Recently I've been spending a bit more time on myself and my skin. When I was in middle school I had the WORST acne. It's cleared up, but I still have skin (and hair) problems. So I've been digging around the internet looking for treatments I could make at home. The good thing about making your own treatments is that 

1) You know what you're putting on your skin/hair

2) You can alter it to meet your own skin/hair needs

3) It's a lot cheaper!

4) No harsh chemicals to further damage your skin/hair

 

If you've found any treatments you'd like to share, post them!!!! Let's get this thread full of recipes for skin/hair treatments.

 

What I've noticed with most of the things I've found online is that they typically use the same things in different combinations. The most common ingredients are

Milk (preferably unsweetened if soy/almond)

Honey

Oatmeal

Coffee (preferably grounds, not instant, tho some recipes say instant is fine)

Plain yogurt

Sugar
Olive Oil

Baking Soda

Apple cider vinegar

Lemon (not lime!)

 

These are all things most people have at home and pretty easy to get! As well, I strongly recommend getting a generic, inexpensive moisturizer and toner because they're good follow ups for masks/scrubs. They don't have to be expensive, just make sure it suits your skin (water based if you have oily skin, oil based if your skin is dry, etc). Also if you have a spray bottle, put the toner in that and spray it on instead of using a cotton ball. 

 

Here are some of the ones I've been using for myself and some that others may benefit from.

 

Skin:

 

Coffee and yogurt face mask

• 4 tbsp of foffee (I used instant so the mask was smooth, but you could probably use grounds! The mask will more than likely be lumpy though, unless you grind it up very well)
• 7 tbsp of plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 4 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp of milk

This mask is good for brightening up and getting rid of puffiness. You can use oil as well as yogurt and milk to help hydrate your skin if you have dry skin! As well, you can use all yogurt and no milk for a thicker paste or more milk and less yogurt for something lighter. Play with it to suit your needs! Add lemon instead of honey if you have oily skin. I made quite a lot and I'm estimating it should last me a week or two if both me and my sister use it, so don't worry if you have a lot! Stick it in the fridge, it should be fine!

You put it all over your face and let it dry (takes about 15-20 minutes depending on the consistency and how much you put on your face) and then wipe it off with a warm washcloth.

 

Chamomile steam facial

• Chamomile tea bag
• HOT HOT HOT WATER

The amount of water doesn't really matter but make sure to use a big bowl that doesn't get to hot and have a towel or blanket. I do this before I use my mask to open up my pores. Simply boil your water and pour it in the bowl and open your chamomile tea bag and throw the loose tea leaves into the water. Throw a towel or blanket over you and the bowl of water and bend your head over the bowl so the steam gets to your face. If you're not going to do a mask or anything else, use cold water to wipe off the steam and close your pores so dirt won't get in them again, or use some toner to help hydration. Chamomile helps relax you and can help colds and the steam facial itself will help hydrate your skin. 

 

Brown sugar scrub

• Brown sugar (as much as you want to make)
• Olive oil
• Honey

I just made this for my sister to help her get rid of all the dead skin on her face. I made about half a cup. I didn't really take any measurements, just made sure there was enough olive oil for it to be moist but not drenched in oil and mixed it all together with honey. The olive oil and honey are really good for hydrating skin and make the sugar a lot less harsh. As well, honey helps protect against damage to your skin! I would suggest using this in the shower or bath because it can get REALLY REALLY MESSY. This scrub left my sister's skin feeling REALLY REALLY soft. You can also use this as a lip scrub to help get rid of dead skin of dry chapped lips (it's going to hurt like hell though.)

 

Oatmeal yogurt mask

• Finely ground oatmeal (throw it in the blender or food processor)
• Plain yogurt 
• Honey

Fairly simple, mix everything together and put on your face, let it dry and then wipe it off with a warm washcloth. A tbsp of oatmeal and plain yogurt (with a few drops of honey) should be good for one session, but if you can, make more and store it in the fridge for future use! This is good for sunburnt skin or sensitive skin! 

