The Easier Way to Create a Homemade Mask for Glowing Skin

A lot of the facial masks on the market now that promise to give you glowing, healthy skin are full of chemicals and other ingredients you really don’t want coming in contact with your body.

You probably have everything you need to create a homemade mask for glowing skin in your kitchen right now, and if the ingredients are edible, they’re safe to put on your skin.

DIY masks can also be a lot cheaper than some of the other alternatives, too.

How to Make a Mask for Glowing Skin at Home

Making a homemade mask for glowing skin at home may not even require a special trip to the store for ingredients, especially if you’re pretty committed to a healthy diet (many of these are staple items!).

These are all things you may already have at your house (maybe not the pumpkin, but it’s possible!).

This particular mask brightens, exfoliates, balances oil production, and moisturizes.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe organic banana or 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 avocado
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 Tbsp raw honey
• 1 tsp lemon or lime juice
• ¼ cup oatmeal

Directions:

The easiest way to mix everything up and get a smooth consistency is to toss all the ingredients into a food processor.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can also mash the banana and avocado with a fork until they’re mostly smooth, then add in the other ingredients. Mix well.

Pat a little warm water onto your face, dry until skin is just slightly damp, and apply the mask. Wait 10-15 minutes and rinse well with warm water.

Moisturize as usual (we recommend coconut, jojoba, or sweet almond oil). Refrigerate any leftovers and use the mask again mid-week, if needed.

You can use this mask two to three times per week.

Note: If your skin is sensitive or very dry, leave out the lemon/lime juice.

Problematic Ingredients You May Be Using

Navigating the shelves of today’s skin care products can sometimes feel like walking through a minefield. What’s truly going to be helpful and what has negative long-term side effects?

Luckily, you don’t have to wonder when you’re making a homemade mask for glowing skin. If you’re curious, though, here are some of the ingredients commonly found in commercial facial masks:

• TEA: Nope, not the tea you can drink! TEA stands for triethanolamine and it’s often used as fragrance, an emulsifying agent, or pH adjuster. Depending on what else is in the product (or in other products you’ll be applying to your skin on top of potential mask residue), TEA could interact with other preservatives and form carcinogens that are then absorbed into the body through the skin.
• Parabens: These are added to skin care and cosmetic products as preservatives (you’ll see “paraben” at the end of an ingredient, i.e. methylparaben). Parabens can act like estrogen in the body and disrupt the endocrine system.
• Synthetic fragrance: These are made up of chemicals and you never know what concoction it is that you’re getting from a product that simply lists “fragrance” as an ingredient. It’s best to steer clear.
• Propylene glycol: You could irritate your skin if you frequently use products containing this ingredient. Though you probably won’t be using a mask on a daily basis, it’s something to consider, especially if propylene glycol is in other skin care products you use.
• Diazolidinyl urea: This is a formaldehyde-releasing ingredient often added to personal care products as a preservative. Instead of adding formaldehyde (a carcinogen) to a product, companies will sometimes use ingredients like this one, which release small amounts of formaldehyde over time. In addition to the link to cancer, formaldehyde is a potential skin irritant.

Why the Ingredients in This Mask?

The ingredients in this mask work together to brighten, moisturize, fight aging, slough away dead skin cells, and reveal a brighter, glowing complexion.

Bananas

Bananas can instantly moisturize and soften your skin, and over time they may even reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

The high concentration of vitamin C can brighten your complexion.

Did you know you can also use bananas in your hair? Untrained Housewife shared her experience here.

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is a natural acne-fighter. It can help fight inflammation and make your pores look smaller.

If you’ve spent a little too much time in the sun, vitamins A and C can soothe your skin and make it feel softer.

The enzymes in pumpkin can also help whisk away dry, flaky skin when you rinse it off.

Avocado

You probably know all about eating avocados for glowing, beautiful skin, but you can apply it to the outside, too.

It’s rich in vitamins E and K, which soften the skin while repairing damage and reducing scarring. The fatty acids in avocados also moisturize your skin.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is not just for moisture. The oil also contains antioxidants called polyphenols, along with vitamin E and other natural antioxidants that help protect against free radical damage.

Raw Honey

Raw honey has antibacterial and moisturizing properties, so it’s good for acne-prone and dry skin. It’s one of the best ingredients you can put on your face, regardless of skin type.

There are also antioxidants to slow aging, so you get to enhance and prolong your youthful glow.

Lemon or Lime Juice

Citrus fruits are rich in vitamin C, which has the added benefit of brightening your skin and shrinking pores when applied topically.

The same alkalizing effects that come from your daily hot water with lemon also come into play when lemon (or lime) juice is applied to your face. It can help fight bacteria associated with acne breakouts.

Oatmeal

If you’re dealing with excess oil, the oatmeal will help balance your skin out. Rosacea? Oatmeal will help soothe that, too.

Adding oatmeal to a facial mask also increases its exfoliation properties without putting your skin at risk for little microscopic tears that do more harm in the long run.

Some over-the-counter exfoliants are too harsh and jagged, and they can damage your skin over time.

You can also use oatmeal all over your body, in the shower (no need to set aside a half hour or more for a bath!). One Good Thing by Jillee made up some cute bags that you can take into the shower or keep by the sink to use on your hands.

Who Can Benefit from This Mask?

Any skin type can benefit from the properties of this mask. Those with dry skin will benefit from the moisturizing properties of the oil, avocado, and oatmeal, while those with acne or scarring will enjoy the antibacterial effects of the honey and brightening from the lemon or lime juice. 

We do recommend doing a test patch first, just as you should do with any skin care treatment. At least a few hours before you plan to use it all over, put a small amount of the mask on your jaw line or on the inside of your arm and leave it there for 10 to 15 minutes, then wash it away.  

In Love and Health,

Kimberly