Skin Care Routines

Dedicated to Jillian

I've been recently asked about tips for dry skin, which is especially common during these winter months. I have a handful of tips, and the response is a little long for a facebook comment so I'm making a post just for my new friend Jillian :)

Ladies, it's recommended that we have a daily skin care routine. Everybody's skin is different so everyone's skin care needs will be different. Typically everyone's routine should contain steps to cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize, and protect their skin and should be preferably performed in the morning and again at night.

Step 1: Cleanse

It's hard to shop around for skin care products, their so many different kinds and their usually so expensive.

I use a homemade cleanser daily and you can find the recipe here. For dry skin, I would recommend that you use 2 parts coconut oil with 1 part castor oil, rather than equal parts like the recipe suggests. For example use 2/3 cups coconut oil with 1/3 cup castor oil and you've just made about a 6 month supply. This recipe is great for removing make up and free radicals, works to keep your skin moisturized, and even made my eyelashes longer (check out my follow up report after I'd used it for a few weeks here)

Some other options for finding a good cleanser, without buying the whole pharmacy, would be to contact some direct sales consultants (for example: Avon, Mary Kay, or Amway). They'll let you try products before you make a purchase and even help you find which of their products will work best for your skin. Be careful, though, some of these consultants can be pushy sales representatives.

Step 2: Exfoliate

Face scrubs and microdermabrasion are good examples of facial exfoliation.

My home made recipe can be found here under 'Daily Face Scrub'. If you don't have all the products needed for this particular recipe you can literally use baking soda and water (there's a recipe on the Arm & Hammer box!).

When you exfoliate you knock of all the dry skin cells and reveal the healthy skin underneath. Which sounds awesome when your fighting winter dryness, right? Just be careful, over exfoliation can have a reverse effect. I would recommend exfoliating 3-4 times a week, rather than daily, and then you can increase to daily if it seems necessary.

Step 3: Moisturize

This one is probably most important when your fighting off dry patches. If you're using a brand from the pharmacy for your cleanser that brand probably has a recommended moisturizer it should be paired with.

To do things the more economical way you can also use whipped coconut oil, just use a mixer to whip a cup of coconut oil. If you don't like the way that makes your skin feel you can also try Aloe Vera gel, or unscented baby lotion. You might have to try a few different things to find the moisturizer that works best for your skin.

Step 4: Protect

It's recommended to use a SPF that's sensitive enough for your face every day. It's less expensive to just avoid the sun or wear a hat :)

You can protect your skin during the day with a foundation, SPF lotion, or even a translucent face powder. I've just begun making my own translucent face powder, see my recipe here. You ca use it alone or wear it over your make up.