the cold - the oils

When it’s so cold outside, you should better protect your skin, hands, hair. 

This is an easy recipe for a face mask, that will make your skin have an healthy glow and help it against dryness.

·         Carrot juice freshly made

·         1 egg’s yolk (eigeel)

·         A little bit of olive oil

Preparation: beat the egg yolk with the olive oil in 100 ml of carrot juice. Put this on your face for 30 min and wash it off. 

Your hands will likely also suffer from this weather;

·         1 teaspoon of lemon juice

·         50 grams of quark

·         1 tablespoon of flour 

  

Knead your hands with this preparation and wash off with warm water. This will keep your hands soft and young!

I love taking baths, certainly the baths that I make with different kinds of oils. It's really relaxing and my skin is very oily afterwards, this is good because I have a dry skin.

This is how I make them; I take two tablespoons of a certain oil. You can use olive oil, macadamia oil,... Don't choose too expensive oils, but try to use biological oils. Sometimes I use some argan oil, here it's expensive but not in Marocco so if you know someone who goes there always ask to bring some for u! Then I garnish this oil/oils with essential oils. 

* LAVENDER = lavendula officinalis. This essential oil is really one to have at home, it works for so many things. I never make a bath without lavender :). It treats insomnia, agitation, anxiety, digestive problems, stress, nervosity, depression. It also heals scars very well, restores tired skin, burns, .... If you have trouble sleeping, take a bath before you go to bed, with 2 tablespoons of any oil with 4-8 drops of lavender essential oil. You always have to dilute your essential oils in any other normal oil because you can't put it straight on your skin, it's too concentrated. 

* PEPPERMINT = mentha piperita. This one has a tonic action on the body. It relaxes your muscles, relieve your articulations. Besides a relaxing and stimulant action, it also has the ability to relieve real migraines, headaches, stimulates the nervous system; it's really good when you have a mental fatigue. Because it's so stimulating, don't use it before you go to bed, it won't help you sleeping! It also works to lower fever. 

* LEMON = citrus limonum. Lemon essential oil has a lot of good things to offer. It's works antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, healing, it liquidizes the blood, works as an hypo-tensive, anti-infectious, it regularizes the nervous tone, helps the digestion, it's diuretic, draining (good for cellulites), and many more:). When you use it in your bath, it will have a slimming effect; anti-cellulites, good against acne, releaves pain from insect bites, good against wrinkles, it's also good against anemia and mental fatigue. Lemon is a good one to mix with lavender! 4 drops of lemon essential oil and 4 drops of lavender essential oil diluted in any oil.

Here is a little anti-cellulite recipe : In 15 cl of normal oil, you dilute;
        - 20 drops of cyprès essential oil
        - 20 drops of juniper essential oil
        - 20 drops of lemon essential oil
        - 10 drops of geranium essential oil
        - 10 drops of grapefruit essential oil

When you take your bath or shower, scrub your cellulite zones with this oil to activate the circulation. Then when you are dry, knead yourself firmly with this oil again on those places, even if it hurts a little! You can make more and put it in a bottle, keep it in a cool and dark place.

There are really a lot of essential oils with amazing properties, it's difficult for me to talk about all of them in one article. Those three that I just talked about are really good basics to have at home. Essential oils are also quite expensive (between 5-15 euros) because you need really a lot of flower/plant to make a little bottle, it's so concentrated. Don't try to buy them cheap either because bad made essential oils are dangerous, always buy them in pharmacies or bioshops!

DON'T USE ESSENTIAL OILS IF YOU ARE PREGNANT. Off course there are only a couple who are dangerous for your baby, but I just want to warn you. I suggest you go to someone who really studied aromatherapy, if you want to have an anti-stretch mark oil for example during your pregnancy (I think it's the only thing that works against it!).
The way I use it, is really inoffensive and I have a couple of books about it that teach me the basics and simple ways to use them in your daily life.

Also don't use any agrums (lemon, mandarin, bergamot, tangerine, orange, ...) essential oil and go into the sun afterwards, because they're photo sensitizing and you'll burn very quickly.

This is the book that I have :).

If you have any questions about it, leave me a comment!

I hope you'll enjoy essential oils in your bath (and in your life) as much as I do!

Love, Shady