Make Your Own Face Mask Class

One of my favorite parts of teaching here at Coda Health Kitchen is seeing and feeling so much excitement from the attendees. Being part of their experience and knowing I taught them something new. It’s also rewarding to see them have so much fun. And teaching is fun for me too! Another part I love is making people feel both special and beautiful.  This class was all about making your own face mask with all natural ingredients!

Having worked in the skin care industry for the past decade has taught me so much.  One thing it has taught me is that every woman wants to feel beautiful. And we all should. When we nourish our body with good foods and products, we feel and look  so vibrant and healthy. Because let’s face it, you truly are what you eat.

I taught a “Make Your Own Face Mask” class a few years ago and had so much fun I decided to do it again. Prior to the class, I gathered the attendee’s skin type and got to work. I found recipes for dry, normal and oily skin. Then I took to the grocery store, buying organic, fresh and local ingredients. I set up ‘stations’ for each attendee with the following: a mirror, utensils they would need to make their own mask (i.e. grater, knife, masher, measuring spoons, etc.), makeup remover toilettes, and of course Jess and I’s special “Raw Citrus Water” to sip on while making their mask.

After everyone arrived and greetings were made, they all got to work making a face mask from fresh, whole foods. We used various ingredients such as apples, avocados, pears, watermelon, grapefruit, yogurt, etc.

No artificial colors, phthalates, preservatives or harmful chemicals. Just plain old organic fruits and veggies. Or as our grandparents would call it:  food!

Next came the food on their faces! This was the part where we all broke out into laughter and had fun teasing one another while not-so-carefully applying the face masks.

After the application and timers went off, I passed out hot towels for everyone to use to clean their faces with. We then got to work on making our own body scrubs. This is where they all got to be creative as I had the following ingredients for them to create their own concoctions:

Olive oil, almond oil, organic cane sugar, vitamin E (did you know this works as a natural preservative?), dried mint, coffee grinds (did you know this helps fight cellulite?) and various essential oils to choose from.

We all ended the class by enjoying a delicious healthy fruit salad with yogurt and other healthy toppings! Further proving, you are what you eat!

I can’t wait to see what the next class will bring!  Our innovative class offerings are sponsored by Dental Health Colorado, who’s progressive dentists support oral health and systemic health.

Instructors: Bridget Hobart & Jess Moser

Skin Types and All-Natural Recipes

For Dry Skin:

Apple Facial Mask recipe

Ingredients

 1 teaspoon of olive oil

 1 tablespoon of yogurt

 1 tbsp. of grated apple

How to apply

 Put on the stirred ingredients on your face for 15 minutes, and then wash them with warm water.
Apply this mask only 1-2 times a week to avoid the excessive use of the oil ingredient.

The mask benefits

The apple includes alpha hydroxyl acids that exfoliate the skin and antioxidants that protect your skin from UV damages.

For more vitamin E, you can add wheat germ oil (1/2 spoon) instead of the olive oil. Sunflower oil can also make a nice substitute.

Why so many people suffer from dry skin?

Dry and irritated skin is usually caused by vitamin A deficiency in your nutrition, with the stimulation of the dry weather, often caused by air conditioning.

For the treatment this essential vitamin is found in fruits such as guava, bananas and avocado (as in the picture above). In larger amounts you can find it in orange vegetables such as carrots.

Other reasons for dry skin can be free radicals, which accumulate in our body and weaken our skin. They easily enter our body because of the environmental pollution, bad habits such as excessive alcohol drinking and UV sunlight radiation.

Some safety measures for homemade masks:

While treating the dry skin problem – don’t overuse masks and facial creams that contain oil (coconut oil, herbal oils, etc.): Too much oil for your dry skin – means clogged pores that will damage it on the long run.

If you’ll apply fruits and vegetables that contain vitamin A, altogether with other essential vitamins (C and E) at your skincare routine once or twice a week, that will guarantee you healthy skin and a better feeling.

For Dry Skin:

Avocado Mask Recipe

Ingredients
 2 tablespoons of avocado

 1 slice of orange,

 2 slices of banana

How to apply

Grate the ingredients; stir the mixture until you’ll get dough.  Apply the mask on your face for 20 minutes, and then wash with warm water.

The mask benefits

After using the mask you will feel your face moisturized immediately.
That’s because the avocado contains essential oils, anti-aging amino acids vitamin E and many other antioxidants and minerals.

The orange contains vitamin C, plus the banana includes vitamin B group and rich with minerals like potassium.

Why so many people suffer from dry skin?

Dry and irritated skin is usually caused by vitamin A deficiency in your nutrition, with the stimulation of the dry weather, often caused by air conditioning.

For the treatment this essential vitamin is found in fruits such as guava, bananas and avocado (as in the picture above). In larger amounts you can find it in orange vegetables such as carrots.

Other reasons for dry skin can be free radicals, which accumulate in our body and weaken our skin. They easily enter our body because of the environmental pollution, bad habits such as excessive alcohol drinking and UV sunlight radiation.

For Oily Skin:

Apple & Pear Facial Mask Recipe

Ingredients

 1 green apple, grated

 1 mashed pear

 1 tablespoon of organic and low fat yogurt

How to apply

 Apply the facial mask on your face for about 15 minutes. Afterwards wash your face with warm water and then with cold water.

The mask benefits

The yogurt adds your skin cells essential proteins, the pear gives your skin smoothness and the apple clears up the pores and makes them smaller because of their alpha hydroxy acids  content. The apple also includes ursolic acid, which makes it an excellent oily skincare ingredient.

Oily skin is caused by an excessive production of sebum, which clogs the skin.

This problem can cause acne, which is the result of clogged pores with the bacteria inside.

For the homemade oily skin care, if you want to clear up your clogged pores you should use masks with strong acidic pore clearing ingredients such as lemon and garlic.

Because the intensity of such ingredients you should mix them with other fruits and vegetables that are more subtle but still can make the difference: Apple, tomato, kiwi and pear.

You can also add to the organic skincare mask the ingredients that are good for all types of skin such as orange, cucumber and sweet pepper.

For using juices as facial mask, it is the best to soak them into a clean piece of cloth at first, then apply it on your face for 15 minutes, while you relaxing after a very long day.

Important: Use the facial mask up to once a week, to keep your pH skin level at its optimum state.