Yesterday was my good friend's birthday. Thinking about what we were going to do to celebrate her Golden Year I came up with the idea of having a spa day! Considering my limited budget I knew a real day of pampering at a proper spa wouldn't be possible so instead I started researching what we could make ourselves at home. I found a lot of different recipes containing all sorts of botanical oils, fancy herbs, and recipes I knew wouldn't be available at the Oxford Wal-Mart Superstore. Instead I opted for two-three ingredient recipes that I knew would be easy to find and wouldn't go to waste if not everything was used!
 |
| Ingredients for our day of pampering! |
 |
| Whoops! Forgot the yogurt. |
We did a moisturizing facial mask, avocado hair mask, and a body scrub.
Ingredients for the facial mask:
- plain yogurt. The recipe I used recommended Greek and I was really satisfied with the turn out.
- 2 egg whites.
You add 2 egg whites to a bowl, I did this pretty successfully by carefully cracking the egg and carefully pouring out the whites. I'm pretty sure there is a fancy kitchen accessory that could do this for you but I didn't have access to one. Once you start mixing it up the yogurt starts to clump but if you stir it quickly for a couple of minutes to will mix together pretty nicely. Depending on how runny the combination was I added a dollop or so extra of the yogurt to give it some weight. I stored it in a plastic container in the fridge to help it set up. I applied it using a cleaned concealer brush for more control but I'm sure using your hands works fine too. Add some cucumber eye coverings if you like, and watch out for drips! Leave it on for a few minutes (5-7) and then wash off with a warm wash cloth.
NOTE: I made a separate recipe for each person and that was super unnecessary. One recipe will go for three or four people.
 |
| Putting on soothing tunes for background music adds to the experience. |
Ingredients for the avocado hair mask:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
After removing the avocado of it's peel (is it a peel or a skin?) add the honey and the olive oil into a mixing bowl and start mashing. This part takes several minutes and just when you think it's creamy and smooth enough, you find another large piece of avocado. And you will continue to find large pieces of avocado as you apply the mixture to your hair. Mash it as best as you can, then get a friend to help you apply. After you apply I would recommend wrapping your head in plastic wrap or wearing a shower cap because you will be keeping this on for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes rinse hair THOROUGHLY. You might want to enlist the help of a friend. Maybe take a comb with you in the shower because avocado pulp is tricky and will find in your hair. Wash your hair with a shampoo-no need to condition afterward.
BEWARE: Of flying avocado pieces as you apply to hair.
WARNING: To those of you who have thin or fine hair or hair that's prone to oil and grease, you may want to follow the "Lather, Rinse, Repeat" instructions. Or skip adding the olive oil to the mix. There were some issues with thin hair being greasy even after washing.
HINT: If you wanted to accomplish two things at once you could apply the hair mask then hop in the shower to apply your homemade body scrub. You will come out feeling smooth and refreshed.
 |
| Mixing up the slimy mask! |
Ingredients for the homemade body scrub:
- white sugar, raw sugar, or Epsom salt. Whatever ingredient you choose is really about how coarse you want the scrub to be. I chose white sugar because again it was all about availability. However there were several warnings against using brown sugar-apparently you will end up in a syrup.
- Body oil, light olive oil, apple oil....Pretty much any type of oil that ISN'T vegetable or peanut. I chose Palmer's Moisturizing Body Oil. There was a hint of coconut added a pleasant and relaxing scent.
- I didn't do this but you could add lavender extract, lemon zest, or pretty much any scented accent for color or scent preference.
I would go to your favorite craft store to pick out a cute container but I found that Ziploc containers work just as well. It's 2 cups of sugar (or whatever you chose) and 1 cup of the oil you chose. However it can be even simpler than that. Fill whatever container you have full of sugar and then saturate that with oil. Make sure the oil coats all of the sugar. I used a wooden cuticle stick to gently stir and move the sugar so I could pour the oil directly into the bottom. Make sure you get plenty of oil (I had to get three more bottles).
When you're in the shower put a quarter size amount on your fingers and then rub slowly in a circular motion. I focused on the backs of my arms and legs where my skin gets really dry. If you're doing this and the hair mask at the same time make sure your bathroom drain can handle it-this could (and did for us) get ugly. Once you get out of the shower lather on your favorite lotion and enjoy the perks of being a woman.
 |
| The first one on the left is complete and the other two are just jars of sugar. |
 |
| Trying to illustrate the art of poking around with a wooden stick. |
 |
| Voila! Beautiful skin in a jar. |
|
|
We had a marvelous day and felt very glamorous afterwards. I hope you try these out and feel the same!
Here are the links where I found the recipes, they have so many more for all different skin types and hair types:
Homemade Body Scrub
Facial Mask
Hair Mask