 

Avocado and honey mask

• Overipe avocado
• 1/4 of a cup of honey

Both of these are really good for hydration so if you have dry skin, this should help moisturize it. Mash the avocado and mix the two together and apply it to your face and let it dry. Wipe it off gently with warm water and a washcloth. 

 

Banana mask

• ​Overipe banana
• 2 tbsp of honey
• Lemon or orange 

This is good for people with oily skin. Oranges and lemons are good for getting rid of extra oils but the honey will keep you from drying out. Also yum bananas. Mash up the banana and mix it with the honey and a few drops of lemon/orange juice. Apply and let it dry to your face. This one says to wipe it off with a cool washcloth or a steaming warm washcloth. 

 

Aspirin spot treament

• Aspirin 
• Water

Generic aspirin is good for this, don't buy the brand name stuff. Anyways, I've heard this from several people and apparently it's a miracle spot treatment. I've never used it but, I've heard good stuff. Let the aspirin tablet soak in a tbsp of water and then crush it. Apply it to your problem zit and leave it for 10 minutes and rinse it off. It should reduce the size of zits of eliminate them completely!

 

 

Hair:

 

When it comes to hair, you can use some of the same things as you do for your face. 

 

Olive oil is good for the damaged ends of your hair and helps repair and restore natural oils. This can get messy so don't wear anything nice and be prepared to feel gross and oily. I'd leave it in for 20-30 minutes.

 

Mayonnaise helps hydrate and works as a deep conditioner for your hair. I'd recommend this once a month if your hair is mostly healthy. If your hair really needs the conditioning, try it once every other week. Just throw some mayo in your hair and put a plastic bag or shower cap on your head and leave it in for as long as you want (recommending 20 minutes). I've used this before and wow your hair feels so soft and nice ugh you'll fall in love.

 

Avocado is good for your scalp and also helps with hydration or irritation. Mash it and put it on your scalp for a few minutes. 

 

Apple cider vinegar helps combat dandruff. Put it in a spray bottle with equal parts water to dilute it and use it about once a week in the shower. It shouldn't smell if you rinse it out. If it does use some perfume? 

 

I'll keep updating this as I find more things! I hope you guys find this helpful!

Edited March 30, 201312 yr by Koko

ahhh thank you so much for making this!! 

 

one thing I use that my grandma taught me is to mash up some apple and squeeze some lemon juice into a bag together, set it in the fridge overnight, and then use it like shampoo the next day. if your hair is kind of dull/not really shiny this is really helpful it adds some nice, healthy looking shine and it's just apple and lemon so it's not dangerous or anything. idk if anyone wants to use this but I thought I'd add it here anyway.

I'm a nationally licensed hair stylist and own a hair salon in South Carolina (my training was back in my hometown of PA though) and the hair ingredients are on point.

 

I do olive oil treatments on my hair once a week. The vitamins in olive oil is naturally found in our skin, hair, and nails.. so its safe to use on dry skin, dry cuticles, and dry hair. Its fine to put it on healthy hair, skin, and nails too just to keep up with its health.

 

Another great thing to prevent damage and split ends is to keep your hair away from heat when possible. Just let it dry naturally. I flat iron, wave, and curl my hair all the time and you'd never know it because its so silky and healthy. If you use the blow dryer, flat iron, curling iron, or waver daily, you should use a good heat protectant. The brand Moroccanoil is amazing. Thats my favorite and I use it on almost all of my clients. Its expensive, but worth it because you only need a little bit so the bottle lasts a long time.

 

Another thing is: Do NOT wash your hair everyday. Washing your hair everyday causes hair to get very dry. If your hair gets oily or greasy fast, use a dry shampoo on the roots. Dry shampoo leaves hair smelling clean, absorbs all the oil on your roots, and adds amazing volume. If you don't want to spend money on a good dry shampoo, you can always use baby powder. Just dust a little on the roots of your hair, rub it in really good so you don't see the residue, and style as normal.

