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- May 19, 2005
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This week I've tried making my own clay mask and toner.
The clay mask was easy. I bought a couple of ounces of white clay (aka bentonite clay) at a bulk herb store. It came dry and powdered, so I mixed a little bit with water and smeared it on my face. It pulled everything out of my pores. EVERYTHING. All my existing zits popped plus a few that I hadn't seen yet. My blackheads were all clear too. I was amazed. It seems to be just as strong as apple cider vinegar, but it didn't irritate my skin at all. It seemed much stronger than any commercially produced clay masks. The extra clay I sealed up in a plastic container, and then used to make another mask a few days later.
The toner I'm still working on. I started with half an ounce each of witch hazel bark and leaf. I made real witch hazel buy putting it in a pint jar (like an old spaghetti sauce jar), filling the jar with boiling water, put the lid on and let it sit for about 8 hours. I strained out the herbs and tossed those out, leaving just the "tea" in a jar. Then I took a peeled cucumber and ran it through the food processor until it was all mush and blended it in to the witch hazel. I divided the whole thing into three jars and put two in the freezer for later. The cucumber was still a little chunky. After trying the witch hazel cucumber mix with chunks I decided that I didn't like the chunks. After letting it sit in the 'fridge for a day so that hopefully some of the cucumber juice would get mixed in with the witch hazel I strained out the chunks. It still smells like cucumber so I think I'm OK. This stuff must be kept in the 'fridge and it will go bad after a week or so! It is nice and soothing and it leaves my skin feeling soft. I experimented with using it to remove makeup and it seems to pass the test. It removed eye makeup (but not waterproof eye makeup) and it didn't sting my very very sensitive eyes. I'm feeling quite satisfied so far, but I'm going to give it a week or so before I give it a real verdict.
The clay mask was easy. I bought a couple of ounces of white clay (aka bentonite clay) at a bulk herb store. It came dry and powdered, so I mixed a little bit with water and smeared it on my face. It pulled everything out of my pores. EVERYTHING. All my existing zits popped plus a few that I hadn't seen yet. My blackheads were all clear too. I was amazed. It seems to be just as strong as apple cider vinegar, but it didn't irritate my skin at all. It seemed much stronger than any commercially produced clay masks. The extra clay I sealed up in a plastic container, and then used to make another mask a few days later.
The toner I'm still working on. I started with half an ounce each of witch hazel bark and leaf. I made real witch hazel buy putting it in a pint jar (like an old spaghetti sauce jar), filling the jar with boiling water, put the lid on and let it sit for about 8 hours. I strained out the herbs and tossed those out, leaving just the "tea" in a jar. Then I took a peeled cucumber and ran it through the food processor until it was all mush and blended it in to the witch hazel. I divided the whole thing into three jars and put two in the freezer for later. The cucumber was still a little chunky. After trying the witch hazel cucumber mix with chunks I decided that I didn't like the chunks. After letting it sit in the 'fridge for a day so that hopefully some of the cucumber juice would get mixed in with the witch hazel I strained out the chunks. It still smells like cucumber so I think I'm OK. This stuff must be kept in the 'fridge and it will go bad after a week or so! It is nice and soothing and it leaves my skin feeling soft. I experimented with using it to remove makeup and it seems to pass the test. It removed eye makeup (but not waterproof eye makeup) and it didn't sting my very very sensitive eyes. I'm feeling quite satisfied so far, but I'm going to give it a week or so before I give it a real verdict.
