There are certain DIY skin care recipes that all the experts recommend. Whether it’s using tomato juice or lemon juice to lighten the skin or yogurt to moisturize the face. There are some that have been tried and tested, even proven to help improve the look and feel of the skin.
However, there are some odd and questionable recipes that the experts recommend staying well away from. They have been proven dangerous, causing various health problems. They can damage the skin and cause aging to happen faster.
It’s time to avoid the bad DIY skin care recipes, but which ones aren’t that good for you after all? Here are seven that you should NEVER try.
Avoid Any Skin Care Product Involving a Nut Scrub
Sugar and salt are often recommended as natural scrubs for your skin. However, did you know that some people are using nut scrubs? They will crush up pistachios shells, walnuts, and almonds to create an exfoliating and moisturizing scrub with some olive oil.
It’s understandable why people would do this. Nuts are healthy (if you’re not allergic) and can offer a range of skincare benefits. In fact, almond oil is regularly recommended for your skin. It’s full of vitamin E, which many other oils don’t include. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps to fight against cancer and other aging problems.
However, crushing up nuts (especially the shells) and rubbing them onto the skin is asking for trouble. People who do this end up cutting their skin, especially when using the recipes on their faces. The skin is fragile, especially around the eyes and mouth. It’s very easy to cut into it and cause more damage.
Some of the tears you won’t see, but you will feel. Your face can sting when you put moisturizing cream on it, and you may suffer more from bacteria build up.
It’s worth just sticking to the almond oil and finding something softer for exfoliating the skin.
Using Toothpaste as an Acne Treatment
You’ve seen it on TV shows, and some celebrities will tell you that they use toothpaste on their acne. However, putting toothpaste on your acne is a bad idea.
Let’s get the reason for toothpaste being used out of the way. Yes, it makes sense. Toothpaste has some baking soda, which helps to dry out a pimple and force it to disappear. But that’s the only good thing about toothpaste.
Don’t forget that there are many other chemicals in the product. Some of these chemicals include menthol, alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide. These are extremely irritating ingredients and will make your skin feel itchy and swollen. You’ll end up making your pores worse, so you break out in more spots afterward.
If you want to use the toothpaste ingredients for drying out a pimple, just stick to good old-fashioned baking soda. You can create a paste and use that directly on your zits. You get all the benefits without any of the annoying chemical problems.
Want something a little stronger? Add some sea salt to the mixture too. The two ingredients will work together not just to dry out the pimple but also kill off the bacteria. You avoid more breakouts in the future.
Alternatively, you can opt for an over-the-counter treatment. Just make sure you look out for the chemicals in use and avoid anything with skin-irritating ingredients.
Making Face Masks Out of Egg Whites
While you’ll hear that egg, whites are good for tightening and toning the skin, this is another DIY skin care recipe that you want to avoid. There is no proof that the recipe will do you any good.
Egg whites are supposed to tighten your skin and close your pores. What they’re doing is drying out your skin. When your skin dries out, it naturally feels tighter and toner. As soon as you wash the egg whites off, you won’t feel any different.
All you’re doing is running the risk of dry skin conditions and salmonella (a serious type of infection). At home, you’re more likely to get the raw egg in your mouth, and this can pass the salmonella to your stomach.
What about the spa treatments that use egg white masks? These can be good for you. Most of the spas will include other active ingredients within the masks that will help to improve the health of the skin. They will also use fresh eggs and can use other ingredients that are similar. You’ll also go through a pre- and post-treatment process that will make sure your face is ready for the treatment.
While there are no direct issues with your skin (apart from the risk of dry skin), there are risks to your overall health. It’s just not worth it for something that has no proof of working.
It’s not just egg that can cause problems. Your skin shouldn’t feel tight after a treatment. If it does, this suggests that there is some damage to lower layers or that your skin is drying out. How does your skin feel after you put some moisturizing cream on it? If it feels good, all the ingredients have done is dry out your skin.
Using Lemon on Your Face
Step away from the lemons. Yes, they are popular for cleansing, but you don’t want to use them on your face. Anything that involves lemon in facial masks, cleaners, and more should be avoided.
Lemon juice is highly acidic. This is the reason why it’s recommended. The acids will get into the pores and kill off the bacteria. The juice helps to improve pigmentation issues and can help to lighten scars to the point that they disappear.
However, the acid causes some major problems for your skin. The lemons are too acidic for your skin, leading to irritation and damage. The acid will break down your barrier within your skin, leaving you with tears and breaks in the skin that can become infected. The skin becomes inflamed, which leads to more problems for the pores.
