My latest obsession is skincare and natural remedies for hair and body. I took it upon myself to start a new journey much like my natural hair one and in this post I’ll share my progress and results thus far.

I have mild acne. I don’t get cysts or full-face breakouts but I do have scarring and discoloration. Obviously, it’s a feature of mine that makes me quite self-conscious and insecure at times. My skin is combination/oily with my forehead, ball and sides of my nose, and upper lip being the areas that produce the excess oils.

One thing that I always strive for in the appearance of my skin is the texture and hydration. After researching and understanding how my skin reacts and works, I came up with this simple DIY solution to help me maintain smooth and soft skin. Depending on your skin type, it may work for you too.

Simple Cleansing Mask & Facial Scrub

What You’ll Need: raw honey, brown sugar, oil of choice, apple cider vinegar

1. Mix desired amounts of honey, oil and apple cider vinegar (ACV) into a container. A good unit of measurement is to get about a tablespoonful of honey and half a teaspoon of oil and ACV. Or use a 2:1:1 ratio.
2. When adding brown sugar, the amount needed varies. It really depends on your skin type. If you know your skin is sensitive, use a pinch size amount or none depending on how you react to abrasion. Keep in mind, the sugar is being used as an exfoliate which essentially breaks away dead skin on surface level of skin. If used excessively, irritation can form as a result. Please measure each ingredient per what your skin can handle.
3. Now that the honey, coconut oil, ACV and sugar are mixed together, apply the mixture onto damp skin. Massage the scrub into slow circular motion.
4. Leave scrub on face for 2-5 minutes.
5. Rinse off with cool water. Proceed to moisturize with preferred hydrating products. My personal favorite moisturizing products are Glossier’s Priming Moisturizer (only available in the US) or Pond’s Crema S moisturizer. Both work great for my normal-to-oily skin.

‍

When it comes to the choice of oil, I’d recommend coconut or almond oil. Both are great for retaining moisture on the skin. You should also know that because honey is a natural antioxidant this facial mask/scrub  may end up pushing your deep facial dirt out to the surface before it “cleans” it. Once all your dirt is surface level, the real magic can happen.

This DIY facial scrub and mask recipe is one I’ve made recently and I love how it makes my skin feel. I started using this scrub once a day every night for two weeks before I saw any prominent difference. My skin became much smoother and remained moisturized for longer than usual. Now that my skin is used to the scrub, I only use it once every 2-3 days in my nighttime skincare regime.

I would advise that you test the mask on an area of skin before applying all over the face. Remember; everyone’s skin is different. It’s very important to understand your skin and customize ingredients and instructions for your skin type.

‍