A little more than a year ago, undoubtedly fueled by my looming 40th birthday, I convinced myself it was time to start using anti-aging facial products to fend off old age.  I wondered if my skin was getting enough benefit from the all-natural products I'd been using for a long time.  Under the care of a trusted and knowledgable skin care professional, I began my mission to be wrinkle-free and radiant.

But not too long after starting the new regimen of cleansing, toning and moisturizing, my face broke out in ugly red welt-like bumps and I developed mild acne like I'd never had before, even as an adolescent.  Ever the trooper (and mostly because of how much I'd spent), I continued using the products for awhile, thinking my skin would eventually get used to all this new stuff being thrown at it.  Unfortunately, that never happened...

It's now been almost exactly one year since I've been back to using only all-natural products.  Only within the last few months, my skin is back to its normal self and really is looking just fine - for a 40 year old. 

This evening I treated myself to a feel-good facial after a steamy shower.  I really love using these natural ingredients that are always on-hand in the kitchen...and they've never caused welts or acne on my face.  Here are my non-scientific formulations for the concoctions:

Exfoliant:

- Three dashes olive oil

- One dash sea salt

- Mix oil and salt together in a pretty little dish

- Apply to face and neck avoiding the eye area, open sores, scratches, and that kind of thing  

- Gently rub to exfoliate

- If you don't have paper cuts or iron burns on your hands like I do, you can exfoliate hands too

- Rinse and pat dry

- Follow up with a yummy honey mask

Yummy Honey Mask:
- Scoop some honey into the pretty little dish (I used raw honey, but honey out of the squeezable bear container works just fine too)
- Cover face and neck with honey, avoiding eye area of course
- Add a smidgen of warm water if it's a little hard to spread
- Take a sec to enjoy the sweet taste of honey on the lips
- Keep mask on face for about 15 minutes, or however long it takes to gather and sort the dirty laundry
- Rinse with warm water, followed by a couple splashes of cool water to close the pores
- Follow up with soothing coconut oil moisturizer

Coconut Oil Moisturizer:
- Scrape out a few scoops of coconut oil and place briefly in palm of hand to melt oil
- Spread all over face and neck, avoiding eyes
- Do a mini massage by rubbing temples and sinuses, then open and close jaws while rubbing them
- Leave oil on face, don't rinse
- Follow up with cleansing lemongrass hot tea and a chunk of dark chocolate