Food On Your Face



This is what my face looks like without any foundation or powder. Yes, I'm brave enough to reveal it to the world, as shallow as that might sound.  Ok, ok, I do have some eye make-up on.

So, why am I revealing this picture to the world wide web? Well, to allow you a close-up view of my journey to clearer skin. I have had acne since the beginning of puberty. Like most of us, I have hated it, tried most cleansers on the market and have found no answers. I have not tried acutane or any other hormonal fixes, but aside from those, 18 years of disappointment and embarrassment. My goal is not perfect skin, just skin clear enough NOT to have to wear make-up or be mistaken for a teenager when I walk the halls of a local high school. In my quest for better skin, I ran across this book from one of my favorite real food bloggers. She gave her review of the book and I thought, "Why not?"

 I've been trying conventional store bought products for the past 18 years with little success.

So I ordered the book,  Crunchy Betty’s Food on Your Face for Acne and Oily Skin, devoured the information and bought a few ordinary, basic ingredients. I bought
  • raw unpasteurized local honey
  • cold pressed Castor oil
  • cold pressed grapeseed oil
  • cold pressed jojoba oil pronounced (ho-ho-ba) I'm saving you embarrassment at the store. :)
My plan, and that which is recommended in the book is to start out with a simple honey wash for 2 weeks. Raw honey has antibacterial elements and gently exfoliates with some drying factors. After 2 weeks, I found that the honey actually caused my face to be too dry. This is a very bad thing because the more you strip your face of it's natural oils, the more oil it will produce which encourages more acne.
So, I added an oil cleanse to my routine. She gives MANY recipes for oil cleanses, make-up removers, masks and facial steams. My first attempt was 2 parts castor oil and one part jojoba oil. I found after washing exclusively with the oil cleanse method my dryness has receded along with some acne. I have decided to tweek the oil recipe a little to experiment with the grapeseed oil. My wash for the next two weeks will be castor oil and grapessed. I hope to post a picture with some improvement by then!  Join me in the journey. I figure, if I've given conventional products a try for 18 years, I might as well give a good effort towards the food on your face method.




No comments: