If you suffer from dry, itchy, or sensitive skin, this homemade oatmeal face mask is a dream come true! I used this oat water as the base in my Homemade Dog Shampoo Recipe and my dog was SO. SOFT. Like, for days! So, if it did such wonders for him, I figured it would work for us too! And it did….. Holy cow! My skin felt like a baby’s’ bum after this mask and I am so giddy about this mask now. Let’s get into it!
Ingredients
With the most simple ingredients, you can make this mask in about 15 minutes. Not pictured is the lemon wedge I used to balance the PH. So, you will also need a little bit of lemon juice! Fresh, if you can. I talk a lot about PH balancing and why it’s important in homemade beauty products. Our hair and skin have a particular PH in which it is best balanced. Our skin, in this case, needs to be between 4-6. Oats and distilled water are both around 7-8 on the ph scale. So squeezing some lemon in the mixture will help it to balance.
Step 1:
Heat up your distilled water but do not boil it. Measure out your oats, add them to a cheesecloth, and then let them fully soak in the water mixture. It will look like a lot of your water is being absorbed, but you will get more back once you squeeze it all out. Let this cool before squeezing out.
Step 2:
When the oat water has cooled and you rang out the access liquid, don’t toss the oats! You can use them again today to make an Oatmeal Hair Mask! Now, let’s add in the potassium sorbate. This is a mild preservative with antimicrobial and antifungal properties. Most commonly used in clean cosmetic products. This will help extend it’s shelf life.
Step 3:
Whisk in the xanthan gum. This is a natural thickener and will take a bit to get it completely mixed in! It won’t look like it’s doing much, but it will thicken as the water cools even more. You’ll want this to be a texture that won’t drip off of your face when wearing it.
Step 4:
At this point, your mixture should look pretty gelatinous. I always see recipes with essential oils in them, and really I think it’s unnecessary! If you want yours scented, by all means! I choose to go all-natural. Anyhow, now it’s about to get sciency. This is the point where I tested the PH. It came out right around a perfect 7 and a well balanced face mask should be between 4-6.
Step 5:
That’s where the lemon comes in! To be safe, I squeezed a few drops in at a time and then tested it again. By the third time testing though, I had used this entire lemon wedge and got the PH down to about a 5.5. I could have added a bit more lemon, but I am satisfied with how this turned out. If I had to guess, I would say about one tablespoon of lemon is what was needed.
NOTE:
Since this formula was tested by me, you shouldn’t *need* to test your PH, but by all means, I highly suggest you do! Plus, it’s a lot of fun to go around and test all of your skin and hair care products to see if they are balancing to you or not!
Application:
Rinse your face with cool water and then apply with your fingertips in upward circular motions. Let this sit for about 5 minutes! If it starts to dry and harden, that’s too long and I don’t recommend that!
Storing:
Store this product in a sanitized glass jar. I follow typical “canning” instructions for sanitizing my jars to really limit any form of bacteria growing inside my formula. Comment if you want to see a canning / sanitizing post! This recipe doesn’t make much, but feel free to double the recipe. The potassium sorbate will keep this shelf-stable for several months!
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Hannah ^
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