Home Page
Fresh Masks
Meet a Member
Essentially Yours
Kitchen Soaping
Spice Cabinet
Labeling Challenges
In The News
Hints & Tips
Contest!
Submit

Unlock the Power of Summer Fruit for Your Skin

Summertime, and the fruit is abundant. The rosy globes of peaches, fragrant honeydews, fleshy avocados and juicy grapes all hide beauty secrets inside their skins...but the open-sesame to those hidden gifts is easy to find and use. You know how soapers can't go into a store without seeing potential soap molds in all kinds of containers? I can't go to the market without thinking how delicious a mask I could make out of the fruit and veggies, not to mention the dairy products.

Part of the secret is the alpha- and beta- hydroxy acids in fresh produce and dairy foods. Another part is the vitamin content in fresh raw foods, especially Vitamins C and A. Fresh fruit and vegetable's natural enzymes exfoliate, protect and nourish as well. Advertisements for cosmetic companies make a big deal out of these ingredients in their expensive products, but you can enjoy the same benefits for pennies every week. And it's simply  fun to whip up a facial mask or lotion that's good enough to eat, literally. 

What are alpha- and beta- hydroxy acids and why are they considered cosmetic helpers?
We are interested in exfoliating and getting rid of old, dry cells that clog up our skin. As we mature, our skin loses some of its ability to slough off these dead cells. They stick on so hard that ordinary washing won't loosen them off, so that a thicker layer of them accumulates on the surface. This prevents new skin cells from surfacing and functioning as best they can, which in turn leads to dry, flaky skin, wrinkles, and a less elastic skin texture. Our lotions and creams are less effective on such blocked skin, too. The hydroxy acids, like all acids, dissolve organic matter and are used in commercial cosmetics as exfoliant ingredients for that reason. While the FDA warns against use of percentages higher than 8% in cosmetics, we need not be concerned as they are referring to concentrated extracts and synthetic derivatives, not the mild preparations we make from blended fresh apples, strawberries, and avocados.

Hey, how about oily skin and acne?
Yes, these natural acids are good for acneic skin too. When pores and sebaceous glands become clogged with dead skin cells, the oily substance sebum stagnates in the tissues. Bacteria invade and thrive; white blood cells enter and fight them, creating pus, and inflammation rounds out the not-so-pretty picture. The hydroxy acids, in dissolving the sticky layers of waste material, allow sebum and blood to move in the tissues freely, so that acne is not so likely to form. Beta-hydroxy acid is suitable to oily, acneic skin with blackheads and whiteheads, as it has the ability to enter sebum-laden pores and dissolve the dead cells inside them, which alpha-hydroxy acid doesn't. (A-hydroxy acids dissolve in water; b-hydroxy in fats.) Beta-hydroxy acid is basically salicylic acid, present in willow, yarrow and pansy leaves. For home skin treatment, make a tea with one of these herbs and blend it with the fruit of your choice.

So here are the benefits of applying fresh produce to the skin: reduction of fine lines, smoothing, healing (to some degree), moisturizing and prevention of wrinkles, evening out irregular color, combating acne, helping our sunscreen and everyday moisturizers to work better. Impressive, huh? Well, here are some basic methods for you to vary according to your needs. You can use fruit masks twice a week.

1. Open up the pores and make your skin accessible to the good stuff in the fruit. Do a quick herbal steam. (This is however NOT advisable for people with thread veins.)
Simmer 2 tablespoons of mixed lavender, chamomile and comfrey leaves or calendula flowers in a quart of water. Violet leaves and red clover flowers are nice too. Make sure the pot is covered.

While the herbal tea is simmering, prepare your fruit mask. Mash the selected fruit, or blend it up. Squeeze the juice out of it. Put the mashed pulp aside in a cool place.

Note: if you prefer to use a quicker method for making the herbal steam, heat the quart of water to a comfortably hot temperature (as for a bath), and add up to 4 drops of eos (lavender, chamomile, rose otto, patchouli - or simply your favorite.) Stir the eos into the water gently. This is somewhat less effective than an herb tea, as you can't use water quite as hot, but it's good too.

Tie your hair back or wrap it in a turban so it won't get in the way. Remove the pot from the heat, put it on a table and sit down in front of it. Take the lid off and cover both the steaming pot and your face with a big bath towel, keeping your face about 8 inches from the steam and turning it from side to side occasionally. Stay in the steam for 5 minutes.

Don't dry your face entirely; just pat it so that the condensed steam doesn't run down. Allow your skin to be moist when you apply your…

2. Magic Fruit Mask
You have to give the nutrients in the fruit time to penetrate the skin and do their work, so the treatment of choice is the facial mask. 

Apply the fruit pulp to your face, avoiding the area around the eyes, and rest for 10-20 minutes. Take a bath in the meantime. Or put on some peaceful music, hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door, then go lie down. Let your thoughts go to pleasant places. 

Rinse your face first with warm water, then with cool.

Feel the firm and smooth difference to your skin.

Below is a chart for skin types and the fruit appropriate to each. Don't feel constrained to select only ingredients from one column for your skin; blend and combine, experiment and see what's best for your unique self. 

Skin Type             Fruit                            Comments

One last note: If you're going out into the sunshine after applying a fruit mask, make sure to put on sunscreen first.  Remember, you've just removed some layers of old cells, and the new ones pushing their way up are tender and sensitive.

~ Miriam Kresh