Rehydrate Tired Skin with Your Groceries

By Sarah Bey
Blog Content Contributor

As college students, we have our schedules planned out to the tee (including allotted time for necessary napping and appropriate binge-watching) and make endless to-do lists week after week. But when was the last time you really showed your body some appreciation? Your body endures a lot and it deserves some TLC when necessary. The weather is changing and sometimes our adult skin wants to freak out and break out because of the change. Plus, it’s almost time for mid-terms. So why not show yourself some love and revitalize the skin that holds you every day?

Here is an easy way to treat your skin with just a few items that you may already have in your fridge. That’s right – you don’t have to buy expensive face masks or pay to get a facial. For this DIY face mask, you’ll need an avocado and green tea. Both of these ingredients are extremely inexpensive and this mask lasts for at least a week. Green tea leaves contain important antioxidants that help to exfoliate the skin from the toxins and impurities that our skin is exposed to every day. Avocados contain several different vitamins that help cleanse and refresh skin. Basically, the greens you eat can be used on your face! So get your groceries together and let’s whip up some skin goodness!

• Most green tea comes in tea bags so, for this mask, you’re going to want to cut one bag open and use the leaves.
• Get a cup or bowl of hot water and pour the green tea leaves into the water.
• Allow it to steep. You’ll know it’s done when the water has turned a dark orange color and you can smell the green tea.
• Strain the leaves from the water (now you have a nice cup of hot green tea or you can just throw out the water.)
• Some tea leaves aren’t grinded down like others, so you may have to use a mortar and pestle to grind the leave down into a powdery consistency.
• Leaving your tea leaves in the bowl, cut an avocado in half. If this is your first time cutting into an avocado, you might want to proceed with caution. Hold the avocado in your palm and cut into it. Now, don’t freak out! There’s a huge seed in the middle of it that is practically impossible to cut into. Use the seed to guide your knife around the avocado to cut it in half.
• Once you’ve got your avocado chopped, removed the seed. Spoon in one half of the avocado into the bowl of tea leaves.
• Mix until you have a nice, green paste.
• Apply to clean skin and let it set for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Rinse and feel how that avocado and green tea goodness worked its magic.

You can store the avocado green tea mask in your refrigerator and it should be good for about a week. If the mask turns brown, it’s ok! The avocado is just aging as it is supposed to.

Here are a few more tips to help your skin through your day to day routine:

Wash it!

Depending on your skin type, you should wash your face at least once or twice a day (once in the morning and once at night).

Exfoliate!

This simply means that whatever product or natural remedy you use gets the dirt that is chilling deep in your pores up and out. I recommend using Neutrogena daily mask. After using several products throughout my life, my skin has calmed down and is now considered normal. Again, depending on your skin type, buy products that help your situation.

All skin types are not the same!

So what works for your family or friends may not work for you. Try different things but stay consistent.

Find a good spot treatment!

Spot treatments help calm down breakouts and this product gets the job done within three to five days. After searching endlessly during my teen years, I found a spot treatment that I swear by. It’s called the Terminator 10 acne cream from AcneFree.

Turn that bottle around and look at the nutrition facts!

If there is a lot of benzoyl peroxide, brace yourself for some dry skin after applying. Most acne products have some benzoyl peroxide in it and it is necessary because it helps calm down access oil and dries out pimples. However, too much will throw your skin out of balance. At least that has been my personal experience. Try to find one that has at the most 10 percent part benzoyl peroxide.

Treat your skin to other masks!

There are so many DIY masks you can make with other ingredients that are all equally amazing.

I hope you enjoy this mask as much as I have in the past. Good luck!