Feed your skin – Totally natural DIY cleansers

Mature skin – Maple and Rose Cleanser

In the middle of summer or winter when your skin is feeling dry, this mixture will cleanse and nourish the skin. Maple syrup has many cleansing properties, while rose geranium has excellent moisturising properties and so is ideal for mature skin.

1-2 drops rose geranium essential oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoons cream

Add the rose geranium oil and maple syrup to the cream and mix thoroughly.

All Skin especially Oily/Combination – Lavender Buttermilk Cleanser

This cleanser will give your skin a gorgeous glow. Buttermilk is a very good astringent and also tones the skin. It brightens the skin and helps even out tone and reduce pore size.

1-2 drops lavender essential oil
¼ cup buttermilk or milk

Add the lavender oil into the buttermilk or milk, mix well and bottle.

All skin types – Honey Cream Cleanser

This mildly astringent cleanser will cleanse, tone and smooth. It’s great for skin that needs a lift before a party or special event.

1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon natural yoghurt

In a small bowl, combine the honey and yoghurt (you may need to warm the honey first). Apply to damp skin with hands, rinse thoroughly with a damp, tepid cloth three times and pat dry with a soft towel.

Cleansing Oils

These are still popular especially in the Middle East. Unrefined, cold-pressed vegetable and nut oils are superb skin cleansers. Unlike the mineral oils found in most commercial cleansers, they don’t just sit on the skin but dissolve impurities on the surface of the skin while feeding it with nutrients. This may sound strange, but cleaning oily skin with cleansing oil is very effective. With the oil layered on the skin, the sebaceous glands are tricked into thinking they have produced enough oil and don’t make more. Light oils like jojoba, hazelnut, sweet almond and apricot kernel are ideal for oily skin.

Recommended base oils for all skin types are jojoba, sweet almond, apricot kernel, sesame, sunflower and grape seed. Small percentage of heavier oils like avocado and wheat germ can be added for drier, more mature skin. Apply a cleansing oil to a damp face and massage over face and neck, then remove with a damp face washer and lots of warm water. Your oil cleanser will last up to 6 months in a cool dark place. Add the contents of 2 vitamin E capsules or oil to preserve. Follow with a toner.

All skin types – Honey Bee Cleanser

A mix of honey and almond oil makes an excellent facial cleanser for lifting stubborn pollution and grime.

½ teaspoon honey

½ teaspoon sweet almond oil

Mix the honey into the sweet almond oil. You may need to warm the honey. Make fresh as needed.

Make-up Cleanser

This is a gentle, beautifully scented oil cleanser, perfect for lifting make-up around the delicate eye area.

4 tablespoons sweet almond oil
1 tablespoon apricot kernel oil
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
3 drops chamomile essential oil

Pour or drop all the oils into a bottle, then seal and shake vigorously.

Oat Cleansers

Oats are remarkably cleansing, healing, anti-inflammatory, softening and moisturising. They are also high in silica and great for skin, nails and hair. Keep a jar of fine oatmeal near your sink, in the shower and bath and use it to cleanse your skin and body. Add a few drops of lavender essential oil to each container to make the oats smell nice. Wrap a handful of oats in a piece of cheesecloth and use as a wash ball on babies’ skin.

All Skin Types – Oat Milk Cleanser

Soak almond meal or oatmeal overnight in milk and use the mix to cleanse your face in the morning. Both combinations are cleansing and hydrating and will keep the skin blemish-free.

Plum Treatment Cleanser for Acne Prone/Irritated Skin

Juicy red plums are a summer fruit when oily and acne prone skin is at its worst. Plums ate astringent and benefit the skin with a combination of large pores, blackheads and red, inflamed pimples. Dandelion leaves and roots are an excellent source of vitamins A and C, both vital in treating acne.

2 plums, peeled, halved and stoned
1 ½ cups water
2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon dried dandelion herb
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then bottle.
3. Use cotton wool balls to wipe over the face then rinse well with tepid water. Use 3 times a week and make fresh each week or freeze a batch in ice-cube trays.