 

Another thing with shampooing: A lot of people think using a clarifying shampoo is good for the hair. Not at all. You're only supposed to use a clarifying shampoo once or twice a month because it literally strips out your hairs natural oils, vitamins, and keratin that keep hair healthy. It really dries out your hair. Using it once or twice a month is fine if you swim a lot in the ocean, or in a chlorine pool, and just to get all the product buildup out of your hair. 

 

Another thing thats really good is called Cholesterol. Its basically pig fat, but it works wonders on the hair. I use that as well. You can get it at a Sally's Beauty Supply or ethnic hair places. What I do is: shampoo my hair twice, then put the cholesterol on the middle and tips of my hair only, leave it in for 3-5 minutes, rinse, then use my regular conditioner. You'll start to see and feel improvement right away.

 

I also know really good hair product lines to use in order to keep your hair healthy. I also know treatments. If you want to look at my hair pictures, you can go to www.facebook.com/cutbangblowhairstudio. I post pictures a lot of my clients hair, what I use, and before and afters.

 

I know a little about skin care. I use ProActive and that stuff is amazing. When I run out and don't buy it right away, I use clean and clear oil free cleanser, queen helene apricot exfoliating scrub, and witch hazel toner. 

 

If you have oily/greasy skin: a great facial mask is Mint Julep by Queen Helene. You can literally feel it sucking out the oil and imperfections out of your skin. It doesn't hurt or anything. No burning, no itching, just a tugging feeling. When its rinsed off, your skin is so soft and smooth. I love this stuff.

 

For dry skin: an oatmeal based mask is the best. It really moisturizes your skin the right amount. It also calms down redness and irritation caused by dry skin.

 

I guess thats about it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

I'm a nationally licensed hair stylist and own a hair salon in South Carolina (my training was back in my hometown of PA though) and the hair ingredients are on point.

 

I do olive oil treatments on my hair once a week. The vitamins in olive oil is naturally found in our skin, hair, and nails.. so its safe to use on dry skin, dry cuticles, and dry hair. Its fine to put it on healthy hair, skin, and nails too just to keep up with its health.

 

Another great thing to prevent damage and split ends is to keep your hair away from heat when possible. Just let it dry naturally. I flat iron, wave, and curl my hair all the time and you'd never know it because its so silky and healthy. If you use the blow dryer, flat iron, curling iron, or waver daily, you should use a good heat protectant. The brand Moroccanoil is amazing. Thats my favorite and I use it on almost all of my clients. Its expensive, but worth it because you only need a little bit so the bottle lasts a long time.

 

Another thing is: Do NOT wash your hair everyday. Washing your hair everyday causes hair to get very dry. If your hair gets oily or greasy fast, use a dry shampoo on the roots. Dry shampoo leaves hair smelling clean, absorbs all the oil on your roots, and adds amazing volume. If you don't want to spend money on a good dry shampoo, you can always use baby powder. Just dust a little on the roots of your hair, rub it in really good so you don't see the residue, and style as normal.

 

Another thing with shampooing: A lot of people think using a clarifying shampoo is good for the hair. Not at all. You're only supposed to use a clarifying shampoo once or twice a month because it literally strips out your hairs natural oils, vitamins, and keratin that keep hair healthy. It really dries out your hair. Using it once or twice a month is fine if you swim a lot in the ocean, or in a chlorine pool, and just to get all the product buildup out of your hair. 

 

Another thing thats really good is called Cholesterol. Its basically pig fat, but it works wonders on the hair. I use that as well. You can get it at a Sally's Beauty Supply or ethnic hair places. What I do is: shampoo my hair twice, then put the cholesterol on the middle and tips of my hair only, leave it in for 3-5 minutes, rinse, then use my regular conditioner. You'll start to see and feel improvement right away.

 

I also know really good hair product lines to use in order to keep your hair healthy. I also know treatments. If you want to look at my hair pictures, you can go to www.facebook.com/cutbangblowhairstudio. I post pictures a lot of my clients hair, what I use, and before and afters.

