DIY Beard Oil Recipe For Men | Essential Oils and Carrier Oils For Beard
What Is a Beard Oil?
DIY Beard oil can be best explained as the oil used for nourishing the beard. Oil is often considered as a cause of greasiness and clogged pores in beauty care. but when it comes to hair care using oil to moisturize, smoothen and strengthen hair is considered very important.
Most of the posts here are about beauty care for women, but during this lockdown imposed by the Covid19 pandemic, men were found worrying about their facial hair as their visits to salon were barred. This is what inspired me to write this article which is absolutely dedicated to men. The skin underneath the beard is just as the skin on the rest of the body and that too needs moisture and nourishment to stay healthy.
The hair of the beard is beard hair is typically coarse in texture, very different from the texture of your head hair. Ingrown hair and itchiness in beard hair is very common.
While beard has always had its own trend like French beard, stubble etc, maintaining it has been a common concern. If your choice is a Goatee or a stubble you will probably have less itchiness and irritation. But if you like to don full beard you will need to take special care to keep your beard smooth and healthy. To take proper care of your beard you must use products that are specifically designed and formulated for beard. Beard Oil, Beard Conditioners and beard Comb are some products that you must invest in.
DIY Beard Oil Recipe to make at Home
Before you start making your beard oil you need to have the ingredients handy. Now this recipe is very simple, it does not require any infusion through sunlight, we just require to blend the oils together.
The two types of oil that goes in your DIY Beard Oil recipe are the carrier oils and the Essential oils.
Which Oils Are Best for Beards?
The carrier oil can be selected depending on the availability and the properties you are looking for in your beard oil.
The Carrier Oils For Homemade Beard Oil
Sweet almond oil
Sweet almond oil is one of the most popular carrier oils used in the making of skin and hair care products. It is used both in Ancient Chinese Medicine and in Ayurveda for eg Rogan Badam Shirin. It absorbs very well and moisturizes the skin.
Jojoba oil
Jojoba oil has amazing benefits for hair because it, boosts shine,it is a natural conditioner for hair and scalp, deals with dryness, strengthens the hair follicle, and makes frizzy hair manageable. Jojoba has excellent conditioning properties thus it makes an amazing beard conditioner.
Argan Oil
Argan oil is a native to Morocco. It is also a very lightweight oil and does not leave the skin greasy. Ideal for making skin care products for daily application. It is rich in fatty acids, Vitamin E and antioxidants. Thus, it makes the hair smooth, repairs damage and stimulates growth. Because of these properties Argan oils is used in many leave-on hair serums.
Coconut Oil
Cold pressed virgin coconut oil makes a perfect hair oil all by itself. It is a fantastic product for people with dry and damaged hair. It also promotes hair growth.
Castor oil
Castor oil is particularly known for its hair growth and strengthening properties. In India Castor oil ( Erand ka tel in Hindi ) has been used since time immemorial. What adds to its glory is its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Because of which it again gains a merit to find a place in the ingredient list of your favorite beard oil
Best Essential Oils For Beard
Essential oils add many beneficial qualities to your beard oil and also allow you to customize your oil with a scent your man is sure to love.
Essential oils for Dry Hair: Clary Sage, Rosemary
Essential Oils for Oily Hair: Lemon essential oil,
Essential oils for Itchiness: Rosemary essential oil, Chamomile
Essential oil s for hair growth: Vtiver, Peppermint, Cedarwood essential oil
Essential oils for dandruff treatment: Lemon Essential oil
DIY Beard Oil Recipe
Even if you are not a diy type, just give this beard oil a try. It is only blending and you are done.
Ingredients
15ml argan oil
7.5 ml jojoba oil
7.5 sweet almond oil
2drops Cedarwood Essential oil
2 drops rosemary essential oil
2drops sage
Instructions
Take the Carrier Oils in a glass jar
Add in the essential oils with a dropper.
Gently swirl the jar to blend together the carrier oils and the essential oils.
How To apply:
Drop sufficient amount of oil in one hand and apply on the beard.
Use a beard comb to set your beard.
