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You’ll be amazed at the things you can use to clean your skin—natural beauty products that are much gentler than soap. And you may be glad to know that you can forego massaging chemical beauty products onto your skin, but that you don’t have to give up your efforts to stay youthful looking in the process. Read on to learn about some of the best beauty products that you can make at home, many of them use natural ingredients you may already have. Some natural beauty products are easy and effortless to make; others take a bit more work and preparation.

Natural Makeup Removers

This beauty product recipe makes enough for about fifteen applications. Apply it to your face with your fingertips and then gently wipe it (and your makeup) away with a soft tissue or a cotton ball. Follow with a natural astringent and moisturizer. Your natural makeup remover will keep, unrefrigerated, for about 30 days.

Naturally Moisturizing Makeup Remover

1 cup virgin olive oil

½ cup pure vegetable shortening

2 vitamin E capsules, 400 IU each

1. Measure olive oil and pure vegetable shortening into a microwave-safe bowl.
2. Gently heat mixture in the microwave, using the defrost setting. Check it every ten seconds, stirring the mixture and rotating the bowl until shortening is melted.
3. Prick vitamin E capsules with a sterilized pin and squeeze contents into the mixture. (Vitamin E acts as a preservative.)
4. Whip mixture until it’s cooled.
5. Pour into a sterilized glass jar.

Keep in mind that purists never use a microwave to prepare a natural beauty product. Feel free to use a pan or double boiler if you prefer.

You don’t have to use fancy beauty products to clean your face. When you’re in a hurry, you can wash away makeup by using these natural products:

• Plain yogurt
• Sweet almond oil applied with a cotton ball (this also works for removing eye makeup).

Skin Cleansers

Scrubbing up can be fun, especially when you use these natural beauty products to do it. The beauty product recipes and ideas in this section are gentle enough for your face, but can be used to keep the skin on your body beautiful, too.

If you have normal or oily skin, take a few leftover strawberries, mash them into a pulp, and smooth them over your face. Rinse with cold water and follow with a natural astringent and moisturizer.

Get the Ball Rolling Natural Beauty Cleanser

1 cup finely chopped raisins

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup ground oatmeal

1 TB. dry milk powder

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix together. You’ll want a semi-dry mixture that you can roll between your hands to form into balls. Add more ground oatmeal or milk powder, if necessary.
3. Roll into balls, each containing about a tablespoon of the mixture.
4. Roll the formed balls in more ground oatmeal to prevent them from sticking together.
5. Use in place of your regular soap or facial cleanser.

Exfoliating Scrubs

You can premix these exfoliating scrubs to keep on hand for your face and body. Store them in a plastic bag or a glass jar. When you’re ready to use them, simply measure out a tablespoon and mix it with some water, or one of the water alternatives in the list below. They’re especially good for scrubbing the skin on your elbows and heels if you grind the meals more coarsely. Mix and match from both lists to create a variety of natural beauty products that work best for your needs:

• Almond meal
• Sunflower seed meal
• Equal parts of dry milk powder and ground oatmeal (good for sensitive skin)
• Equal parts of cornmeal and ground oatmeal
• Equal parts of brewer's yeast and ground oatmeal

Instead of making your paste with water, try one of these natural alternatives:

• Honey (for dry skin)
• Plain yogurt (for normal skin)
• Papaya pulp and some sea salt (for oily or normal skin)
• Applesauce (A paste made from applesauce and ground sunflower seeds is especially good for dry skin.)
• Lemon juice (for oily skin)
• Pineapple juice (full of fruit enzymes)

Natural Beauty Masks

Natural facial masks are easy to make and fun to use.

This mask is a great exfoliant. It’s good for normal to oily skin.

Breakfast Facial Mask

2 or 3 TB. ground oatmeal

3 large, ripe strawberries

1 TB. cream, milk, or yogurt

1. Combine ingredients. Mix together to form a paste, adding more ground oatmeal if necessary.
2. Apply the mask to your face using your fingertips, be careful to avoid your eyes.
3. Leave the mask in place for ten minutes.
4. Wash your face with cool water and pat dry with a soft towel.

This facial is good enough to eat! Instead, gain the benefits of all the rich, natural products without any of the calories.

Natural Nighttime Moisturizing Mask

1 tsp. honey

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. plain yogurt

1 TB. mashed, ripe avocado

1. Combine all ingredients in a cup.
2. Mix together with a fork, until the mixture forms a paste.
3. Apply the mask to your face using your fingertips, be careful to avoid your eyes.
4. Leave the mask in place for ten minutes.
5. Wash your face with cool water and pat dry with a soft towel.

