Natural Facial and Body Care Treatments...

My good friend Cindy had made some very nice facial and body natural goodies up for her, myself and some of our good friends. Today I'd like to share them with you. I have to confess though, I haven't tried all of these myself but she highly recommends any of these.
Most of the ingredients can be found right at home in your own cupboard and will bring you relaxing tranquility, at least for a short while.
Ingredients that are not normal household ingredients, such as the essential oils and carrier oils (some you probably cook with) are not expensive and will last quite a while if stored properly in a cool, dry area away from light.
Several Recipes call for Oatmeal Powder, to make this, just put a cup of oatmeal into a blender and blend this until it is a very fine powder. Store in a dry jar with a tight fitting lid for future use.
Avocado spoils over night and must be used the same day, but for the rest, as with any other perishable food product, if you have more than one treatment mixed up, store the remainder in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or share with a friend!
Enjoy...

Hawaiian Delight
Makes 2 treatments
Ingredients:
1 green tea bag
1 cup boiling water
1/2 ripe papaya
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, diced
2 tablespoons honey
Directions:
Steep green tea in boiling water. Set aside to cool. Peel papaya wedge and remove seeds. In blender or food processor, blend papaya and pineapple until pureed. Pour into glass bowl and combine honey and green tea. Mix well. Apply to face with fan brush or finger tips. Recline and rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove completely with tepid water and soft facial cloth. Store in covered container in refrigerator for up to one week.
Beauty Benefits: Exfoliates, hydrates and rejuvenates.

Apple and Honey Masks
Use this facial for acne prone oily skin.
Ingredients:
1 medium size apple; grated
5 tablespoons of honey; warmed
Instructions:
Stir ingredients together. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Apple Mask
This is a rejuvenating mask, it exfoliates and moisturizes.
Ingredients:
1/4 of an apple
1/2 tsp Half and half
1 Tsp honey
1 T oatmeal powder
Instructions:
Mash with a fork in a small bowl, or use very small food processor and mix it together well. Then apply it to your face. Leave on for 10 minutes and then rinse off.

Avocado Mask
This is one of those masks that leave your skin very soft to touch and the ingredients could not be more simple.
1/2 Avocado
Instructions:
Mash avocado and apply evenly to your face. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off with cool water or soft wash cloth.

Banana Avocado Mask
This mixture with exfoliate and nourish your skin at the same time. Great for combination skin.
Ingredients:
1/2 banana
1/2 avocado
2 Tbsp full-fat yogurt
1 tsp olive oil
Instructions:
Puree all ingredients in a blender. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Banana Bash Mask
This facial mask tastes as good as it works. Use half and eat the other half of this recipe.
Ingredients:
1/2 banana
2 tablespoons yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
Instructions:
Mash the banana with a fork then mix in honey and yogurt. Apply to your face evenly. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off with cool water or soft wash cloth.
Banana Oat Mask
Bananas have fruit acids that help slough off dead skin, this facial energizes the complexion and makes your face feel great!
Ingredients:
1 medium to large very ripe Banana; peeled
1/3 cup oatmeal powder(depends on the size of the banana, you may need just a bit more)
Instructions:
Mash the oatmeal into the ripe banana a little at a time. Continue until all of the oatmeal is moistened. Apply to your face evenly, leaving it on for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off with warm water or soft wash cloth.


Banana E mask
The vitamin e in this homemade mask will help heal the skin.
Ingredients:
1 medium to large very ripe Banana; peeled
4 Vitamin E gel caps (you may use the oral gel caps too)
Instructions:
Vitamin E can help heal the skin while the banana will energize the face. Mash the banana and squeeze the liquid out of the gel caps. Mix well with the banana. Avoiding the eye area, apply the mask and leave on for 10 minutes. Rinse with warm water and pat dry.