Your skin will also be more susceptible to sun damage. Remember that barrier has gone. Even with sunscreen, you are at a higher risk of the UV rays affecting your skin cells, increasing your risk of aging and cancer.
Instead of lemon juice, use some orange or grapefruit. You can also opt for tomato juice, which is much milder than any of the others but still offers all the same benefits. Even if you do use tomato juice or another citrus fruit, you’ll want to think about how your skin will react in the sun. It’s important to put sunscreen on to protect from damage (but you should be doing this anyway, right?)
Honey as a Mask Base
It’s time to step away from the honey.
This is often touted as one of the best ingredients for a mask base, but it’s not that great. Sure, there are antibacterial properties, and it will help to reduce inflammation, but it’s not great for helping your skin respond to the natural environment.
You know from experience that honey is sticky. It gets everywhere and leaves a residue hours later. You just don’t always see it. Well, think about what it can do to your pores after you create a mask out of it.
The honey will get into the pores and leave a sticky residue behind. The pores become blocked, making it easy for oils and sweat to build. Your skin will naturally sweat and produce oils due to the natural environment. If the sweat and oil can’t escape from the pores because of the honey, it’s left building up in a moist and warm area. Bacteria grow, and you open the risk of developing more acne.
On top of that, we tend to reach for the store-bought honey, rather than raw honey. This means we add extra ingredients in. The manufactured honey goes through a treatment process that gets rid of most of benefits. You lose the vitamins and antioxidants that help to support the health of the skin. You’re left with sugars and harmful ingredients for the skin.
It’s best just to avoid. There are many other ingredients that work as a good base, including milk and olive oil.
Avoid Coconut Oil Masks
Coconut oil is considered one of the best natural treatments for the skin. This isn’t the case when it comes to masks, especially for the face and for those with oily skin. You will regularly hear that you need a non-comedogenic product for your skin to avoid the oils. Well, unfortunately, coconut oil is 4 out of 5 on the comedogenic scale.
It will lead to more oil build up and more breakouts. There are high risks of blocking the pores, which will lead to more pimples on your face.
Sure, coconut oil is full of antioxidants and antibacterial elements, but they’re no good if they’re constantly working against bacteria that they’re accidentally causing.
You don’t need to put coconut oil on your face. Argan oil is an excellent alternative. You could also opt for olive oil, almond oil, or avocado oil. All of these will hydrate the skin but keep the pores open and unclogged.
There are some benefits to coconut oil though. The problem is on your face and other usually greasy parts of your body. Your back, arms, and legs can benefit from the use of coconut oil at times. Your feet may also benefit, especially if you regularly suffer from hard patches. Cradle cap can also be removed from the use of coconut oil. It’s mostly your face that suffers the most from the use of coconut oil.
Don’t Treat Burns with Butter
There was a common practice of slathering butter all over burns. This was supposed to help cool the wound and hydrate the skin in the deeper layers, helping to repair the damage and avoid scarring.
Skin experts want you to avoid using this treatment. There is no scientific evidence that it works. In fact, there is more evidence to support that it makes your skin worse, rather than helping to treat the burns.
Butter covers the skin and prevents moisture from getting out. It clogs the pores and creates an environment perfect for bacteria growth. This can lead to your burned skin becoming infected.
The best thing you can do for your skin is to run the burn under cold water. Leave it under the running water for at least 15 minutes. This will allow the coolness to work its way into the lower layers and take the heat out of the burn. You should then cover in an antibiotic cream or a burn cream, before covering up.
You don’t want the air getting to the burn. This will just cause the skin to dry out and make your burn worse. By keeping the skin moist, you can lessen the amount of scarring that you will experience.
It’s Time to Avoid Many Home Remedies
There are certainly many home remedies that are good for your skin. Some oils are excellent for moisturizing and highly recommended for repairing damage to the skin. There are natural ingredients that can improve the health of your skin cells and avoid some signs of aging.
However, you need to know which home remedies are good for you. Unfortunately, there are many that are regularly shared by friends and celebrities that aren’t the greatest.
Don’t put lemon on your skin and avoid using coconut oil, especially if you have sensitive or oily skin. They will just make skin irritation and greasy issues worse.
It’s important to look after your skin. Just because you see people put items on their skin doesn’t make them healthy. Just because you can eat the ingredients doesn’t make them good for your pores. Think about how blocked your pores can get and how your skin feels when it comes to using the ingredients and avoids the DIY recipes that use them.
