry winter months), and it turns out I was missing the important step of exfoliation. Since I started using this scrub, my hands look and feel fantastic! They also absorb moisturizer so much better now, I hardly need to use any at all.

Buy high quality coconut oil, sea salt, raw honey and more here.

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The Best Homemade Toner for Acne Prone Skin

A homemade toner for acne prone skin should be two things: simple and economical. No long list of required ingredients, and no sourcing ingredients all over town (or all over the internet!). And of course, it needs to be effective for problematic, blemish-prone skin. Luckily, all of these requirements are fulfilled easily by two simple ingredients: green tea and apple cider vinegar. (See below for the recipe.)


Why not use commercial toner?

More often than not, commercial toners contain ingredients that irritate the skin and disrupt its natural balance. These ingredients include things like propylene glycol, harsh exfoliating acids, alcohol, mineral oil, glycerin, fragrance, and dyes. And if you're lucky enough to find a quality toner that doesn't contain unwanted chemicals, you'll usually find a hefty price tag attached.

Personally, I don't feel like you need to sacrifice quality or hard-earned cash for something like facial toner. Instead, get the best of both worlds by making your own homemade toner.


Two Important Ingredients for Homemade Toner

My experiments with homemade toner led me to two primary ingredients: fresh green tea and raw apple cider vinegar.

Why green tea?

Green tea has strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that repair skin damage and reduce redness. I personally notice a decrease in inflammation within minutes of applying green tea to my skin. As a bonus: the antioxidants in green tea may also fight the aging process. So banish blemishes and wrinkles in one fell swoop!

Why raw apple cider vinegar?

Apple cider vinegar helps restore the natural pH balance of your skin. Healthy skin is protected by what is called the acid mantle, a natural barrier that guards against pathogenic bacteria. In her book The Truth About Beauty, Kat James says this about the acid mantle:

"It can easily be obliterated by skin products that contain detergents, soaps, or antiseptics, and in many women--and even teens!--it is never given the change to recover or perform its intended function. Its absence inevitably leads to skin problems that can only be controlled but never resolved until we restore the acid mantle."

Homemade Toner for Acne Recipe

3/4 cup strong green tea
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar

That's it! Simply pour the green tea and apple cider vinegar into a glass bottle or jar with a lid. Use a cotton ball to apply toner after cleansing or as often as desired. Store this toner in the refrigerator--it should keep for a week or two this way.

Looking for a quality source of green tea leaves? Check out my Resources page.

While these two ingredients alone are enough to make a spectacular homemade toner, you can also experiment with adding things like:

• Orange essential oil (astringent, oil-reducing, stimulates collagen production).

• Lavender essential oil (antimicrobial, soothing, anti-inflammatory).

• Lemon juice (brightening, toning, helps reduce red marks).

• Aloe vera juice (anti-inflammatory, soothing, healing).

Have any other suggestions for homemade toner ingredients? Share your insights in the comments below!


Read more!

You may be interesting in trying out more natural skincare for acne:

• Coconut Oil for Clear Skin

• Raw Honey Mask for Acne
  

Also, check out this post: Exploring the Root Causes of Acne

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday.

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Coconut Oil for Acne

Coconut oil for acne was at the top of my list of posts to write about getting clear skin. While I don't agree with outright food worship, I have to admit that coconut oil deserves a lot of the attention it gets. When it comes to promoting clear, healthy skin, coconut oil is definitely just what the doctor (dermatologist?) should be ordering. You can use coconut oil for acne in two primary ways:

How to Use Coconut Oil for Acne

1. In Your Body

Coconut oil is brimming with medium chain fatty acids like lauric acid and caprylic acid which are metabolized into potent antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agents in the body. These work to fight some of the underlying causes of acne such as candida overgrowth, autoimmunity and inflammation.

Recently I've been considering the times I've had exceptionally clear skin during the past few years, and one factor that keeps popping up is that whenever I had really clear skin I was also eating a lot of coconut oil at the time. I'm still not sure whether or not eating more coconut oil is a determining factor in my acne, but it's certainly worth experimenting with.

And so I've renewed my commitment to eat at least three tablespoons of coconut oil every day, the minimum amount recommended by Bruce Fife in The Coconut Oil Miracle, as well as Mary Enig and Sally Fallon in Eat Fat, Lose Fat.


2. On Your Body

I know what you're thinking: Coconut oil on your skin? Won't it make you break out?!? ...At one point in time I too was terrified of putting anything oily on my skin. Using coconut oil for acne sounded ludicrous.

I figured that acne is caused by oil so the best thing to do is kill it with dryness. Well, you know what's worse than acne? Acne and dry skin at the same time! (And let me tell you it's no picnic trying to apply makeup to dry, flaky skin.)

My exploration in the world of real food and natural living led me to realize that oil is not your skin's enemy. After reading what Kat James had to say in her book The Truth About Beauty, I was struck by the realization that I had been stripping my skin of everything it needed to protect and replenish itself. I was punishing my skin for having acne, and it was most definitely backfiring on me.

So I've tried to use gentler methods for cleansing, toning and moisturizing my face. Coconut oil is a regular part of my regimen. And believe me, my skin is oh so grateful.

Why is coconut oil good for your skin? The same antibacterial and antifungal properties in coconut oil that work wonders in your body can do the same on your skin as well. It is far more gentle than chemical antibacterial agents and yet surprisingly effective for many people. Because it consists primarily of short and medium chain fatty acids, coconut oil is also absorbed easily through the skin and provides moisture without leaving your skin feeling greasy.