Brown Sugar Mask Scrub
Brown sugar will exfoliate your skin as the milk moisturizes it.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 - 2 tbsp milk, anything but skim (skim has no fats to moisturize your skin)
Instructions:
Mix the two ingredients well. Apply to freshly cleaned face and massage gently for a full minute - leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Carrots and Honey Mask
Use this facial mask on normal to oily skin.
Ingredients:
2-3 large carrots; cooked and mashed
4 1/2 tablespoons honey
Instructions:
Stir ingredients together. Apply to freshly cleaned face - do not massage in - and leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Classic Milk Mask
This mask is excellent for dry skin.
Ingredients:
1 tsp powdered milk
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp aloe vera gel
2 drops essential oil
1 tbsp pulverized almonds
Instructions:
Mix the ingredients well. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Just Peachy Mask
1 soft medium peach; fork mashed
1 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon oatmeal powder
Instructions:
Mix ingredients together. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Refreshing Cucumber Mask
Need to make your face feel good after a long day at work, try this facial recipe.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp full-fat yogurt
1 Tbsp cucumber; chopped
1 Tbsp fresh parsley; chopped
Instructions:
Puree all ingredients in a blender. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Rosewood Exfoliating Mask
This mask is excellent for exfoliating dead skin.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp warm water
2 drops essential oil - rosewood
Instructions:
Stir sugar in warm water until dissolved. Add rosewood essential oil. Apply to freshly cleaned face and massage gently for 5 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Soothing Mask
Use this on irritated skin, like a sunburned face or shoulders.
Ingredients:
1 part plain yogurt, chilled
1/2 part old fashioned oatmeal; cooked and cooled
(optional)2 drops essential oil - jasmine
Instructions:
Stir ingredients together. Add jasmine essential oil. Apply to area and leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Soothing Strawberry Mask
Use this on normal or combination skin.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup plain yogurt; chilled
3-4 strawberries; mashed
Instructions:
Stir ingredients together. Apply to freshly cleaned face and gently massage strawberry mixture to exfoliate. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Strawberries & Cream Mask
A great weekly facial mask.
Ingredients:
4-5 very ripe med-size strawberries
2 tsp. heavy cream
1 tsp. honey
Instructions:
Puree strawberries, cream and honey together in a blender. Apply to your face evenly. Leave it on for 10 minutes. Rinse off with cool water or soft wash cloth.

Strawberry Lemon Mask
This mask is excellent for oily skin.
Ingredients:
1 tsp lemon juice
2 egg whites
3 tsp honey
1 cup strawberries
Instructions:
Blend with a blender ingredients well. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.


Yogurt Walnut Scrub
The nuts exfoliate old dry skin while the yogurt sooths.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup plain yogurt; chilled
1/4 cup walnuts; ground or pulverized
Instructions:
Stir ingredients together. Apply to freshly cleaned face and gently massage to exfoliate. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.


Cornmeal Facial Scrub
If you really need a facial scrub, this one works wonders.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornmeal
water
Instructions:
Mix cornmeal with enough water to make a paste. Apply to skin in a circular motion. Allow to dry and rinse off with cool water.


Cucumber Yogurt Mask
Cucumber always revives, and it does in this recipe too.
Ingredients:
1/2 cucumber
1 tablespoon yogurt
Instructions:
Puree cucumber and yogurt in a blender, apply to your face evenly. Leave it on for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off with cool water or soft wash cloth.

Firming Peach Mask
This is a firming facial mask that will tighten your skin and give it a glow.
Ingredients:
1 ripe peach
1 egg white
1 tsp full-fat yogurt
Instructions:
Puree all ingredients in a blender. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Grapefruit Mask
This facial mask is great for oily skin.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon sour cream
1 egg white
Instructions:
This is for an oily to normal skin type. Beat egg white until it is fluffy, add sour cream and grapefruit juice and blend well. Apply to face for 15 minutes, then rinse with warm water.

Lemon Tomato Mask
Use this on oily skin. The acid in the tomato and lemon work on acne and blackheads.
Ingredients:
1 over-ripe tomato; inside scooped and mashed
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp oatmeal powder
Instructions:
Puree all ingredients in a blender. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.

