Last Saturday night I ended up staying at home, in the mood for experimenting with some natural remedies. That happened just hours after a new and shiny iPhone had landed in my arms. As of now I am officially having conversations with Siri, A Virtual Man who "lives" in my phone. So staying home and making my own face mask must have been an outcry for going back to basics and getting in touch with the nature.
I wasn't trying to invent my own anti-aging cream. I decided to try some home remedies from this eBook I recently stumbled upon, full of useful tips and recipes. So I knew I was in good hands of the mother Nature.
My eyes get tired from spending hours (no, centuries actually) at the computer. So I went for this recipe: "mix grated cucumber with lime juice; soak into cotton balls and place on eyes for up to 10 min". Simples! Yet, somehow I had pieces of cucumber flying all over the place, and my eyes were a bit sore from an overdose of lime juice, but in the end it did work and my eyes felt relieved. Next time, I won't be trying to blindly grab my iPhone, with cucumbers on my eyes, to have yet another chat with Siri (I feel like I no longer need a boyfriend).
The night was still young, so then it was a homemade face cleansing product: I followed the recipe from the eBook and mixed some coconut oil with a bit of water; applied it on my face and removed with a warm cloth in five minutes (I'm too impatient to do anything for longer than that). And it worked: the skin felt clean and very smooth. I didn't feel the need for any moisturising cream afterwards (as I usually do as my skin is dry) - the coconut oil did that job.
All the recipes in the book are handily organised according to ailments and imbalances they help cure, from acidity to weight loss. It provides natural remedy recipes, lifestyle and daily routine tips to get rid of a particular imbalance.
It is most helpful that the majority of those recipes require basic ingredients and minimum effort (unless you are trying to multitask when lying down with the face mask on). However, I'm already getting prepared to my friends' reaction when I offer them to try the following recipes:
"You have a toothache? Boil Asoka tree bark and swish the cooled liquid in the mouth!"
"Feeling exhausted? No big deal. Take an anti-aging herb Shilajit for the whole body rejuvenation."
While I'm confident that both Asoka tree and Shilajit herb are easy to source from the internet (just ask Siri!), the majority of the recipes require simple things most of us have at home like milk, orange juice, turmeric, olive oil, potatoes etc.
I have a confession to make though; I had this strange thought that simple ingredients like cucumber, lime and coconut oil just can't give me the same effect that modern multi-ingredient skincare products can. But I want to prove myself wrong, and already have a line-up of natural home remedies from the book that I'm going to try next:
"Mix pineapple juice with apple juice and apply to the skin daily to soften and brighten".
"Drink juice made from fresh artichokes to clean the liver".
"Soak a soft cloth in vinegar and apply to any swollen or painful areas of the leg".
"Natural moisturiser for the skin: mix eight ounces of yogurt with a tablespoon of both lemon juice and orange juice to use on the face as a masque".
And by the way, did you know that eating papaya twice a day may reduce sexual problems caused by stress???