For best results, apply daily to washed, dry beard.
Homemade Exfoliant For Clean And Fresh Skin
An Exfoliant is a product that is made to remove dead cells from the surface of the skin. The process of removing dead cells from the topmost layer of the skin is called Exfoliation. The process of exfoliation involves gently scrubbing the exfoliant on the skin.
There are a bunch of Scrubs available in the market that are formulated for various skin types but why buy when you can DIY.
5 Best Homemade Exfoliant Recipe Every DIY Buff Must Know
1 Baking Soda Exfoliant For Face
What You Need
Baking Soda
Water
Mix Baking Soda and water, apply gently on the face and rinse off. This is believed to work great on oily skin type.
Caution
Do not use this scrub if you have open wound on your face (cuts or burns)
This baking soda exfoliant is not suitable on excessively dry skin.
Keep the scrub away from eye area
2. Sugar And Honey Exfoliant With Strawberry Twist
Brown Sugar or White Granulated Sugar
Honey
Strawberry Extract / Fresh Strawberry (Mashed)
Just mix everything together and apply as you would apply any other face scrub. Strawberry is very enriching for skin, it nourishes the skin with all the goodness of Vitamin C. Straberry will revitalize the skin. Fresh strawberry is quite refreshing but as the per availability you can choose between the extract or pulp.
With this same recipe you can make your very own DIY Blueberry Scrub, just replace Strawberries and use Blueberries.
3. DIY Cocoa Exfoliant
1 tsp Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp Cocoa Butter
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp brown sugar
Any essential oil of your choice
Melt cocoa butter and add cocoa powder and brown sugar . Now add coconut oil, you can adjust the amout of coconut oil you are adding depending on the desired consistancy. Finally add few drops of essential oil. Store in an airtight jar.
Cocoa is rich in Antioxidants and thus it will help you manage the free radicals and will repair the skin, leaving it smooth and supple.
4. Homemade Milk Scrub For Face
This recipe calls for powdered milk, DIY scrubs are made with whole milk also but in this recipe we will use powdered milk. Now there is alot of confusion regarding Dairy Whiteners and Milk Powder. What we want here is evaporated milk that is in powdered form. Dairy whiteners can be used as a second option.
1 tsp Milk Powder
Sweet Almond Oil
1/2 tsp Oatmeal
Mix the dry ingredients first and then pour in sweet Almond Oil, add as much as is required to soak up the dry ingredients and thats it. The lactic scid present in the milk powder is one component that we look up to in this scrub. The exfoliant used in this recipe is the oatmeal which is again quite good for skin.
5 DIY Almond Scrub
For this Scrub you need
1 tsp Almond Meal
1/4 tsp of Sandalwood Powder
2 tsp Sweet Almond Oil
Rose Essential Oil Few Drops
Mix all the ingredients and apply gently on your face. Sandalwood powder will have nice cooling effect and will also add scent to the scrub. Almond is an excellent cleanser, it also smoothens the skin and is very easily available. If you cant find Almond Meal, just grab a handful of Almond nuts and grind them to powder and you can supply yourself until forever.
These are some simple homemade scrub recipes that you can use as a guide, there is no particularly written rules, all you need is an exfoliant, a medium and the fregrance. You can experiment with these recipes and come up with something more enriching and interesting, and if you do, please comeback and share the variation you used so that we all get to try it.
3 Super effective Homemade Face Masks For Oily Skin | Deal With Greasy Skin Naturally At Home
So you took a tissue paper test and discovered oil patches on it, this confirms that you have oily skin. It is a common fact that oily skin is problematic and is prone to acne and pimples, but believe me it has a brighter side too. Oily or greasy skin tends to age better, it does not develop wrinkles and if managed properly the problems can be minimized.
Oily skin is a result of overactive sebaceous gland. When the sebaceous gland starts producing higher amount of a fatty substance called ‘Sebum’ the skin tends to appear oily, the oil can be touched and felt on the surface of the skin.
The correct approach to deal with the grease is to try and remove the oil from the skin surface and not to disturb the activity of sebaceous gland.