Tip: If you are left feeling like an oil slick after applying coconut oil, consider scaling back on the amount you use. A very small amount goes a long way. I get much better results working a small amount into my skin rather than slathering it on too liberally.

There is always a jar of coconut oil in my bathroom now (I use it for oil pulling too). I don't personally use it on my face every single day, but whenever my skin feels the need, I reach for my jar of coconut oil without hesitation. It has yet to produce anything but positive benefits for my skin. 

For a trustworthy source of high quality coconut oil, check out the marketplace!

Do you use coconut oil for acne? How has it benefited your body and your skin? Share your thoughts and tips below in the comments!

This post is part of Fight Back Friday and Real Food Wednesday.

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Raw Honey Mask for Acne

The best face mask for acne can't be purchased at a pricey department store. In fact, it only contains one ingredient and it's probably already in your pantry! It's one of my personal favorites: the raw honey face mask.

Raw honey has been prized for its healing properties since ancient times--it was even used like a modern-day antibiotic ointment on burns and scrapes. The raw honey mask for acne is an excellent alternative to conventional acne treatments that often do little more than make your skin dry and scaly. Raw honey, on the other hand, softens the skin and gives it a natural glow. Over time, honey's natural antibacterial properties can help prevent breakouts, but you will notice a difference in the suppleness of your skin right away!


Instructions for a Raw Honey Face Mask

One of the reasons I think honey makes the best face mask for acne is that it's so simple:

1. Use about one teaspoon of high quality raw honey.
2. Gently spread it over the entire face.
3. Leave the honey face mask on for about 15-60 minutes.
4. Rinse with lukewarm or cool water and pat face dry.

Tip: Don't be tempted to use too much honey. About one teaspoon is plenty. Any more than that and you'll be dripping honey all over the place! I had a problem with dripping at first, but once I cut back on the amount of honey I used, the problem resolved itself. Not to mention that it's a little more economical that way, too!

Question: What honey is best for a honey face mask?

Answer: Any honey will do, but I highly recommend using raw, unfiltered honey for your face mask because it retains more of the potent healing properties. I can even tell the difference between raw honey brands I use for my honey mask. A high quality local raw honey made my skin glow in a way I didn't notice with the other raw honey I tried. You can find a great source of high quality raw honey here on my Resources page.

Have you tried the raw honey mask for acne? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday.

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Day 7 on RRARF: Benefits Already!

I've done coconut water fasting. I've done the milk diet for 23 days. But I have never experienced such pronounced benefits as I'm experiencing right now on RRARF. Who knew that feeding yourself extremely well, resting it up, and avoiding sugar (completely!) could offer such an advantage?

Well, I guess when you put it like that, it's no wonder I'm feeling so great on RRARF. But it's easy to kid yourself into thinking you're doing "enough" on a day to day basis. Trust me, that's what I've been telling myself for months. And my metabolic health is decent enough where it was easy to go on thinking that way. But let me tell you: I was wrong.

My RRARF Benefits So Far

I'm seeing several subtle benefits from RRARF already, but today I wanted to talk about the two that strike me the most:

1) My skin looks awesome. Seriously awesome. You see, I've had acne to some degree or another since I was twelve. There were years when it was pretty severe, and some years when it was mild-to-moderate. But it was always there.

I've seen improvements since I started eating real food and taking better care of myself in general, but nothing spectacular. I also noticed some subtle skin benefits when I was on the milk diet, but this eclipses that experience entirely. I've tried basically every skin care product on the market over the years, and more recently every natural skin care option as well (coconut oil, baking soda, apple cider vinegar, tea tree oil, etc.). But I never found anything that provided truly impressive results.

So eventually I was convinced that I would never have skin that was crystal clear, baby soft and radiant. I thought that was something reserved for ethereal beings, and only to be artificially attained with the right makeup and lighting for us mere mortals. But seven days into RRARF and I have that skin. If this is the only benefit I see from RRARF, I'll be one happy woman.


2) My moods are fantastic. I'm walking on a cloud all the time. I've had this sort of dull, automated feeling during the last several months. Nothing terrible, but there was a definite lack of sparkle and zest. During these last few days on RRARF, the sparkle has returned. I'm practically giddy. My husband even commented on how I'm laughing so much more than usual. And my creative side has blossomed once again, so I've been able to start a few old hobbies back up that I just haven't felt inspired to do until now. If all this has nothing to do with RRARF, then it's one heck of a coincidence.

I'm curious to see if these benefits stick around for the rest of my 30 days of RRARF and afterword. Though I gotta say if this is what I get for going on RRARF, I'm not sure I can think of any reason for ever stopping!

To find out more about the science and reasoning behind RRARF, check out Matt Stone's free e-book on RRARF and metabolic recovery. You can also check out my previous posts on RRARF:

Day 1 on RRARF: What is RRARF?
Day 2 on RRARF: Why I'm Doing It
Day 3 on RRARF: Rest and Relaxation  
Day 7 on RRARF: Benefits Already!
Day 8 on RRARF: Eat the Food!
Day 9 on RRARF: Adieu, Le Sucre!  
Day 21 on RRARF: Deprivation is Dieting
Day 23 on RRARF: Life Without the Scale
RRARF vs. The Milk Diet

Stay tuned: later this week I'll be talking about sugar, fructose and other sweet things... and why I'm giving them all up for RRARF.

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