Aspirin has salicylic acid in it, which comes from trees, and is good for drying up any acne outbreaks you may have. It is commonly used in face care products. The best aspirin to use is the inexpensive, uncoated aspirin. Once you find some, you need to grind it into as fine a powder as possible. (Natalie: A mortar and pestle are perfect for this) I keep my crushed aspirin in a mini-tupperware type container in the bathroom so it’s handy. The aspirin is the dry portion of your mask.
Spoon a little of your powdered aspirin into a bowl. I never measure, but I guess for a whole face, I use about 3/4 to 1 tsp. of the powder. After you do it a few times, you will figure out just how much you need. For that amount of aspirin, mix in two drops of pure 100% aloe gel, one large drop of honey, and drop or two each of lavender and tea tree essential oils. Mix that together thoroughly with your spoon, and it’s all ready. You should wash your face with warm water before using any mask, because it helps your pores open up so the mask can work deeply. Leave your mask on for at least 15 minutes, and then rinse with warm water.
I wouldn’t do the mask more than two time a week for the first couple of weeks until your skin adjusts to it. Then you can work up to probably doing it every other day if you want. On the in-between days (especially at first when you’re only doing the mask a couple of times a week), you can do a plain honey mask. Do that by just smearing plain honey on your face (and stay away from any bears or insects!) after washing, and again, leave it on for 15 minutes or more. The honey really helps to calm your skin, reduce any redness/inflammation, and make you glow.
Natalie: Wal-Mart’s pharmacy will order lavender essential oil for you. Total cost: $3.50. We found 100% aloe vera gel at Target and a mortar and pestle at the local health food/nutrition store. If you can, get local honey from a beekeeper!
Conditioning Mixture
For hair, your aloe and honey are your best friends. I keep a plastic bowl in the bathroom, and I like to squirt my conditioner in the bowl, and then mix in some honey and aloe with it. I’d say I do about two parts conditioner to one part aloe and one part honey.
The honey and aloe are great humectants, which means they help your hair absorb moisture. About once a week, I like to do an apple cider vinegar rinse after shampooing (blondes should use white vinegar, as ACV has a tendency to darken light hair), and then use my conditioner mixture. I think the ACV really helps strip up any buildup that has accumulated on my hair shaft over the week, and then the super-charged conditioner mixture can really soak in.
16 Comments
As any of us who have spent any time with April can attest, she is definitely the one to ask for this sort of thing… she has the most beautiful skin and hair I’ve ever seen. I’m sure she gets tired of me going on and on about her hair when I’m with her.
Thank you so much for sharing your beauty secrets April! I think it may just the thing for my acne. Natalie, I’m sure you are going to be radiant bride! I must agree that April in her picture on Natalie’s wedding web site could easily be mistaken for a Dove model-:)
Oh how fun! Thanks for passing along these recipes – I’m looking forward to trying them! And that picture is so lovely.
Yup, she’s beautiful inside and out.
I think I shall try conditioning that way next time I come across some aloe gel.
I would LOVE to try the conditioning mixture, but do you know where would I find aloe?
Is the conditioner mixture able to be used with a leave-in condition or, for these purposes, I need a conditioner to be rinsed out?
If the conditioner does need to be rinsed, how long should the conditioner stay on hair first?
- B
Thank you so much for these, April! (and Natalie!)
I would love to know exactly what April’s “beauty routine” for her face is and how often she does this mask. Also, if it wouldn’t be too much, what brand of makeup does she use?
I haven’t ever met you April, but from your pictures and writings, you are beautiful inside and out!
I second Brooke’s comment. These are great ideas, but I’m a little confused about the application of the conditioner. How do you apply it, and do you rinse it out? After how long?
Thanks!!!
Abby
I have been using the aspirin mask 3 times each week for the past year or so. The aspirin not only will decrease redness and swelling but it also works as a great exfoliant. I just crush mine and mix it with water–to make a paste.
Also, honey and oatmeal works great as a mask. I use that as a treat on Saturday nights.
Vitamin E oil works great to get rid of scars on acne marks.
Apple cider vinegar makes a great rinse for your hair. It keeps it nice and shiny.
I love this website. Keep up the great work!
April (not the one from the article):)
I recently discovered the “aspirin mask”, and I have been using it for twice a week for several weeks now. I had been experiencing a break out problem this year — worse than I had as a teenager. This mask really cleared things up, and my face has never felt softer. Mine is slightly different. I thought I would post it for variety:
- Put 4 or 5 dry Aspirin (or the cheap no-name equivalent) in a saucer with a *sprinkle* of water
- After the pills start cracking and dissolving, add a drop of honey and crush them with a fork to create a wet and grainy texture
- Apply to freshly washed face
- Keep on 10 minutes or until dry
- With an soft electric toothbrush (mine is a cheap kids brush), make small circles all around your face (keep the brush wet)
- While rinsing it off the (freshly brushed) mask, lightly circulate your fingers for additional exfoliation.
Leslie
I would also like to know where to find aloe.
If you look in the aspirin mask recipe I mention that I found aloe at Target in the health and beauty section. Also, you can get it at any health food/nutrition type store.
Yes, any information about the application of the conditioner would be nice! I can’t wait to try it, but I don’t know what I’m doing!
Jamie
Thanks for clarifying on the aloe, Natalie. I wasn’t sure if aloe meant fresh aloe from the plant, or aloe vera gel. =)
My apologies to those of you who asked questions…I was on a trip to PEI when this was posted, and am just getting caught up on my internet-ly things today.
First of all, I’m glad everyone is enjoying this, and thank you all for your lovely comments!
Brooke – I wouldn’t recommend leaving the conditioner mixture in. The honey will probably leave your hair REALLY sticky!
If you wanted to, you could mix just aloe in with your conditioner, and try that as a leave-in. I don’t think it would be much different in texture than a regular leave-in.
Anonymous – (I’m sorry, I don’t know your name! :-S) I have never been terribly consistent with my beauty routines. (Yes, true confession!) I do the mask whenever I have time, which, since school started, is not very often.
Really, the number of times you can/should use the mask is determined by your skin. I would recommend you just have fun with it…pay close attention to how your skin reacts/looks and decide from there how often to do it. You also asked what brand of makeup I use…for foundation and blush, I use i.d. bare minerals. I like it because it’s better for my acne-prone skin, and is made of natural minerals rather than the man-made chemicals so often found in the other major brands.
Abby – I use the conditioner mixture like a regular conditioner. So…shampoo your hair, then apply the conditioner and let it soak in for a while before rinsing. I like to wash/apply conditioner at the beginning of my shower and then it has time to soak in while I’m doing the rest of my showerly duties.
As Natalie mentioned, bottled 100% aloe can be found at discount stores like Target.
To the other April (;-D) and Leslie…thanks for sharing your tips! I can’t wait to try them out! I learned most of what was in this post from friends and fellow-experimenters online, and I’m always on the lookout for new things to try.