DIY Body & Feet Scrubs to try during quarantine

Bored during covid quarantine? Here's a couple scrubs you can make with things in your kitchen right now- don't even have to go to the store.

Here's a face mask recipe I've been dying to try: half avocado, 1 egg yolk, 4 tbs honey, 1 carrot. Boil & smash carrot, mix with other ingredients, let sit on face 10-15min,rinse.

Whenever I come across a recipe in a magazine or webpage, I text it to myself- then I try it out and adjust ingredients. Here are a few 🙂 

Use these anywhere on your body:

Strawberries & Sugar

3 strawberries, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp apricot oil

Brown Sugar 
1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup virgin coconut or olive oil, and (optional) 1/4 cup honey

*My #1 scrub I use most: decolletage, elbows, legs, everywhere .

Honey & Sugar 
1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup sugar or salt, 1/4 cup olive oil

Coffee 
1/2 cup coffee granules that have been soaked in hot water, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup table salt, splash of olive/almond/avocado/coconut oil

*If using on my feet I use sea salt instead of table salt

Orange Zest

1/4 cup sugar, 1 orange finely zested, 1/2 cup coconut oil

*When I'm bored eating oranges, haha!

Oatmeal 
1/2 cup ground up oatmeal, 1/4 cup water or milk

Banana 
2 tsp banana, 2 tsp ground up oatmeal, 1 tsp milk, 1 tsp honey 

Pineapple & Papaya 
2 tbsp juiceless pineapple, 2 tbsp juiceless papaya, 2 tbsp ground upoatmeal, 1 tbsp honey

*This is a gentle acid scrub not a physically exfoliating scrub

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Use these extra abrasive ones on FEET ONLY:

Avacado & Banana 
1 avacado pit hammered into fine powder, 1 tbsp avocado (I ate the rest haha), 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp olive oil

Baking Soda pinch baking soda, pinch salt, pinch sugar, 1 tbsp ground up oatmeal, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup warm water

*This one is for only really rough feet, I normally won't touch baking soda for anything. I tried it on my face once and it burned!! lol no good!

Aspirin Foot Mask: crush up a few aspirin tablets, add a splash of lemon juice, a squirt of lotion to help it stick

DIY Egg & Protein HAIR Treatment Masks

Raw egg masks can be powerfully beneficial for every hair type! Filled with protein, nutritious vitamins A, B-12, D, E; fatty acids, and even sulfur- Eggs will condition your hair smooth and soft, strong and voluminous :-) beautiful!

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PROTEIN TREATMENT = egg yolks! Damaged hair especially needs protein.
protein makes your hair very dry so you MUST deep condition afterwards, trust me! LoL I throw 2-3 eggs in a bowl, mix with my fingers, and soak into my tresses. 1-2 min later I rinse, shampoo, and deep condition *deep breath* it's a long process. Most times I even need an extra leave-in conditioner. Raw eggs are harsh, bro!! But this actually makes my hair feel thicker. Aphogee 2 Step Protein Treatment makes my hair feel great & strong but never as thick or voluminous like raw egg masks :-)

OH YAY!

My important tips for this DIY:

-- have DAMP hair before applying the mask! makes it easier to apply evenly
-- wear a shower cap & a towel around your neck while you wait the 1-2min (drip! drip! yuck)
-- rinse your hair out with cool water not hot lol unless you like egg smell
--do not let egg sit longer than 2 minutes on your hair!

WARNING! egg masks make my hair dye fade, do NOT do them on beautifully colored hair!!

If you'd like something more moisturizing: try adding  some sugar-free yogurt, olive oil, avocado, and/or even banana into the mix!
And adding a teaspoon of almond oil will help smooth hair.
A splash of milk will add *shine* 

embarassing sunburn & tan lines?

I stayed out in the sun too long and got a sunburn :-( and even worse the tan lines weren't even cute!  WHY didn't I wear a sexier bikini?!  So I scoured through the internet for a hack to fix my problems... (which was frustrating as Hell because I'm allergic to aloe and everyone's #1 suggestion is aloe. EYE. ROLL.)   Here's a photo of my bikini bottom/hip area :-( you can see it's RED and blistered ---->

Fun fact: aloe is in the same plant family as garlic and onions LOL garlic makes me feel sick (and I think it tastes like wooden pencil), and I HATE onions. Now that I know these plants are all related it makes perfect sense! Crazy, huh? 😂 #TruFax

1. BURNS- how fast does Neosporin work on normal burns?

because I was slathering it specifically on the big red spot up top of my bikini bottom... 2 days later there was no change :-(

 

 

2. PAIN- a 'hack' told me to marinate in Noxzema (cold cream for you face) and that felt good/cooling... but the minute I rinsed it off I was back in pain and still red. Another 'hack' told me to soak cotton balls (or washcloths) in milk and put them on the super burned spots... ok, but it didn't say if I'm supposed to rinse off afterwards(?) I assumed no rinsing off and after an hour I smelled funky and felt gross.Washcloths soaked in witch hazel, on the other hand, had a very nice cooling effect :-)

I also read about taking oatmeal baths or pressing black tea bags against your skin, but I didn't try those.

