Saturday, April 5, 2014

Frugal, effective skin care...nah...seriously?

Yes seriously.  Move over Lancome, Clinic, Etc,  There is a new Sherriff in town.

Winter is extremely hard on my skin.  It gets so dry and no amount of lotion seems to help.  In fact, my face will get so dry I will have dry patches and bumps kinda like acne.  I know pretty right?  Hey I wear make up so DH is the only one to see me in such shape (poor man).  Anyway, I have tried lotions, even the name brand to no avail.  I even bought a face wash and moisturizer from Oil of Olay.  Then I had then fun of finding out I was allergic to it.  My face broke out even worse.  This was not cool.  So I stopped using it and went back to my Dove bar.  Before I used my Dove Bar,  I was thinking how would be the best way to get any residue of the face wash off my face.  I thought of my old stand by of Baking Soda.  It is great for washing hair.  You would think it would dry the hair out, but the exact opposite is true.  So I thought why not try it to exfoliate my face.  Well let me tell you it worked like a charm!  My skin wasn't dry afterward.  In fact it was so soft and smooth.  Yay! 
I still had this sore place why my skin had gotten so dry it had actually cracked.  What to do about that?  I started using clear aloe vera (the 100% kind) as a moisturizer. It helped some but I needed a real moisturizer.  Well I had a friend(Hey Lisa R) tell me one time she uses a small amount of coconut oil as a moisturizer.  So I picked up some at the store (you will find it in the baking isle with the oils).  You can get the organic, cold pressed, etc if you want, but I just picked up the ole Louana brand.  This was a test and I try to not spend a lot on tests.  Well it worked!  Boy did it ever! 

So my new routine goes like this:

Every other day, usually while in the shower, I make a paste of baking soda and water and scrub my face.  Just like if you were washing your face.  I don't use soap on my face that day.  The other days I use my Dove bar.
When I get out of the shower, I will take a little aloe vera and coconut oil and mix it together in the palm of my hand.  The warmth of your hand will melt the oil and so they mix well,  Then I apply it to my face.  I have been doing this routine for about 5 days.  The bumps are gone, the dry patches are gone, and best of all the sore place on my face is healed!  I have started using the aloe/coconut mixture as an all over body lotion as well and for the first time this winter I am not itching!

The Coconut oil is $7 for  a quart size jar.  The Aloe Vera I bought at Doller General for $1 and the baking soda is .50 for a 1 lb box.  $8.50 for a good skin care routine.  I will take that any day. I am planning on finding a larger bottle of the Aloe to get a discounted price.  We will see.  The one I got was I think 12 oz.   Try it.  If you don't like it you can use the coconut oil for baking, the soda for a zillion things, and the Aloe for sun burns.   

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