One of many things my grandmother taught me was you needn’t buy anything from a shop to keep your complexion and hair beautiful. Whilst busily cooking in the kitchen, with me sitting at the kitchen table, watching in awe, she shared many beauty tips with me that been handed down through generations. Most involve food, but all involve items that are easily found in most households. Here are the Top Ten Natural Beauty Tips passed on from my gran, to me, to you.
Shiny hair can be yours with a few drops of oil (Shutter stock*)
1. Sour Grapes, Sweet Skin: Slice a few grapes in half and rub the cut sides over clean skin. Apparently, the fruit acids are natural exfoliates, and act to help break up and remove dead cells.
2. Wake up! It’s well known that tired, puffy eyes get revived with cucumber slices, which are mildly diuretic and drain fluid built up overnight, but tea bags, stored in the fridge for a few minutes, will do just as well. Neither on hand? Place chilled spoons over your eyelids.
3. Kill Spots Dead by dabbing tea tree oil over them. Not available? Cut open a chamomile tea bag and make a paste with some warm water. Put on the spot for 30 mins. It should reduce its size.
4. Steam it! Facial masks and treatments are more effective in the bath or shower–your pores will more open to receiving the benefits of the mask’s ingredients. Use a natural clay mask for normal to oily skin, or mush up an avocado or papaya for dry skin. Alternatively, honey, plain yogurt alone or mixed with oatmeal for oily skin, mushed bananas or whipped egg whites can all be used by themselves or in combination for a great toning facial mask. Apply whatever you find mentioned above in your kitchen to your visage, then soak in a tub before rinsing off.
Get your skin glowing with natural exfoliates (Shutter stock*)
5. Get glowing! No need to sunbathe: you can get a nice, bronzed look by blending 1 tsp. cocoa powder with a dollop of sunblock or skin cream until you've obtained the shade of glow that’s right for your skin. (This tip comes not from gran, but from Zero Waste Home’s Bela Johnson). Bonus: it smells great!
6. Firm up skin with facial exercises. Every morning, my grandma would ‘kiss the heavens’–she’d tilt her head back, pucker up and try hard to kiss the sky a few dozen times. It looks a bit mad, but I swear, my gran had a pretty firm jawline into her 70s.
7. Shine up your hair with a few drops of Argon Oil on the ends. Gran used to use olive oil–this also works, but may smell a bit strange.
8. Scrub up well with a natural facial and body exfoliate: take equal parts brown sugar and olive oil and mix coarsely. Rub into face, elbows, knees or any other area you’d like to exfoliate. Rinse off with warm water. Alternatively, coffee grounds work instead of sugar.
9. Whiten up your teeth by rubbing the inside of a banana peel over your teeth for two minutes a night for 2-3 weeks. I have no idea why, but this does work! I've also heard that strawberries and baking soda are highly effective and natural teeth whiteners, and oil pulling (swishing oil in the mouth and then spitting) is also apparently an effective way to remove stains from teeth. Personally, I’d go for the oil: fruit has sugar, which doesn't seem to me to be a great idea to rub onto your teeth, but it did seem to work for gran.
10. Cleanse with oil. Granny never used soap on her face, but took off her makeup with a small amount of almond oil. It’s gentle and easy: apply onto dry face and massage into skin for several minutes, then remove with a warm, steamy washcloth until no oil remains. Should leave your skin soft and clean!
How to boost your beauty in ten simple steps: from getting down and dirty in the bedroom to grooming your eyebrows, being more beautiful is easy when you make a few small changes to your routine. Here are our top 10 ways to make you look and feel irresistible.
Beauty tip 1: Exfoliate
It’s often hard to keep up with our skin. One minute we’re smothering it in moisturize, the next it’s back to being dull and flake y. To compliment your moisturize and ensure that your skin stays lovelier for longer, make sure you leave extra time to exfoliate daily. Skin continually produces new cells and, as the new cells appear, the dead ones tend to sit on top of the skin making it appear dry and dull. When this happens, there’s not much point in moisturizing. Why waste your expensive body butter on dead skin cells? Try buttering up after you've buffed the old cells off, and you’ll notice a drastic change.
Beauty tip 2: Have sex
Getting down and dirty is the ultimate beauty booster. Just 15 minutes a day spent doing the deed leaves your cheeks flushed; your lips lusciously red; and your skin glowing and beautiful. Studies have shown that regular romps increase blood flow and bring essential nutrients and oxygen to the skin, which flush out harmful toxins and make us appear younger. Plus, having someone run their fingers through your tresses can give it that gorgeous mussed-up bed head look, and we all like a bit of va-va-voom from time to time.
Beauty tip 3: Ditch the alcohol and cigarettes
Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes doesn't do our skin any flavors. Smoking allows a staggering 4000 toxic substances into the body during every puff, and too much alcohol causes skin to dry out and eyes to become puffy – not the best start for boosting your natural beauty. Quit smoking, and only drink in moderation to improve your skin’s elasticity and reduce puffy eyes. This is a sure-fire way to make you look younger and more beautiful.
Beauty tip 4: Rest
The phrase “beauty sleep” is famous for a reason; sleep really does make you beautiful. During periods of deep sleep our cells renew themselves, and lack of sleep – or poor quality of sleep – leaves us looking and feeling a bit worse for wear. If you have trouble getting your beauty sleep, try and relax. Add a few drops of aromatherapy oils to your bath, try deep-breathing exercises, and avoid caffeinated drinks before you head to bed.
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