 

MOST IMPORTANT NOTE I HAVE FOR PAIN= I took a maximum strength pain reliever every few hours, aspirin also helps with the inflammation :-) White willow bark is supposedly a more natural form of aspirin but I haven't tried it *shrug*

 

3. REDNESS- supposedly tomatoes will remove the red from your sunburn... so first I cut a tomato in half and rubbed it all over my body LOL I am such a hippie! I stood in the bath tub until the juice dried and tomato seeds were stuck in every inappropriate place possible(!!) and then rinsed off. This is ridiculous! I found some Yes to Tomatoes bodywash at Ross and tried marinating in that next. OKAY we're done with this hack, it's not working! You know the color when hamburger beef goes bad? It's red but with this brown/grey overcast-- that was my skin :-p abort mission!  >.<

Another 'hack' told me to spray my body in vinegar HAHAHAHA NO! I can't smell like that, sorry.

 

4. SOOTHING- ok so by day 3 my skin was getting tight and painful (preparing to peel, oh joy!) A few 'helpful hacks' suggested different oils for sunburn so I picked up a few oils: grapeseed oil, arnica oil, lavender oil, and coconut oil. So I mixed these up in a little bottle (mostly the grapeseed with a few drops of everything else) and massaged my entire body. I smelled so good! It massaged right in and dried rather quickly, so I repeated every couple hours. Anica oil helps reduce swelling and pain. This did NOT prevent me from peeling however, grrrrr! BUT while rubbing this massage oil in, some skin did gently rub off without hurting so that was nice :-) Good hack!

Another 'hack' told me mix a couple drops of tea tree oil in olive or coconut oil- HAHAHAHA NO! I can't smell like that, sorry.

 

Many 'hacks' suggested Vitamin E *sigh* ok I'll tell you why this is a fail for me. The vitamin e oil never dried/soaked into my skin. And trying a punctured vitamin e capsule & rubbing it on- well that felt thicker sticky and gross, still did not dry & there was no way I could put my clothes on after that. I will never do that again! Gross! I read that Aloe is high in vitamin e and that is why "aloe is so good for sunburns"- but aloe has NEVER worked on my sunburns! so I'm not surprised vitamin e is also worthless to me here

5. PEELING- time to exfoliate my ugly, damaged body *sigh* in case you didn't know: shaving your legs is great for removing dead skin cells so if you do that (gently!) then you won't have to worry much about exfoliating them :-) for the rest of my body I bought some scrub gloves. At first I used my bodywash with the gloves (St Ivea Oatmeal & Shea Butter, it's good for dry skin) ...but frustration= eventually I was just using the gloves dry rubbing across my peeling skin and making a huge mess just to make the nightmare end!! it was like grating cheese or something :-) AHHHHHH!

[just as a sidenote here: don't think you can scrub your tan lines off lol I tried and all it did was cause damage *sigh* more damage that needs to heal so more time your body will be miserable]

One PAINFUL 'hack' I encountered was to use an AHA cream... Don't Do This! glycolic acid is exfoliating and will eat away at the dead skin- but when if you accidentally touch any fresh skin IT BURNS!! and the pain is not worth it.

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1WEEK LATER: my sunburn has healed into a nice tan :-) And now I will use Malibu "Hemp Golden Glow" ($5 at Walmart) to keep my tan glowing as long as possible. I use this lotion year-round for a healthy glow so I highly recommend it. I rub it all over my body after showering, and then again on my legs before bed [because I shave every day and that fades leg tan fast!] And make sure to wash your hands with soap and clean between your fingers or else they might turn orange, haha

Coconut Oil as Makeup Remover

I use coconut oil to remove my eye makeup before washing my face every night.

The coconut oil never stings my eyes and it leaves my skin soft. 

Best of all: it removes all types of eyeliners, even the water-proof ones!

Do NOT use "Lou Ana" coconut oil that you can find in the baking aisle at Walmart!

That coconut oil is ok for your feet but not for your face. I've tried it and it broke me out BAD. I warned you.

Go to your local Asian or Indian food supermarket and get pure coconut oil. The only ingredient on the label = "coconut oil."

Unrefined (virgin) is best because it still has all the great nutrients for your skin (but refined is still fine to use on your hair).

I just dab a q-tip in some coconut oil and then gently swipe across my eyelid to remove my eyeliner & mascara.

A few long-lasting/water-proof eyeliners I like to use are Milani "Infinite" and Mac "LiquidLast"-

normally these take a lot of painful scrubbing to get off with normal makeup remover :-(

but since they're oil based = coconut oil works like a charm! EASY!

 

Other decent options for removing waterproof eyeliner & mascaras are- well basically anything "oil" haha :-) Baby oil (mineral oil) does the job but leaves my skin greasy. In emergencies I run to the kitchen and grab olive oil. Or if you're a hippie you might have apricot oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, or almond oil in your cupboard to try out... But I still prefer coconut oil!