Facial Toner and Astringents

Parsley Toner

A natural way to tone your face, and help eliminate blackheads at the same time, is to make a toner out of parsley water. To make this beauty product, soak fresh parsley overnight in enough mineral or distilled water to cover the parsley completely. Strain the mixture and discard the parsley. Pour the parsley water into a sterilized bottle and store in the refrigerator. If you prefer to keep your toner in the bathroom, add a tablespoon of vodka to the parsley water; vodka acts as a natural preservative. To use, pour the toner onto a cotton ball or square and gently wipe over your face.

Astringents are used to remove any remaining traces of a cleanser from your skin. They also remove or reduce excess oils on your skin. People with dry skin should usually skip this step and apply a moisturizer after cleansing the face. Those with normal to oily skin types can try a natural astringent.

Here’s the opportunity to use up those strawberries that are in your refrigerator and never got around to serving up for dessert. You’ll need to wash them, but you don’t have to remove the stems to make this recipe.

Strawberry Fields Forever Astringent

Overripe strawberries

Vodka

1. Place strawberries, loosely packed, into a sterilized glass jar.
2. Cover them with vodka.
3. Place the lid on the jar and set inside the refrigerator.
4. Once or twice a day, over the next three or four days, shake the jar to redistribute the alcohol in the vodka.
5. On the fourth or fifth day, strain the vodka into a sterilized bottle. Cap and label the bottle. Refrigerate until it’s needed.
6. Apply to face using a cotton ball.

Other simple, natural astringents include:

• Aloe vera gel
• 2 TB. lemon juice mixed with ½ cup witch hazel (available at most drug stores)
• ¼ cup cider vinegar mixed with 2 cups distilled water

Bath Soaks

Bran penetrates the pores of your skin and helps deep-clean away dirt and grime naturally. Oatmeal is a gentle and natural beauty cleanser and skin softener. Combine the two and you have a fantastic natural beauty combination to add to your bath.

This is a case where a purist would get out the sewing machine and stitch up some muslin or cheesecloth bags but using an old cotton sock works just as well:

Sock It to Me!

¼ cup bran

¼ cup oatmeal

1. Pour the ingredients into the sock.
2. Use some cord to tie the sock shut, leaving enough string to tie the sock to the faucet so that it hangs in the water flow as the tub fills.
3. Untie the sock from the faucet and use it in place of a washcloth.

For a simple beauty bath take a tip from Cleopatra; don’t let that milk go to waste: add it to your bathwater instead, to keep your skin soft and beautiful.

Moisturizers for Face and Body

This natural beauty mixture will feel a bit sticky on your skin when you first apply it, but it’s quickly absorbed. This beauty product is especially good for dry skin and preventing wrinkles. Store it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.

Oh Honey, Your Face Feels Terrific

¼ cup milk

¾ cup cream

2 tsp. honey

1 egg yolk

1. Pour milk into a microwave-safe bowl and add honey.
2. Microwave on a low setting for 15 seconds. Stir until honey dissolves into the milk. (Repeat this step as often as is necessary for the honey to dissolve, but be careful not to overheat the milk; you do not want it to boil.)
3. Slowly pour cream into honey and milk mixture. Whip gently.
4. Add egg yolk and continue to whip the mixture until all are combined, about three minutes.
5. Pour into a sterilized glass jar.
6. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Don’t Forget the Strawberries Beauty Lotion

2 TB. virgin olive oil

1 TB. castor oil

2 TB. mashed strawberries

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Pour into a sterilized glass jar. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

In our grandmother’s time castor oil was a miracle beauty product and it is all natural. It was used to prevent age spots on skin, and to treat general dryness and redness. Try it.

Safety First

Regardless of how you prepare your natural beauty products, please keep these things in mind:

• It’s better to be safe than sorry: always test any new product (even these natural, homemade ones) on a patch of skin before you use it on your face or all over your body; you don’t want to risk an allergic reaction.
• Always label your natural beauty products and safely store them out of the reach of children—especially products containing vodka, vitamin E, or witch hazel. Some of these beauty products sound good enough to eat, but that doesn’t mean that you want to, or that you want your kids to do so either.
• Pay attention to the shelf life of your natural beauty products: unlike preservative-laden commercial beauty products, most of these beauty products become volatile and prone to spoilage or mold once you add a liquid to them. Vitamin E or vodka acts as a natural preservative but unless otherwise noted, it’s best to store most natural beauty products in the refrigerator.
• Protect your eyes: most skin cleansers can irritate them. This is especially true for any beauty product containing vinegar.

As you can see, there’s no need to spend lots money on commercial beauty products, even natural ones. Everything you need to keep your face and skin beautiful can be found at your grocery store. And best of all it’s all natural, and made by you!