Homemade face packs for oily skin are made with natural ingredients, the main objective of these packs is to reduce the oiliness by just working on the surface of the skin, it is not suggested to adopt any method that focuses on altering the activity/ function of the sebaceous gland.
Homemade Face Masks For Oily Skin
Try These Amazingly Effective DIY Packs For Oily Face
Natural Mud Pack or Clay Mask
The mud pack is indeed worthwhile. To be true, the Clay masks provide only a temporary solution for managing the oily skin and you must not expect long term results from mud packs. They clear the skin and remove the oil from the surface of the skin
Fuller’s Earth and Potato Juice Pack
Take 2 tsp of Fuller’s Earth or Multani Mitti as it is commonly known in India, add 1 tsp of fresh potato juice. Mix the ingredients and adjust the consistency of the pack by using Rose water. Apply this face mask all over the face and neck, let it dry. Remove with wet cotton balls. This face mask will give the skin an instant freshness and cooling effect. It will also clear the grease from the top layer of skin.
What is Multani Mitti and Where is it found ?
Multani Mitti is the name used in India, in other parts of the world it is referred as Fuller’s Earth. Contrary to the Indian name which means Clay from Multan, this amazing clay is available in several countries all over the world. Its main characteristic is of a an absorbent which makes it work amazingly on oily skin to remove the grease from the skin.
Orange Face Mask for Oily Skin
Oranges are great for oily skin, they contain high amount of Vitamin-C and Orange juice has excellent toning and astringent properties.
To make the Orange Mask, take orange juice and freeze it in form of cubes. Rub these frozen cubes of fresh Orange juice on the face. This juice will the kill the dullness and oiliness and will bestow, instant freshness and shine.
You can make a face back by mixing orange peel powder with fresh orange juice and rose water. This mask is helpful in cutting down the oiliness and also works as an effective natural skin toning pack.
Banana and Lemon Face Pack
Both Banana and Lemon help in removing the excess oil produced by sebaceous glands. Use a ripe banana to make this mask. Mash one ripe Banana and add lemon juice to it, apply this pack on the face and let it sit for 15 minutes. If the mask becomes too runny in consistency and its not holding on to the skin you can consider adding half a tsp. of oatmeal.
If your skin is sensitive to lemon juice you can try using Orange juice in your Banana face mask.
Tips for Oily Skin Care
- Do not use cream or cream based beauty products.
- Use Astringent. Instead of washing your face several times in a day, which strips of the oil leaving the skin too dry, keep astringent pads with you and use them for cleansing the face.
- Use baby powder
- Baby powder is mild and refreshing; you can use it to cover the oiliness anytime during the day.
- Be careful While Choosing Cosmetic Products
- Basically the cosmetic beauty products are categorized in two types, one is ‘Oil Based’ and other is ‘Water based’. People with oily skin must always opt for water based products.
With these simple tips, oily skin can be managed easily and naturally without taking any expensive beauty treatments.
DIY Fenugreek Hair Pack for Effective Hair growth
Hair needs to be taken proper care of for it to stay healthy. And for proper care, one needs to understand his/her hair properly and use the right treatment packs for its well-being. There are several wonder ingredients available right in our kitchen that have proven to be more effective against general hair problems like hair loss, acne, dandruff and hair breakage than the pricey chemical stuff.
Using fenugreek (Methi seed in Hindi) for hair has existed since the time of our forefathers and you would have your grandma suggest it quite a lot of times. Of course, we probably never understood the gravity of the situation then. Alas! It still isn’t too late. Fenugreek has been tried, tested and proven to offer a myriad of solutions to your everyday hair problem struggles, chief of them all being hair loss (everyone’s nightmare!) and re-growth. These are easily found in your pantry or at the max you will have to reach an Indian grocery store and it won’t even cost that much!
How does fenugreek aid hair growth?
