How to make your own exfoliant
For those who want to avoid plastic microbeads in exfoliants and are crafty to boot, Ole Henriksen, of Ole Henriksen Face/Body Spa in West Hollywood, provided a do-it-yourself recipe for a facial scrub made mostly with ingredients you might have in your kitchen cupboard. The mixture will keep in the refrigerator and should be enough for several applications. You can use it twice a week at night on clean skin.
Cinnamon Complexion Scrub
Ingredients:
• Half ounce of cinnamon
• Half ounce of powdered brown sugar
• Half ounce of powdered oatmeal
• Quarter ounce of table salt
• 6 drops of lavender essential oil
• Avocado oil — Add enough to make it a smooth paste with dense texture
Directions:
• Mix ingredients together, adding the avocado oil last. Use enough avocado oil to make a smooth paste with dense texture that will smooth across your face.
• To apply, blend between damp palms, transfer onto your face, work into skin in an upward circular motion.
• Work into every crevice of face — especially the T- zone, which is more prone to clogged pores.
• Rinse with medium warm water and follow with your nightly skin care routine and products. “I recommend my Ultimate Lift Firming Serum and Nurture Me Crème — very soothing and comforting,” Henriksen says. “Finally, follow with my Ultimate Lift Eye gel.”
The benefits of the ingredients, per Henriksen:
• Cinnamon is a natural antiseptic, great blemish fighter and a gentle exfoliant.
• Powdered brown sugar contains natural alpha hydroxy acids that dissolve excess oil and sebum and will very impressively refine the skin’s all over texture.
• Powdered oatmeal is extremely calming, a gentle exfoliant, and provides firming properties for the skin.
• Table salt is a potent exfoliant that removes even the most stubborn of dead skin cells.
• Lavender essential oil lends a beautiful aroma while also providing great oxygenation in the skin and is very reparative.
• Avocado oil highly nourishes the skin — it’s bursting with vitamin A, D, and E, plus lecithin and potassium, an important skin mineral.
