Go Ahead Pamper Your Face

Tired of using off-the-shelf, synthetic, chemical-laden products for your face, which promise you the moon, the stars and skin as silky smooth as a baby’s bottom, but all you end up with is some glitter (so much for stars…) and well, pretty much the same old skin you started out with…?

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m sure you get my point. Your face cleansing regimen need not be complex nor painful on your pocket. All you need is an adventurous attitude, your amazing self and you’ll be good to go!

I’m going to share with you a secret scrub that has worked wonders for me over the past two years and quite simply, I swear by it!

Bear in mind however, that I have only tried this on skin that’s relatively blemish free, so I’m not entirely sure if it works in getting rid of any ‘facial landmarks’ but I do know that it leaves the skin feeling extremely supple, luxuriously soft and oh-so pampered and that’s what every girl needs right?

If your skin is particularly problematic, however, I’d advise that you invest in consulting a professionally qualified Dermatologist who will most likely prescribe oral medication to treat the problem. The cause of some outbreaks might actually be rooted in our bloodstream or circulatory system, but these are issues that a Dermatologist is trained to fix and so there’s no need to spend your hard earned cash on OTC remedies when the problem is internal. You might think consulting a Dermatologist is too costly, but think of the amount of money you’re spending on buying product after product with no long term solution. I’ve seen a good number of people’s skin problems sorted by a Dermatologist, so I swear by them too, but that’s for major skin conditions – others can be fixed by good old healthy diet, good blood circulation (AKA ‘Exercise’, for all you exercise-phobes out there!)and lots of water.

Yes, I know, I know you’ve heard it all before and it sounds a bit too airy fairy, but trust me, at least two litres of water a day will clear your skin within days – literally! Try it, you have absolutely nothing to lose. Set a timer in thirty minute intervals if you must, or make use of some online app (there’s an app for everything these days) but just try it for a week and see how that works for you. Promise I won’t say “I told you so”. Well…partly because I’m not there with you and I’m really not that sort of person anyway, so you’re in good company!

Remember, consistency is key, if you want to see long term results; so a once off experiment with this my not-so-secret-after-today remedy, might be nice and will get you some good result, but only consistency will yield lasting effects.

So, on with my concoction: be careful not to try it on the day of that special he-might-propose-tonight dinner or that all important ExCo meeting where you’re set to give the keynote presentation,  because, I promise you, your skin WILL sabotage you and as much as I’d love to, I wont be there to hold your hand. So take this as official notification – the skin, after being invigorated with the whole scrubbing motion, needs the night to rest and do its final repair work; in fact, the actual magic in this scrub is in the way your skin will look the morning after – absolutely breathtaking!

You know the way your pot of Kabulangeti beans tastes that extra special the day after its cooked? Yeah, that’s the effect our mixture here has, I promise you it’ll be worth every paste covered inch on your face.

You will need:

• A teaspoon of ground fenugreek
• A teaspoon of pure honey
• A shower cap
• Plenty of water to rinse
• Small bowl or saucer

First step:

Mix the fenugreek and honey together in your small bowl/saucer to form a paste. The ingredients are all edible, so there’s no need for a special set of utensils for this. I recommend you use a fenugreek that is not finely ground so that extra grit acts as a scrub. However, be careful not to use one that’s too gritty because that just ends up bruising your face and that’s not the effect we’re going for. So if you’re unable to find one with the right amount of grit, then I’d advise that you buy the finely ground one and simply add a quarter or half a teaspoon of brown sugar or mealie-meal to your paste. This is just to aid in scrubbing off that top layer of  dead skin cells.

Next step:

Make sure you remove all makeup from your face using a gentle makeup remover – a rooibos based one is always good because its gentle on your skin. We come into contact with so many harsh chemicals on a daily basis, so, its best to avoid using complicated products on your face, unless you have tried and tested them and you’re sure they are causing more good than harm to your skin.

So the idea at this stage is to have a makeup free face; make sure your skin is wet for the application of the mixture which at this stage should have a pasty consistency. Feel free to add a few drops of water to it if you feel its too stiff, though you don’t want it too runny because it’ll run right off your face, which is a no-no. The wetness on your face further aids in smoothing the paste over your skin. Once you’ve got paste all over your face, use small circular motions to scrub your face and to get all that fenugreek-honey goodness deep into your skin. Be sure to pay special attention to your chin area as well as the crevices between your nose and cheek on either side of your nose. Scrub gently, yet firmly and get some blood circulating to your face (Note to my light-skinned sisters: this here is the reason you’re not seeing Bae tonight – your face will be flushed) Careful  not to scrub your eyelids – the skin on there is very delicate and bruises easily so steer clear of that area.

After about a minute or so, of scrubbing, wash your hands and leave the paste on your face to let your skin soak in all the goodness. Since these products are all natural and there are no known side effects to having them on your skin, you can go about the rest of your evening with the mask on your face – married sisters, just make sure Face Mask Day coincides with Honey’s night out or that he’s working late; we don’t want to scare him out of his wits now do we? All he needs to see are the after effects of this process – please ladies!

Seriously though, you can sit with the paste for anything between ten minutes and two hours – its entirely up to you and how much time you have on your hands. I prefer to have it on for as long as I can, because I believe the results are more stunning the longer I keep it on. It could be all in my mind, but hey, to each his…erm…her own!

Once you’re ready to wash the mask off, make sure you have a good supply of water and wash liberally. It forms a bit of a hard crust on the surface, but just go at it with more water and you’ll have it off in no time. Be sure to rinse your hairline as close to your hair as you can and wipe off the residue with a damp face cloth which you’ll also use to pat dry your face.

Now find a good size mirror, stand back and take in all that gorgeousness!

After the face appreciation exercise, apply your choice of moisturiser (I prefer to use plain old Vaseline jelly after I scrub) and go to sleep – the body does amazing healing and clean up work while we sleep so the term ‘beauty sleep is not far fetched at all! I’ll write more about the benefits of sleep in another article, but for now, go and get that beauty sleep – you deserve it!

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Written by Tebby Silavwe