What’s the Purest Face Cleanser on the Planet?

We all want nontoxic skincare products. What we may not all know is why. The skin is the largest organ in the digestive system. Yes, I said digestive system. Your skin is made from the same epidermal cells as in the stomach and small intestine and plays the same three core functions as your digestive system: immunity, digesting things into the body and excreting things out of the body.

In about 20 minutes, your skin will chomp down whatever lies on its surface and deliver it into your bloodstream. You can literally feed your body through your skin, whether with nicotine and estrogen patches or shea butter body lotion. That’s why nontoxic skincare ingredients are essential. Just as we choose the food we put in our mouths to meet our physical and emotional needs on any given day, we can choose our skin food with the same dynamic approach. For instance, if you feel overheated, you can add cooling ingredients like sandalwood and yogurt to your homemade face wash. Feeling cold? Warming ingredients like honey and sesame oil can help heat you up from the outside in.

According to Ayurveda, there’s something powerful that exists in nature for every ailment, whether that’s dry skin or inflamed acne. In the chart below, I’ve listed a sampling of edible skincare ingredients and their healing properties. I encourage you to play with them all in various combinations, as if you were taste-testing different smoothies. You can choose to incorporate as many ingredients from each category as you wish. Naturally, some will appeal to you more than others. This approach of listening to what your body prefers is also at the core of Ayurveda.

6 Steps to Creating Your Own Nontoxic Face Cleanser

STEP 1:

Choose your desired healing effects. It’s okay to have two or three. You can work on excess oil and still moisturize at the same time. It’s good to try each separately as well.

STEP 2:

Choose your chief herbs. These will represent the bulk herbal portion of your face wash.

STEP 3:

Add in your supportive herbs and the skin foods that complement the chief herb’s healing effects. You can use one part each if you have multiple supports. If there are only one or two supports being used, feel free to use two parts each.

STEP 4:

Add in your essential oils of choice. A few drops should be enough for up to one cup of the herb and food mixture.

Please note: If your mix contains dry herbs and essential oils only, you can store it at room temperature for three months (or six months in the fridge). If you add in fresh food ingredients, you must keep your mixture in the fridge and it’ll be good for only one or two days max.

STEP 5:

Choose your blending base to turn your dry mix into paste. You need double the amount of base as the food-herb mix. This is also where you can adjust your formula based on how you’re feeling at that moment, adding warming honey and/or sesame oil or cooling milk and/or yogurt.

STEP 6:

Slather the mixture on your face and massage your facial muscles for a few minutes. Rinse off. For an exfoliating mask experience, leave your mixture on until it starts to dry and then wash it off in circular movements.

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All-Natural Skincare Ingredients for Targeted Healing