by C. A. Hargreaves

Created on: April 14, 2009

Ideally it is a good idea to give yourself a DIY facial once a week, but for a lot of people this is not feasible time wise; so aim for at least once a month. Look at it this way: you are giving yourself permission once a month to pamper yourself. To just chill out for half and hour to an hour to just relax.

For this routine you will need: a headband (and a hair tie if you have long hair; a hand towel; a face cloth/wash cloth; cleanser; toner; exfoliator; masque; facial moisturizer, any treatment creams that you normally use under your moisture, such as a anti-wrinkle cream; eye gel/creams; and aromatherapy oils that are suitable for your skin type.

You can set the mood by playing some relaxing music softly in the background. You could also have some aromatherapy essential oils burning. Some suggested oils that you could use to de-stress and get rid of tension are: basil, bergamot, chamomile, clary sage, neroli, petigrain, sweet orange, rose and ylang ylang.

Step 1: Tie back your hair if you need to do so, and then put on the headband; or simply put on the head band; you are now ready to get started.

Step 2: On damp hands place a small amount of facial cleanser. In sweeping upwards motion smooth the cleanser of your skin. Be careful not to drag the skin. With a lukewarm wash cloth gently wipe of the cleanser. Repeat this process. The first cleansing removes debris and the second balances the skin.

Step 3: Tone the skin, this prepares it to be exfoliated.

Step 4: Now you are ready to exfoliate the skin. Place a small amount of exfoliator onto damp hands, and once again with upward sweeping motions spread the exfoliator gently over the face. Remove with the damp lukewarm wash cloth until all of the exfoliator has been removed.

Step 5: Once again tone the skin, this removes any of the remanding exfoliator granules.

Step 6: Steam your skin. In your hand basin in the bathroom, put the plug in and run the hot water, drip a few drops of appropriate essential oils in (refer to the guide at the end of this article for a list of appropriate oils for your skin type). Lean over the steaming basin and put a towel over your head. (Dry/mature skin steam for five minutes; sensitive skin for three to five minutes; normal skin five to ten minutes and oily skin for ten minutes)

Step 7: Massage the treatment cream into your skin, such as the anti-aging cream. Also at this stage apply the eye cream/gel by gently patting it as per the manufactures instructions.

Step 8: Apply the face masque, using damp hands, leaving out the eye area. Follow the manufactures instructions, relax for five to ten minutes depending on the recommended time. Clay based masques dry hard and absorbs oil and impurities, it is suitable for oily, combination and acne skin types. Cream or gel based masques stay soft and they nourish, hydrate and soften the skin; suitable for mature, dry and normal skin types.

Step 9: Tone the skin to refresh it.

Step 10: Moistures the face and if its still day time apply a facial sun block.

SUGGESTED ESSENTIAL OILS FOR DIFFERENT SKIN TYPES

Normal skin: bergamot, roman chamomile, lavender, geranium, neroil, rose bulgarian, rosewood, cedarwood.

Oily skin: geranium, rosemary, sandalwood, juniper, mandarin, ylang ylang, cedarwood, tea tree, lemon.

Dry skin: carrot seed, roman chamomile, lavender, jasmine, cedarwood, rose maroc, rosewood, snadalwood, ylang ylang.

Mature skin: carrot seed, neroli, lavender, fennel, myrrh, patchouli, sandalwood, rose maroc.

Sensitive skin: jasmine, rose bulgarian, roman chamomile, german chamomile, lavender.

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