Sunday 26 May 2013

Skin like Cleopatra

Cleopatra had legendary skin.

Awful taste in men but legendary skin.  Smooth, clear and soft in a climate hot and arid and in times before cosmetic houses made big bucks from their lotions and potions.

One of her secrets?  Milk.  Asses milk to be exact but if you don't have a handy ass in the back garden cow's will do at a push.  It's apparently the lactic acid in milk that makes this simple face scrub so effective as it helps to remove old skin cells.  Buttermilk is supposed to be even better as it has a higher concentration of lactic acid in it.  Right now though the less buttermilk I have in my house the better as it is the primary ingredient in a number of baking recipes and I'm supposed to be being relatively good at the moment.

I digress.

My skin has been looking a little congested recently.  Nothing too serious but it could do with being fresher and the pores could do with being being a little clearer.  I've always suffered from blackheads in my T-Zone and like most people have found them to be stubborn little blighters that no amount of sticky strips and shop bought facial scrubs seem to shift.

Fed up with the sheer lack of results over the years I turned to my store cupboard after doing a bit of on-line research.
Nutmeg and milk.  Seriously?  It CANNOT be that simple.

Apparently it was.

I'm a little bit gobsmacked to be honest.  I mixed them together to create a thin paste, wet my face with a little water (skin should be clean to start with) and applied the mixture in gentle circular motions over my problem areas for about 5 minutes and then rinsed off.  The nutmeg is a natural exfoliant and has anti-inflammatory properties.  The difference is a bit jaw dropping.  All for about 1p (ish - I didn't actually sit down and work out how much powder and milk I used.  It was very, very cheap though).
You could mix it up further by adding cinnamon, honey, lemon, banana, papaya; there is a whole world of DIY home face treatments out there.  

There is an added bonus - or downside depending on how you look at it.

My face now smells like Christmas.

4 comments:

  1. Try Tumeric and Lemon Juice. That's an awesome combo.

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    1. Interesting! Bit worried about the tumeric dying my skin a wierd shade of orange but I have heard good things about it as a beauty aid!

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    2. If you mix little bit of turmeric with lemon juice and garbanzo flour, then apply a thin layer of this paste that works great. You will not be left with the tint of the turmeric and it works as a natural exfoliant and cleanser for your skin. Rinse after the paste is dry.

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    3. Garbanzo flour?! I must admit I have never heard of that before! Intriguing...I will need to investigate, thanks very much for the tip!

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