Papaya Mask
A wonderful and easy to make mask, you will need 1 papaya.
Instructions:
Peel and remove seeds. Chop into pieces and drop into food processor. Puree until papaya is the consistency of baby food. Use 1/2 a tablespoon for each facial. Keep leftovers in a baggie in the frig. Research shows that it is one of the best non-abrasive masks that you can use. It contains a strong enzyme called pa pain which dissolves oil and dead skin cells.

Orange Yogurt Mask
This facial cleans pores and nourishes.
Ingredients:
1 tsp plain yogurt
juice of 1/4 of an orange
Instructions:
Stir to mix and then dip fingers into mixture and smooth onto face. The sensation is both cool and relaxing. Leave on for a five minutes and then rinse. If you are feeling sluggish, this is the perfect mask for you. The yogurt will cleanse and nourish. The orange is full of Vitamin C and AH A's.

Nourishing Mask
Does your face need a nourishment break? Try this mask. Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tsp almond oil
1 T half and half
Instructions:
Combine the ingredients and apply to your face. Leave on for about 15 minutes. Remove with cool water.

Cocoa powder, which is what chocolate is made of, is a wonderful and powerful antioxidant. It protects and frees the skin from free radicals, that cause significant damage to skin layers. It is a mistake to think that chocolate causes acne. Although chocolate has been blamed as one of the causes of acne , this has not been scientifically proven as of yet. Actually, dermatologists say that what causes acne in people who consume chocolate is milk that is added to it, not the chocolate itself.


Chocolate Bubble Bath
1 cup of unscented bubble bath
1/2 cup of dried milk powder or unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup of Baking Soda (The addition of Baking Soda/Bicarbonate of Soda to your bath water neutralizes the "hard" calcium water)
3 oz. of unsweetened chocolate, grated
Heat the soy milk (or powdered milk mixed in half of a cup of very hot water), do NOT boil and add in the powdered chocolate. Stir well until melted and blended. Allow to cool. Mix well again just before adding to your bath.

Chocolate Face Mask #1
This cocoa recipe has many variations. You could call it cocoa powder facial mask recipe as you really need cocoa, not chocolate to prepare it. But you must agree, for the sake of skin care, chocolate mask sounds so much more appealing.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup of honey
2 tablespoons of heavy cream (sour cream will work as well)
1 tablespoon of oatmeal powder
Preparation:
This cocoa recipe has many variations. It might as well be called cocoa powder facial mask recipe as you really need cocoa, not chocolate to prepare it. But, for the sake of skin care, chocolate mask sounds much more appealing.
Mix all the ingredient until the mask is consistent. Apply on the face, gently massaging it so that oatmeal can start exfoliating the dead skin cell layer. Leave it on for about 20 minutes and rinse off with luke warm water.

Chocolate face mask #2
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoon of honey
4 tablespoon of plain, natural yogurt
1 tablespoon of oatmeal powder
Instruction:
Mix all the ingredients together and apply onto face. Let the mask sit on your face for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off the mask in circular movement so that you it can exfoliate your skin as well.

Chocolate Face Mask #3
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp cottage cheese
4 tsp honey
1 tsp oatmeal
Instructions:
Puree all ingredients in a blender. Apply to freshly cleaned face and leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with warm water and pat dry.


Chocolate Honey Scrub
(Makes 2 treatments)
Ingredients:
2 cups honey
1/2 cup grape seed oil
6 tablespoons unsweetened chocolate, grated
2 cups kosher salt
Directions:
In non-breakable mixing bowl, combine honey and grape seed oil. Stir in chocolate and salt mixing completely. Consistency should be grainy and thick. Apply scrub to skin and gently massage all over the body. Remove with warm damp towels or rinse in shower.
Beauty Benefits: Increases circulation and helps rid body of toxins. Honey provides a moisturizing effect as well as fights damaging free radicals.