Hair is basically made of a protein, keratin and hair requires a generous amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals like iron, potassium and sulfur for its proper growth and fenugreek/ fenugreek seeds has these aplenty in addition to possessing medicinal properties, nicotinic acid and lecithin which are all good fodder for your hair follicles to feed on. These treat your follicles and are extremely effective in strengthening of hair which in turn prevents hair breakage and causes an increase in hair volume due new hair growth. Additionally, a hormone antecedent, diosgenin present in fenugreek seed exhibits estrogen like properties and is extremely helpful in hair growth. Estrogen is a wonder hormone that helps greatly in hair growth, the reason why pregnant women seem to have been exempted from hair loss problems, for a short while. Fenugreek seeds also possess moisturizing properties that bring shine, luster and bounce to your hair.
How to use Methi Seeds For Hair Care?
Fenugreek can be used alone or in combination with other ingredients, also easily available in your pantry like lemon juice, coconut oil, curd, coconut milk etc. Read on for tips on how to use the wonder ingredient for the betterment of your hair.
1. Soak 1/4th cup of fenugreek seeds in a cup of water and leave it overnight. The next day, use the soaked water to rinse your hair once and let it stay. After an hour, wash using lukewarm water. This helps in growth of hair in the long run as shown in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
2. Alternately, soak the fenugreek seeds well overnight and grind them into a paste the next day. To this paste, add coconut milk/ coconut oil/ olive oil and mix well and apply to your scalp and leave for 30 minutes before washing off with a mild shampoo or just water. You can also use powdered fenugreek seeds instead of soaked fenugreek paste. This helps in attaining the benefits of both coconut oil and the fenugreek seeds and also aids in preventing hair loss and curing areas with damaged hair.
3. Fine, smooth paste made from overnight soaked fenugreek seeds mixed with one tablespoon of lemon juice when applied to your hair proves effective against dandruff.
No medicine shows these instant effects. For you to be able to reap the effects of your hard work, you would have to follow a strict routine. Use fenugreek seeds for your hair for at least a month or 6-8 weeks to be able to see results. You’ll see a visible change in the way your hair looks and feels!
DIY Homemade Lemon Bleach For Skin Lightening
Oh So Lemony: Bleaching The Skin at Home with Lemon
Lemon with its bleaching properties can add good results to the skin lightening regime.
I will be sharing info on bleaching the skin and how to make use of lemon for bleaching the skin.
Bleaching the skin is a common cosmetic procedure which lightens the skin tone. Bleach is conventionally performed by a cosmetic therapist or a beautician in countries like India. But with the booming urge of going natural forces me try out homemade beauty recipes. In same sequence and keeping up the same spirit I share a very basic yet effective homemade lemon bleach for skin.
Lemon for Fair skin Bleaching
Lemon is full with vitamin C and antioxidants which makes it a good melanin checker.
Citric acid in lemon helps to get rid of the dead skin as it helps in breaking the bond between the dead cells and new cells.
Although this article is all about skin lightning with homemade lemon bleach, I would also take the liberty to make a mention about the famous lemon sugar exfoliator. Exfoliating the skin with homemade lemon exfoliator will leave the skin free of dead cells, smooth and fresh.
Coming back to the topic now making your own homemade lemon bleach for skin is no rocket science.
Using Lemon bleach for skin Lightening
Cut a lemon into two halves run it under tap water for 2-3 mins. Now squeeze out the lemon juice on a damp cotton ball. Apply it all over the face by gently dabbing the cotton ball on the face.
Leave it for 10-15 mins and wash your face nicely. Do not use an chemical based soap or face wash after rinsing off the lemon juice. Use gram flour to wash the face instead.
Do this only twice a week not more than that. This lemon bleach shall lighten the skin leaving it fresh and clean.
Precautions while using lemon on skin
- Do not use lemon juice directly on the skin. Dilute it, or mix it with gram flour.
- Never go out in the sun without removing the lemon juice from the skin completely.
- Avoid using lemon bleach for skin lightening if you are suffering from skin diseases or you have severe pigmentation problem.
- Do not apply lemon juice on cuts and wounds.
- Always do a patch test before using an lemon based bleaching recipes.
- Last but not the least, consult your skin/beauty therapist before using lemon bleach on your skin.