Lily’s daily natural skin care program

For optimal results, oily skin needs daily care.  Develop your own regimen.  As an example, here’s mine:

      Cleanse

      Twice a day, I cleanse with a quality cleanser, making sure it does not have any harsh chemicals.  Look for cleansers that contain ingredients such as homemade soaps with almond oil, vegetable glycerin, lemon juice or essential oil, seaweeds, witch hazel, lily, lavender, camphor, grapefruit seed extract, tea tree oil, sage, comfrey, aloe, eucalyptus, and calendula.

Steam

Once a week after cleansing, I steam a variety of herbs, perhaps lavender, lily, chamomile, rose, calendula, comfrey, or seaweeds.  Sometimes, I will just do chamomile.  Pour a cup of the infusion for tea, and then to the rest, put a couple of drops of any essential oils recommended for oily skin.  I particularly like lavender, juniper, or sage.  Be ready to put the towel over your head because the essentials oils will evaporate very quickly and you want their benefit to go directly to your skin.  Be careful not to use too much of these essentials oils in the water, as they are very strong and concentrated.  I learned the hard way.  I actually put so much in the first time that I couldn’t breathe.

Mask/Exfoliate

For maximum results you can do this daily for a week to see if your skin is benefiting.  Again you can try so many things.  I like to use my botanical enzyme exfoliant mask with honey, pineapple, papaya, mint, lily, and comfrey.  Sometimes I apply yogurt with one of the above-mentioned- herbs with brewer’s yeast blended into a paste.  Be creative and come up with your own mask.

Vinegar peel

You can do this right after the steam, after the mask, or alone anytime.  Warm organic apple cider vinegar, about one cup, so it isi hot but not too hot to apply to your skin.  I dip a clean washcloth in the vinegar and then put it on my face.  You may want to cut a hole in the cloth so you can breathe easier.  Let it sit for a while and keep re-applying until the vinegar is gone.  You may want to dilute the vinegar in water.)

Astringent/Toner

I like to so this at least twice a day and after cleansing.  If you do not wear makeup, you could apply astringent up to three to five times a day to keep your skin impeccably clean.  Your astringent should be free of any synthetic chemicals and full of herbs and essentials oils instead.  Look for ones that tone, cleanse, and help close and tighten pores, like sage and lavender essentials oils, and herbs like lily, eucalyptus, elderberries, horsetail, coltsfoot, calendula, and chamomile.  I keep a bottle of my astringent by my computer to apply several times a day.  (You do not need to use an astringent if you did a vinegar peel.)

Moisture

Even people with oily skin usually need to moisturize facial areas around the eyes and mouth.  I like using a lightweight lotion with almond oil, lily, primrose oil, rosehip seed oil, myrrh, and aloe, and essential oil of tea tree.  I just simply apply it to wherever I feel dry.

If you prefer oil-free products, look for an oil-free moisturizer made with aloe and vegetable glycerin, with herbs like comfrey, hops, lilies, seaweeds, horsetail, calendula, chestnut, and ivy.  If you don’t want to apply anything, at least mist your skin with moisturizing mist made of pure water and herbs like lily, comfrey, seaweeds, chamomile, calendula, and with essential oils like lavender and ylang ylang.  Or simply make your own.  Focus on what makes you and keeps you looking beautiful.