5 Tips To Follow While Making DIY Beauty Products

A recent trend in the beauty world is DIY beauty recipes made with safe, natural ingredients. These cosmetics and skin treatments do not contain harsh chemicals, preservatives, or ingredients that will irritate the skin – at least in most cases.

However, just because you are creating a homemade beauty treatment does not mean that you do not have to take care to ensure the safety and health of your products (even if you are just using them on yourself). The following tips will help you ensure your products are really as healthy as they are supposed to be.

Watch for Allergies

Natural products may have allergens that cause your face to swell or break out. If you know you are allergic to an ingredient, don’t use it. Common allergens include strawberries, tropical fruit, nuts, and essential oils. Always test these ingredients on a hidden area of skin before using them in any DIY beauty treatment applied to a large area.

Clean Your Water

Water is a main ingredient in many DIY beauty treatments, but everyday tap water is definitely not the water that you want to use. Tap water contains chemicals, bacteria, mold, and other contaminants that could irritate your skin. The best water to use is filtered bottled water, or homemade distilled water.

Sanitize Before Use

You shouldn’t use contaminated water for your DIY beauty recipes, and you shouldn’t use dirty containers either. If you leave residue in a container, that will quickly contaminate the cosmetic and make it unsuitable for use. Contamination can quickly lead to irritation, hives, or breakouts on the skin. Always clean any bottles and storage containers before use, preferably with a sanitizer like bleach. If you have glass containers, boil them for about 10 minutes in clear water before using them with your products.

Think about Preservation

Many DIY beauty treatments do not have preservatives, which is one reason why they are popular. Some companies such as hylunia also make beauty products with no or minimal preservatives. At home, a few ingredients act as mild preservatives, like vinegar, sugar, salt, and ascorbic acid. The more of these ingredients you add, the longer your beauty treatment will last. However, many recipes simply will not last no matter how many preservatives you add. Adding too much vinegar or ascorbic acid to beauty treatments may damage the skin, so it’s not a good idea to experiment. To avoid all issues with preservatives, do not make more of a recipe than you can use in a week or so. Certain recipes, like oil-based recipes or salt or sugar-based recipes will last longer. Generally, the more fresh fruit and “refrigerator” items that you add to a recipe, the less time it will last.

Storing Your Items

The best way to store your beauty treatments is in the refrigerator. Perishable products simply last longer when stored in a cold environment. Store items in an air-tight container and you can expect them to last for a week or longer. However, once the mixture loses its original texture or starts to change color or smells strange, it has probably gone bad so it’s time you threw it out.

You can do a lot for your skin with beauty treatments made at home. Many recipes offer safe, inexpensive alternatives to more expensive commercial treatments. However, for the most effective treatments, follow the steps outlined above to ensure your DIY products are safe.

This is a post by Ashley Williamson. Ashley is a freelance writer and an occasional guest-blogger interested in topics related to health, beauty and fitness. If you have any question feel free to leave a comment.

Comments

Aspirin for acne-prone skin

Aspirin has been around for a long time and its health benefits are wide and varied. Aspirin , or acetylsalicylic acid is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains , as an antipyretic to reduce fever , and as an anti-inflammatory medication. Aspirin's greatest benefit is reducing cardiovascular events including heart attacks and strokes. According to the American Heart Assoc. virtually all women are at risk of heart disease and doctors should more strongly consider prescribing a daily aspirin for their female patients. There is growing evidence to suggest regular aspirin use may reduce cancer and dementia as well. Investigators from the Women's Health Study have reported important new findings demonstrating that aspirin reduces the risk of a first stroke in women. When given to someone immediately after a heart attack, aspirin decreases death by 25%.

Kapalabhati Pranayam for wrinkle-free, radiant complexion

Did you know that Kapalabhati Pranayam / kriya can also be used to enhance your beauty and ward off skin aging? Done the right way, Kapalabhati Pranayam can be used as a beauty aid - it can give you a wrinkle-free, luminous forehead and radiant complexion. Kapalabhati For Beauty ‘Kapalabhati’ Pranayam breathing exercise is an excellent way of maintaining good health and fighting diseases. ‘Kapala’ means ‘skull’ (and ‘forehead’ also) and ‘bhati’ means ‘shining’. By doing kapalabhati, the ‘nadis’(nerves) of the brain get good exercise. This is achieved by exercising the diaphragm. There will be a glow on the forehead. After the age of 25, the tell-tale signs of ageing start making their appearance in the form of fine lines on the forehead. A regular practice of Kapalabhati for 10-15 minutes everyday will give you a tight forehead sans wrinkles for many years to come. Avoid Botox, try Kapalabhati Why resort to Botox and other expensive chemical or surgica...

I Tried a Headache Balm and Ended Up with Rashes

I do have this habit of slathering pain balms whenever I have a headache. But never did I get a skin reaction or rashes from it. It so happened that I had an extremely severe headache a few months ago. The pain was so unbearable that I gingerly reached out for a pain balm kept on my bedside table and kept on slathering it repeatedly all over the temples of my forehead. Next morning, after I woke up, I found that the skin on my forehead was peeling off and worse there were red rashes! This was the first time in my life that I was getting rashes from applying a pain balm on my forehead ! I have never had any pain balm allergy or as such! Side-effects due to application of a pain balm was something I've never come across all these years! I usually use pain balms of reputed companies – my usual favourites are Tiger balm, Amrutanjan, Zandu balm and Sloan’s balm. This time I had used Tiger balm. But why did it give me rashes now, when I had used it...

Aloevera, the wonder herb

Of all the herbs available in the kitchen garden, aloe is perhaps the richest in healing properties and has been rightly named the “first-aid” plant. It has moisturizing and emollient properties and is used in cosmetic creams, sun-lotions, shaving creams and face packs. It can easily be cultivated as a house-plant in a sunny warm spot with good drainage. Cosmetologists mix aloe with several other herbs and draft fancy names for it. Then these “herbal” avatars are sold at exorbitant prices. Growing a plant and using fresh gel is much more effective than bottled gel, simply because it is alive and therefore is more potent. It is the only plant whose extract is applied directly from plant to face in its natural and purest form.

Lemon as a beauty aid

The diminutive lemon is a very versatile beauty-aid and this cheap and golden-coloured fruit has excellent properties for enhancing your looks. Simple lemon-based preparations, you can mix in your own kitchen, will surely bring a dramatic transformation in your beauty regimen.