There are many natural beauty tips, tricks, and recipes that you can make at home, and your kitchen contains all the ingredients you’ll need.
1. Oil Cleansing
Use olive, coconut, or almond oil with Castor oil to clean your skin instead of a harsh soap. This will cleanse your skin naturally and keep from pulling out natural oils. My personal blend is 25% Castor Oil (don’t use straight!) and 75% sweet almond oil.
How to do it: Rub a small amount of oil onto dry face and massage into skin for several minutes. To remove, soak a clean washcloth in steamy water and place on face until it starts to cool. Gently use the washcloth to wipe your face until the oil is gone. Softest. Skin. Ever!
2. Natural Bronzing
Until I switched to eating healthy, I never tanned well at all! I used to try all kinds of natural “bronzers” and self tanning lotions (cringe on the ingredients!) in hopes of golden skin. Now, I’m excited to be able to tan easily, but for days when I want a slightly more bronze look, I head to the kitchen…
How to Do It: Mix cocoa powder, cinnamon and arrowroot (optional) until you get a shade you like. For me, this was at least half cocoa powder, about 30-40% cinnamon and a little arrowroot, but experiment to get your skin tone. Store in a small jar or container and brush onto skin for an instant bronze look. Bonus: it smells good! You can also mix this into lotion for a liquid version!
3. Food Facial Mask
No need to drop a lot of money at the spa for great skin, just rub breakfast on your face instead! Many foods are also beneficial for your skin too!
How to Do It: Use honey, plain yogurt or whipped egg whites by themselves or in combination for a great toning facial mask that leaves skin glowing.
4. Naturally White Teeth
Use strawberries (I know they are red!) and baking soda as a highly effective and natural teeth whitener. Oil pulling (swishing oil in the mouth and then spitting) is also an effective way to whiten teeth.
How to Do It: Make a paste of equal parts mashed or pureed strawberries and baking soda. Put in mouthguard or tooth tray and leave on teeth for up to 30 minutes. Repeat a couple times a week until your teeth are as white as you want. To speed things up, swish with 1 TBSP of olive oil each night for 20 minutes and then spit and brush well. This supposedly helps remove toxins too, but I can certainly vouch for its whitening capabilities!
If you don’t want to try this way or are allergic to strawberries, activated charcoal makes a great natural tooth whitener too.
5. Natural Hair Conditioner
For an occasional hair strengthening treat, mix up some other breakfast foods into a natural hair mask. This certainly isn’t one for everyday use, but it makes hair shiny and smooth and even works on really curly hair (according to a lucky friend with lovely curls!)
How to Do It: Mix one banana and one avocado and puree until smooth (great way to use over ripe bananas and avocados!). Add essential oils if Banana isn’t your fragrance of choice. Comb through clean, damp hair and put a shower cap on. Leave on for at least 15 minutes and rinse out in the shower. Go sign up to audition for a hair commercial!
6. Sugar Scrub
Sugar is not good for your body. It is, however, great for your skin! Since your skin doesn’t metabolize and store glucose or fructose like your fat cells do, sugar is a great way to tighten and smooth skin! Sugar scrubs in stores are expensive! Sugar scrubs in the kitchen are not!
How to do it: Mix equal parts of white or brown sugar and olive or almond oil and add essential oils of choice (optional). To exfoliate skin, rub the mixture onto skin and massage in for a couple of minutes. Rinse off with warm water. Enjoy! Here is a full recipe.
7. Natural Microdermabrasion
Ever seen those ads for microdermabrasion (not even sure I’m spelling it right!). Well, they look expensive and I’m leery of the chemicals they might contain. No worries though… the kitchen can help! Baking soda is a very effective natural and gentle abrasive that pulls off dead skin cells and makes skin glow!
How to Do It: Wet face with warm water. Pour some baking soda into hands and massage into your face for at least 3 minutes. It will sting a little (its called abrasion!). Rinse with warm water and pat dry.
What is the strangest thing you’ve tried in the name of beauty? Share below!
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I have used coconut oil for my daughters bum when she was a baby and it kept her clear of diaper rash. Although now she has excema below her bum on the back of her legs, I use coconut oil but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Any tips on excema?
Usually allergy related… is she eating foods yet?
Yes she is 3 1/2..
Shea butter or magnesium mint also help, but I’d look in to GAPS or an allergy program. My son’s cleared up completely with dietary changes
Try Miracle 2 Soap full strength. It is completely natural, non-toxic, etc. and has so many fabulous uses.
