Say no to Super Amazing Magic Ance Masks that you can make from your Pantry.
Hi! It's me, Meghan hot-head licensed Esthetician, here to tell you that just because a big name Instagramer posts a 'Super Amazing Magic Acne Mask' that you can make from your kitchen pantry, doesn’t mean its a Super Amazing Magic Acne Mask that'll work, let alone won't cause damage to your skin....
This is what makes me coo-coo for coco puffs;
An instagram/youtube famous person (and now pinterest pinners) posts AMAZING makeup tutorials, but also posts bull-crap DIY facial tips, who, I'm 99% sure are not licensed professionals, who didn’t go through schooling... or heck, maybe they did and just did horribly, hence their non-licensed status... Anyway, I digress, my point is; you, famous Instagramer/Youtuber/Pinterest Pinner has an audience of millions upon millions of men and women, those very people who follow you on the daily, who value your art as a makeup artist, hence has gained your trust in the biz of beauty.... So, when you post a Super Amazing Magic Acne Mask that you can make from ingredients from your pantry for millions upon millions of people, of course they’re going to listen! But, let me ask you this, Famous Instagramer/ Youtube star/Pinterest Pinner... did ya do the research on the kitchen pantry ingredients?
I’ll answer that for you.
No.
No you did not.
So let me break this down to you, dear reader, I'm about to savvy you up with Kitchen Pantry awareness.
Let's start with the things that are not recommended and will cause some serious and some times irreversible effects.
As per Famous Instagramer/Youtuber/Pinterest Pinner this is what you should totally use if you have acne:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp of honey
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp steel cut or rolled oats
Method 1: If you have sensitive skin, apply mask all over your face, neck and even your back and leave it on for 30 mins.
Method 2: apply mask and very gently massage your face, neck and back and leave on for 15 minutes.
Lets start off with what you shouldn't be slapping on your face;
Baking Soda. Its pretty darn alkaline... I believe it’s about a 9 in the pH scale if my memory serves. Without putting you to sleep, your skin’s pH should be a 4.5 to a 5.5. We have what we call an acid mantel, which helps our mugs combat infection, environmental stresses, etc... so to make a long story longer, you’re pretty much stripping your skin of your acid mantel letting in all those environmental baddies and are pretty much inviting Father Time to age the crap out of your skin... not to mention, baking soda is pretty darn abrasive... and if you’re exfoliating with something that abrasive, you’re also making microscopic cuts on your skin, also giving father time an open invitation to spreading more fine lines onto your pretty little face sooner rather than later...I’m looking at you Apricot Scub...
Oi! I digress again...
Next! Cinnamon.... ok. Just let that soak in for a bit. Cinnamon.... on your face. Ya. Ok. IT BURNS YOUR FACE!! Come on man. Hello, Red Hots!! GAH! So lets think about this for a moment... your putting baking soda on your face, rubbing your first defenses off your top layer of your skin and spreading red hots over it... ya let that one sink in for a quick minute.
... these two things have hypo and hyper pigmentation written allllll over it.
Here's whats just fine and dandy to put on your face:
Honey. It’s sweet, it’s tasty and it’s also a natural antibacterial, thanks Bee’s! Which is a great way to treat acne, since Acne is pretty much an infection and it gives your complexion a boost... of awesomeness.
Oats, I’m pretty sure this is quite safe... Oats aren’t that abrasive. They help soothe.
Mmmkay... now lets just break down the method of applying this mask... She’s suggesting that if you have sensitive skin to go ahead and put this death elixir on your face and leave it on for 30 minutes.... 30...minutes.... yes, Hi, let’s just burn our faces right off, that’ll for sure get rid of your acne (<--sarcasm)
And then she says to ‘gently’ massage this stuff all over your face.
Ok. No.
If you have acne, the last thing you want to do is roll something abrasive, could burn and is pretty darn alkaline all over your face... trust me. Ask someone who as acne, their faces hurt alllll the time. The last thing you want to do is to ‘massage’ crap into your face.
There is just soooo many things wrong with this DIY mask it makes me want to curl up into the fetal position whilst gripping my esthetics book and rock back and forth in a dark room.
So... in closing, for the love of heaven, please don’t put baking soda on your face and follow it with a cinnamon chaser. And for the love of god don’t keep something on your face with such active ingredients for a long period of time, unless you are under the supervision of a licensed individual, such as a doctor or an Esthetician.
If you guys have any questions when it comes to skin care, I’m here, Licensed Estheticians are readily available to answer your questions online, in Spa’s and even at your friendly neighborhood Ulta’s and Planet Beauty’s.
Mic drop.