 

I know a little about skin care. I use ProActive and that stuff is amazing. When I run out and don't buy it right away, I use clean and clear oil free cleanser, queen helene apricot exfoliating scrub, and witch hazel toner. 

 

If you have oily/greasy skin: a great facial mask is Mint Julep by Queen Helene. You can literally feel it sucking out the oil and imperfections out of your skin. It doesn't hurt or anything. No burning, no itching, just a tugging feeling. When its rinsed off, your skin is so soft and smooth. I love this stuff.

 

For dry skin: an oatmeal based mask is the best. It really moisturizes your skin the right amount. It also calms down redness and irritation caused by dry skin.

 

I guess thats about it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

 

Aaah a lot of good stuff you mentioned!! Thank you!!

I have the bad habit of washing my hair everyday because otherwise I feel gross and greasy and oily and dry shampoo never worked for me.

I hear if you eliminate shampoo (since shampoo is pretty just removes all the natural oils from our hair, so our hair tries to make up for it by producing even more oil and etc etc), and switch to using baking soda to wash your hair (and apple cider vinegar with water as a sort of conditioner), eventually you can go from washing your hair everyday to only having to wash it once a week. I read a blog post about a woman who has been doing this for two years and her hair looks beautiful. I'd like to hear what you think about that though!

Also I'm a little iffy about proactive because it has lots of harsh and skin drying chemicals! Personally, it did not work for me at all but it all depends on the person. But if it works for others, it works!!

Also yes I heard witch hazel is really good too (I need to get my hands on some).

Again thanks for your input uwu I need to go check out that facial mask and the pig fat eue 

I'll have to try some of this stuff for my hair ^^  But I'm really loyal to the face wash I use.  It's called Carley's Clear and Smooth.  I love their philosophy that you should make the skin healthy first to treat acne.  They don't use any of the harsh chemicals other acne products use, just the benzoyl peroxide for acne.  The rest of the ingredients are natural oils to give your skin the nutrients it needs to be healthy, and they break down and explain what each ingredient is on their website.  I believe that I'm allergic to the fillers they stuff acne products in stores because this stuff has changed my skin.  My skin is soft and healthy.  I only get blemishes during that time of the month and usually they are gone in a day or two.  I also use their mineral makeup and moisturizer since most of those have questionable chemicals in it. Anyway, even if you don't know if you want to buy their product, I highly recommend reading the information on his products.  They are really informative about how companies exploit loopholes in the law to include extremely frightening ingredients in their products. http://www.clearandsmoothskin.com/

Aaah a lot of good stuff you mentioned!! Thank you!!

I have the bad habit of washing my hair everyday because otherwise I feel gross and greasy and oily and dry shampoo never worked for me.

I hear if you eliminate shampoo (since shampoo is pretty just removes all the natural oils from our hair, so our hair tries to make up for it by producing even more oil and etc etc), and switch to using baking soda to wash your hair (and apple cider vinegar with water as a sort of conditioner), eventually you can go from washing your hair everyday to only having to wash it once a week. I read a blog post about a woman who has been doing this for two years and her hair looks beautiful. I'd like to hear what you think about that though!

Also I'm a little iffy about proactive because it has lots of harsh and skin drying chemicals! Personally, it did not work for me at all but it all depends on the person. But if it works for others, it works!!

Also yes I heard witch hazel is really good too (I need to get my hands on some).

Again thanks for your input uwu I need to go check out that facial mask and the pig fat eue 

 

Yupp, baking soda is a very "old fashioned" trick. I only wash my hair once, sometimes twice, a week anyway haha. I'm Italian so I naturally have oily hair and skin, but dry shampoo works for me as does the baby powder trick. I never used the apple cider vinegar, but I have used beer! The beer I didn't like too much. It did make my hair shiny, but it didn't feel too good afterwards. I hate the smell of vinegar, so I don't use it for anything haha.