Green tea is amazing for your skin. It’s no secret that I love this awesome ingredient! That’s why I wanted to make a new face wash that made use of green tea. It is great for people with sensitive skin, and it is naturally anti-inflammatory. Plus the green tea can reduce the appearance of pores and make your skin look fresh and happy!

As someone with sensitive skin and redness myself, I like to be careful about what I put on my skin. Making my own face wash helps me to be confident that I know exactly what goes into my products and also know that they are healthy for my skin and most importantly, safe. (And it doesn’t hurt that it also usually costs less to make things myself).

I’ve previously made a honey face wash, and an aloe vera face wash. I loved both (and I still do). But I’m loving using green tea in my recipes so much lately that I wanted to make another. And this green tea and honey face wash does not disappoint!

In combination with my green tea face scrub, this seriously is amazing for my skin. But don’t be intimidated- it’s super easy to make. And even better, it only costs $4!

This recipe only has natural ingredients that are good for your skin. If you want to know where to buy these ingredients, just click on the name of the ingredient. Here’s why I chose them:

• Green Tea Powder: Full of antioxidants and vitamins your skin needs, anti-inflammatory to reduce redness and irritation, the caffeine in green tea helps tighten skin and reduce the appearance of pores
• Honey: A natural humectant (draws moisture into the skin), naturally antibacterial, full of antioxidants
• Soapwort Extract: Has a high concentration of natural saponins (help clean your skin), gentle suds, gentle natural face wash
• Avocado Oil: Full of vitamin E and antioxidants that are healthy for your skin, natural moisturizer
• Essential Oils: Can have different benefits depending on the oil. I used chamomile in this recipe, but lavender, tea tree, and geranium are all also good anti-inflammatory oils.

Since the face wash has so much honey, it may feel a little stickier than you are used to, but it doesn’t make it any less amazing! When you wash it off you’ll see just how wonderful it is. Your skin will thank you!

I’m in love with this amazing face wash. Try making it yourself and let me know if you love it too!

supplies used in this post

The post Homemade Anti-Inflammatory Green Tea Honey Face Wash appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

The inspiration of this post was two-fold. First of all, I really enjoyed the Aloe Vera face moisturizer I made last week. Secondly, my cousin posted a link to an awesome sounding face wash on my Facebook page and asked if I could make an imitation recipe. So I based this face wash off of the ingredients in the organic aloe face wash that she sent me.

When I started searching the properties of the ingredients in the face wash she sent me that I wasn’t familiar with, I came up with a great idea. I would make a soothing anti-inflammatory aloe face wash. All the ingredients in this face wash are meant to reduce irritation and redness and soothe the skin. And let me tell you, it worked out really well.

It cost me $7.67 to make the four ounce jar of this face wash, which should last at least 2 months. Most of the cost came from one expensive ingredient, the soapwort extract. If you want to do this face wash on the cheap you can replace the soapwort extract with liquid castile soap, which brings the cost down to $2.93. This could reduce the soothing and anti-inflammatory properties of the face wash, but that’s the tradeoff for the cost reduction.

Like I said, all the ingredients were chosen for their anti-inflammatory and soothing properties:

• Aloe Vera Gel: light non-greasy moisturizer, anti-inflammatory, stimulates growth of new cells, full of antioxidants, fights allergic reactions, reduces redness (you can find it online here or here)
• Sweet Almond Oil: full of vitamins, soothes irritation, reduces dark circles, anti-inflammatory, restores normal pH of the skin (you can find it online here)
• Rosewater: anti-inflammatory, rich in antioxidants, beneficial to people with sensitive skin, reduces redness, natural antiseptic and astringent, great at removing oil and dirt from pores (you can find it online here)
• Soapwort Extract: full of saponins that make it a gentle natural cleanser, anti-inflammatory (you can find it online here)
• Lavender Essential Oil: anti-bacterial, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, soothing benefits (you can find it online here or here)
• Vitamin E Oil (optional): antioxidant, natural moisturizer, anti-inflammatory (you can find it online here)

All of these ingredients on their own can be used as natural remedies for skin conditions ranging from psoriasis to acne to eczema. And they are all great for sensitive skin.

 Here is how you make the face wash:

If you’re used to always using oil-free products, it may feel a little weird at first, but you will get used to it. It is wonderfully light and cooling. I know it will feel great in the summer.

Definitely don’t skip shaking the jar before you wash, because you won’t get all of the ingredients and they all work well together.

The wash doesn’t lather a lot, but the soapwort extract does lather a small bit. Don’t expect it to be the same as store bought cleansers with lathering products in them, it will feel different. It goes so well with the homemade aloe moisturizer I posted last week. The two of them are a match made in heaven.

This face wash should be good for any number of skin conditions- let me know how it goes for you!

supplies used in this post

Don’t forget to check out my aloe vera moisturizer and toner! Together, they make an awesome skin care system.

The post Natural Homemade Anti-Inflammatory Aloe Vera Face Wash (Great for sensitive skin) appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

If you’ve read my post on 13 harmful ingredients to avoid in cosmetics, you can understand why I am trying to make the switch over to making all my own cosmetics. I scared myself in my research about what cosmetics are made out of. Now that I know, I have a goal to know every ingredient in my cosmetics and try to make instead of buy whenever possible.

So, one of the first things I needed to make was a face wash. I found this recipe on One Good Thing by Jillee and I loved it immediately. Anything with 3 ingredients or less, especially if one of those ingredients is honey, is okay by me. 

Ingredients

All you need for this face wash is honey, vegetable glycerin, and liquid castile soap. I recommend using a local raw organic honey if possible because they are the best quality and will be best for your skin.

Honey is full of antioxidants and it is antibacterial so it can help fight and prevent acne. Both honey and vegetable glycerin are humectants, which means they attracts moisture to the skin. Castile soap is made of plant oils and is free of the harsh cleaners and detergents in most soaps you can buy in the store. Not all soaps labeled “castile soap” are made solely of plant oils, so make sure to check the label before you buy.

If you have trouble finding vegetable glycerin or castile soap, they are easy to find on amazon. I use this vegetable glycerin and this castile soap.

Mix everything together- it’s about as easy as it gets

Here is the recipe:

Face wash in action

One of the complaints that people sometimes have about homemade facial cleaners is that they don’t lather- but this one does! Just see the picture!

Also- I expected it to feel sticky because the honey and vegetable glycerin both have somewhat sticky textures. It does not feel sticky at all! It feels like any other face wash I have used before. And it smells like honey- plus!

This face wash will probably take a long time to expire- honey never expires and castile soap and vegetable glycerin both take years to expire- but if it starts to smell weird or have a strange texture make sure not to use it.

One of the things I want to try in the future is adding a little lemon essential oil to combat oil. I will probably try that in the summer when my skin gets it’s oiliest and I will update this post and let you all know how it goes!

Let me know if you like switching to this face wash and how it goes for you!

The post 3 Ingredient Homemade Honey Face Wash appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.