Just wondering, why is it bad to use straight castor oil? I am new to the ocm and have been massaging a little straight castor oil on, then top it with more coconut oil or olive oil to dilute it a bit. Is that ok? Or maybe I should get another jar and mix them together in their proper ratios?
It might be a little harsh for the skin if used straight… haven’t tried it, but if it starts to irritate your skin, it would probably be best to mix first..
I use coconut oil as a moisturizer after washing my face at night. I have acne, so many times washing my face irriates it a little too much. Coconut has antibacterial properties to protect, and moisturizes : ) I’ve also heard it’s great as a hair mask, I’ll be trying that next!
Your site if fabulous. Thanks for all the info, we are ditching the chemcials and I’m even trying to go no poo! My husband and I have started to use Tuna (you giys might know it as Nopal, a type of cactus in the aloe vera family) as a facial cleanser and body wash. It seems to be naturals soap and has wonderful grainy bits in it too so you do actually feel clean too. My skin has never felt and smelt better.
Thank you for all these tips! I am very intrigued with the oil cleansing. I followed the link you shared, and have a question: It says to do it regularly, but not frequently. What does that mean? Not every night? If so, what would you use to cleanse when not using the oils? Thank you!
Once your skin adjusts, a warm washcloth will work in between oil cleansing, or I use microfiber now, which removes all dirt and bacteria without stripping natural oils.
I used coconut oil on my babies cradle cap, and it disappeared with just one application. Great post, love these suggestions.
My daughter had a bad case of rosacea in her early twenties, and despite all sorts of harsh medicated products it did not improve. I told her to wash her face with full fat organic plain yogurt, nothing else, and it healed in a week. Rinse it off with tepid water, not cold. When she has a flare-up now (which is rare) she just goes back to yogurt and it works every time. If you have a problem with rosacea, you might want to try this.
Do you have any suggestions for acne prone skin? I have tried prescription stuff as well as Proactive. I am 31 almost 32 and I feel more insecure then I did when I was a teenager.
Are you eating wheat and dairy? I used to have acne also and it went away completely when I removed wheat from my diet. I’ve also seen other cases where it was caused by an underlying food allergy. Also, fermented cod liver oil and gelatin internally might help.
Good advice. I didn’t realize that my acne, which was chronic for about 20 years, was actually a reaction of my body trying to get rid of the toxins in my body. I changed to a good fat diet, no sugar, no grains (like the food plate you recommend), and after a few eruptions to sweep the toxins, it cleared up. Good food is amazing. We always treat it topically, but it’s usually within.
Im 47. Nothing EVER worked for me until a couple months ago. I had a very bad bright red rash, (a reaction to a medicine that was prescribed), that covered my face, neck, & chest. I didnt wanna leave the house!! Of everything I googled I chose 3 things to do. (1) I wiped down the rash daily with a dilution of organic apple cider vinegar (oacv) & water (50:50). (2) I drank an oacv “cocktail” first thing in the morning, everyday, on an empty stomach. (I can give you the recipe if you wanna try it). And (3) I applied a 50•50 mixture of honey and cinnamon (ceylon) to the rash, everyday, for 20 minutes. Everything must be organic. Non-organic ingredients are stripped of beneficial stuff when its processed and wont work. The rash was stubborn, it took a good 2-3wks to go away. But when it did, not only was the rash gone, my face was unbelievably clear! My gosh, I wouldve killed for this recipe in HS!! My mom spent so much money on so much stuff that only made my face worse. And the whole time, there was this cheap, easy solution. Now I know everyones body is different. This was a miracle thing for me. I hope it is for you too, if you decide to try it.
Thanks for all these great tips! i definitely need to try the natural hair conditioner because every store bought item i have tried just doesn’t work!! i am not a fan of bananas but if it works i could learn to love them!!
not sure if anyone else mentioned this but another great facial scrub is oatmeal and honey. it gets a little messy (when the honey warms up from your body temp, honey dripping everywhere!) but leaves your face feeling GREAT!
Hello! According to http://oilpulling.com/index.htm , the only oils that you’re supposed to use for oil pulling are cold-pressed or refined oils. The ones they recommend are sunflower oil and sesame oil. Maybe recommending olive oil is the reason some people are experiencing pain of the teeth and gums? Thanks for the tips though! I’m new to your blog and am finding it very informative! Thanks for everything you do!