Cranberry Skin Care – thank you!
Since it's the holiday season with Thanksgiving in the US and Canada over and Christmas fast approaching, I found my mind wandering to cranberries in homemade skin care.
I just knew that they had to be good, but how could we take advantage of that goodness?
Here are a few things that I found out.
Cranberries can be used for oily skin.
On outer skin they may work the same way as they do on our inner skin when we drink them to combat urinary tract infections by keeping ecoli bacteria from adhering to the urinary tract walls. So that means that there may be some antibacterial benefit from them, maybe a nice thing to try for acne?
Read more fascinating facts about the benefits of cranberries and cranberry oil for skincare here and grab an easy face mask recipe
http://www.healinglifestyles.com/index.php/nov2005-spaandbeauty-seasonalspa
Mixed with green tea, it can be an antioxidant power house. Check out this site for a face mask recipe
http://www.grouprecipes.com/79367/cranberry-and-green-tea-facial.html
CRANBERRY LIP GLOSS RECIPE
Here is a link for a cranberry lip gloss recipe using real cranberries. I haven't tried it yet but the possibilities are intriguing. I would like to try it with something besides petroleum jelly, maybe some castor oil or take the time to make some 'faux' petroleum jelly from beeswax first to make it natural, or maybe some vitamin e would do the trick.
http://www.cosmeticsdiary.com/cranberry-lip-gloss.htm
Another aspect of the cranberry to remember is the exfoliating properties of the cranberry seed.
PULLING IT TOGETHER
You can use cranberries to make an (almost) complete natural skin care regime. Use the ideas below as a jumping off point for your own creations…
Deep Clean - I love facial steams to cleanse my face in the morning. Take it a step further by grinding up some berries and doing the two (or three) step. Steam your face as you normally would, try adding a green tea bag for even better effect.
After your steam, apply the pureed cranberry pulp to your face (squeeze the juice out and use it below – we don't waste anything!)
Take care not to get them it your eyes. If you have an older face cloth, wet it with warm water, wring it out and place it over your face. If you find that you have cranberry juice running near your eyes, be sure to blot it well. If you lie back, it will help. The warmness of your skin from the steam and from the moisture and warmth from the cloth will help your skin to better absorb the benefits. After 5 minutes, wipe it off and rinse. Your face should feel sparkling clean.
Exfoliate - Nothing gives a healthy glow and even helps to shrink large pores like exfoliating. Be sure to do this regularly. For a cranberrry exfoliant treat, grind up some oatmeal in a coffee grinder. Combine the juice from the cranberry puree above and/or some of the puree, ¼ cup sugar or your exfoliant of choice (see cranberry fruit fibre or seed powder below) and a ¼ cup of olive oil in a blender. Rub gently, wipe and rinse with warm water. Moisturize – Top it off with your favourite moisturizer (if you make your own, try using fresh squeezed cranberry juice. Of course the shelf life will be short. You may try freezing some in small bottles and handling with care to prolong it.
NATURAL GOODNESS OF CRANBERRIES
Vitamin C – helps to build collagen, the good stuff that keeps our skin looking tight and healthy. Also good antioxidant.
Vitamin B3 – has been shown to effectively treat acne and possibly slow skin cancer.
Vitamin B5 – increases moisture content in skin.
Good stuff!
One thought. Watch when on the market for cranberry products. I haven't researched it, but I'm assuming that there is a good share of synthetic cranberry type scented items that will not give you the same benefit as bona fide cranberry.
Here are some online sources for 'real' cranberry ingredients.
You can buy Cranberry Fruit Fibre (!!!) that will colour soap and can be used in face masks, as well as cranberry oil and cranberry seeds at From Nature With Love as well as a Cranberry Pumpkin Scrub Kit (I would personally skip the cranberry fragrance oil, but the rest looks fantastic)
For a real treat that will allow you to do tons of great things, you can get cranberry seed powder at Mountain Rose Herbs and Cranberry Seed Oil AND tincture at Essential Wholesale.
If you are in Canada and up for a prebuy for any of these, please leave me a comment, maybe sometime in the future we can set one up, unfortunately, I don't think it will happen before Christmas. Maybe next year :0)
For some fantastic do it yourself natural skincare ideas for Christmas gift giving, check out my Make It Special guide. I've had nothing but good feedback for it and it really is a unique and special way to make your Christmas gift giving a lot more fun this year – and you can keep the leftovers!
Cranberry offers a whole range of possibilities for Christmas products and gifts.
I hope everyone is off to a good start!
