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! 

Magnificent Morning Ritual

I've recently begun expanding my morning routine to include a facial steam.

It takes about 10 minutes and really makes me feel clearer for most of the day.

It's also a nice way to relax into the day while at the same time, energizing.

I have been doing it and then doing my exercises – strength training from the Fit Yummy Mummy Program and yoga on alternate days, with interval training on my bike when I can. (if you are interested, check out Fit Yummy Mummy for the best weight loss and fitness program I've found.
try it out for 4.95)

It is making a huge difference in how I feel throughout the day. 

As for the facial steam, I have a bowl that I use especially for this, it's stainless steel with a rubber bottom so there is less chance of spillage or breakage.

I add a few drops of what ever essential oil I'm in the mood for – eucalyptus, spearmint or myrtle if I want to be refreshed, frankincense is all around wonderful and today I used some Australian Sandalwood that I have, a lovely way to start the day.

My cat must like it too. I left the bowl to pour into my diffuser when it's cool enough (gotta stretch that Sandalwood!) and he was sitting beside it when I went to the kitchen.

Especially for the stronger essential oils, it's important to let some of the diffuse before sticking your head under the towel over the steaming water so that they don't burn your eyes or nose/throat.

Don't get too close and enjoy.

You can see a selection of my essential oils here.

I think it would be a great idea to put an assortment of 5ml bottles together for this, stay tuned and let me know if you have any preferences for essential oils that you would like to start the day with. 

GREAT PRODUCT IDEA 

If you sell soaps, this would be a wonderful and easy product addition to your site as well. If you can find some nice headbands it would be even nicer, you could even go whole hog and add a plush towel.

A smaller one for blotting the face after would spell l-u-x-u-r-i-o-u-s, especially nice packaged as a gift for the coming Christmas season.\

If you're in the US, you can get some nice essential oils at a reasonable price at the sites listed on the sidebar, or for an absolutely decadent experience, try Nature's Gift essential oils (I get no kickback for that, I just LOVE Marge's oils).

Homemade Face Masks

I came across this site that has some good ideas for making homemade face masks using common kitchen ingredients for skin care.

It doesn't get much easier, more pure (be sure to go organic when ever possible, if not give it a good scrub first), or easier on the environment.

Homemade Face Masks

It includes a few links including this one on the the TreeHugger site, be sure to check it out.

Make Your Own Pumpkin Face Mask 

I often like to add a little exfoliating action or ingredients that draw impurities, so I almost always

add a clay to my face masks/scrubs.

Have a look at my Build Your Own Face Mask chart as well as a selection of clays for more ideas.