Tip of the Day: Facials - Straight from the Kitchen!!

A lot of us use skin care products on a daily basis - even men too, although they hate to admit it (Sissies!!..hehehhe). If you look at the bottle closely, there's a lot of stuff you can't even pronounce, and the fact that it's going to stay on your face / body for most of the day bugs me a bit.

Me, I prefer to go to the kitchen and get my skin care products there. Believe me, if you take a good look around your kitchen, there's a lot of stuff you can put on your face and body that's been used for hundreds of years. I'll list a few that Mom and Granny use, and passed down to me:

1. Tomatoes
This is a very versatile veggie - you put it in everything, from curries to pasta sauce! But if you take the innards and paste in on your face regularly, it will remove all those blackheads & pimples like it never existed. It helps moisturise and supplement vitamins to your skin too.

2. Banana
Everybody's favourite fruit - at least in this parts of the world. It's everywhere, cheap, has lots of nutrients (potassium, magnesium etc) and helps digestion. Don't use the fruit on your skin, though - eat it, don't let it go to waste. Use the inside of the skin to wipe your face thoroughly, and do this often. Helps to make those laugh /squint lines disappear.

3. Tea Leaves
Everybody knows that tea has antioxidants that help stop free radicals from destroying your DNA (huhh?....you mean were made from proteins???). But if you boil tea leaves and wash your hair with it, it makes the hair healthier and stronger. So you can skip using those shampoos that contain whacamacallit-sodium-something-something, which doesn't really help you at all. Read about it HERE

4. Cucumber and Potatoes
These are good for the eyes. Cut them into slices and cover your eyes with it. WARNING - do this only when you've got time to kill, because nine times out of ten you're going to fall asleep doing it. Zucchini is a good substitute, though not as cooling as cucumber, and Russet potatoes are the best choice (I find sweet potatoes rather starchy & sticky)

5. Bedak sejuk (Beauty Rice Powder)
Ahh.....the secret weapon used for ages. This is basically made from rice and water, although the mixture has evolved through the decades by incorporating rose flower scents (air mawar), and some other things. In this country, you can see seventy-something grannies wearing this, and their skin is unbelievably soft and supple. The secret is in the ingredients and the way it is made. These days, there are many copycats and imitations of these, because it is actually easy to make.

That's it, I guess - I'll update this post if there's something I missed. In the meantime, if you've got other stuff from the kitchen that can be useful, leave a comment. Who knows, if I get a big list of stuff, I might actually make a book!!

Ciao.

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Tags: mom, tips, health, beauty, facial, skin, hair, soft