How should you prepare your face for a mask?

Quite a few women clumsily slather on some hurriedly prepared pastes on their faces, messing the hair and getting some of it into their eyes. Impatiently, they keep it on only for a couple of minutes and wash it off quickly and then expect to see a radiant, glowing face in the mirror. Obviously, the end-result will not be up to their expectations. So they force themselves to believe that the mask is ineffective and swear never to use it again. They then catch hold of a different recipe and repeat the same shoddy process of application. In spite of trying out dozens of such masks, the outcome is the same and they are back to square one.

Slapping on masks just for the sake of applying defeats the whole purpose of using masks to beautify your face. An instant, quick fix for the face cannot be achieved that instantly, and certainly not, if you apply it so sloppily and carelessly. You should always think of pampering yourself with masks and packs only when you are free, when your mind is calm and when you have all the time at your disposal. After all, the purpose of a mask is to soothe your face, invigorate the complexion and make it bloom. It should not irritate or worsen a problem in any way. Apply it correctly and carefully and the effect of the masks will be there to see for at least a week or ten days. 

How should you prepare your face for the mask? Keep your freshly prepared homemade mask in front of you along with a small bowl of lukewarm water, ice-cold water and a few cotton swabs. Now tie your hair back firmly and secure any fly-away strands with hair-pins so that the pastes don’t mess them. If you want, you can even use a hair band or tie a scarf around your hair to protect them. You might even consider wearing a smock or an apron to ensure that the pastes don’t soil your clothes. See to it that your face is clean and without any make-up or its remnants. As you shouldn’t steam your face too frequently to open up the pores (except in summers, when your face is too oily and grimy, you may take a mild steam once or twice a week), you can dip a cloth in hot water, wring off excess water and wipe your face gently with it to open the pores.

Spread the mask on your face with clean fingers or spatula. Avoid the area under the eyes. Especially, when you are using exfoliating masks you have to be more careful to avoid the tiny abrasive particles getting into your eyes. Besides, some facial masks can irritate the delicate skin around the eyes. Also, keep a thin clear margin area near the hairline. Do not massage the mask roughly onto your skin. Just apply it evenly and firmly.

Now relax with your eyes closed. If you prefer you may even place cotton swabs dipped in ice cold water or thin cold cucumber slices on your closed eyes. Retain the mask on your face for at least 15-20 minutes. After that wipe off the excess with cotton swabs, and rinse your face thoroughly with warm water. Finally, splash cold water. Then gently pat dry.