WellGal

Sea kelp is harvested from kelp beds in the ocean, dried, and turned into a powder for use in beauty and food products. Try some in your own DIY, at-home sea therapy facial mask to enjoy the minerals, vitamins, and amino acids it imparts to your skin as well its detoxifying benefits, which is great for pulling out impurities, especially when used in combination with a sea clay.

This luxurious Green Tea Sea Therapy Mask is a great addition to your summer beauty care and wellness routine as you can use it as a facial or body treatment to detoxify, rejuvenate, and nourish your skin. Considering your skin takes a beating in the summer with the extra sun exposure and use of sunscreens, lotions, and bug sprays, not to mention potential dehydration from too much heat or clogged pores from some extra sweat and dirt from all those summertime activities, a mask is an essential thing to do! So, try treating yourself to this at-home spa treatment once a week or a few times a month to keep your skin in tip-top shape this season.

High end spas charge close to $100 or more for such treatments, but you can make yours at home for just a few dollars! It’s true that the initial supply investment may set you back a little, but it’s still much less than the price of a single spa service, so it’s well worth it!  Plus, you can use the ingredients for other do-it-yourself spa treatments, such as bath soaks. And some of them can even be used in food recipes (e.g., honey and kelp powder)!

In addition to being inexpensive, there are many other great things about this mask, too. It’s full of therapeutic benefits, such as drawing impurities out of skin and fighting acne, and the green tea is a great addition to summer skin care as the antioxidants help fight free radicals, which cause aging.  It’s also preservative free and 100% natural. Plus, it’s so easy to modify it to suit your particular needs. For example, you can add in essential oils of your choice to suit your skin type. Sounds great, right? It is! Whip up a batch and share some with a friend or have a spa party at home! Give it a try and let me know how you like it. And if you’ve enjoyed a similar treatment at a spa, please do share your experiences!

Ingredients

1 ½ tbsp. (4 ½ tsp.) of milk powder (e.g., buttermilk, whole milk, coconut milk)
1 tbsp. of kaolin clay powder
1 tbsp. of sea clay powder
½ tbsp. honey powder
½ tbsp. *sea kelp powder
2 tsp. colloidal oatmeal (ground oatmeal)
1 tsp. ground green tea powder or ground leaves from a teabag
Optional: 30 drops of essential oil, such as organic lavender essential oil (or one of the suggestions below)

Makes enough for about 12 facial mask treatments or about 1-2 body mask treatments.

Ingredient Notes

You can buy many of the above ingredients at your local natural grocery store. Some ingredients may be in the cooking and baking sections (e.g., honey powder, milk powder, sea kelp) and the other ingredients should easily be found in the beauty and personal care sections (e.g., essential oils, kaolin clay, sea clay, etc.) If you can’t find all the ingredients, they are available on-line from many retailers, such as Amazon. But if you need to leave one out, don’t worry, it will still work great! Have fun and experiment!

Also, the ingredients above are for a dry mask mixture that you can easily store in a container and then wet when you use it. However, if you wish to make a one-time treatment you plan on using immediately, you may substitute the milk and honey powders for fresh milk and honey. In addition, you can use fresh-brewed green tea instead of using green tea powder. If you do this, you will obviously need to reduce the remaining ingredient portions substantially (maybe by 1/10 to 1/12) if you just want enough for a facial. But if you want to make a body mask, the amounts will work well.

*By the way, If you are sensitive to iodine or have particularly sensitive skin, you may wish to substitute the kelp powder with some extra clay instead.

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Add lavender essential oil or choose essential oils appropriate to your skin type (see below) and add them to the mixture a few drops at a time to avoid clumping. Mix well. Tip: Break up any clumps with the back of a spoon.
3. Store in an airtight container in a dry location.

To use, take about 1 ½ tsp. of Green Tea Sea Therapy Mask and mix it with a little hot water until a smooth paste is formed. Or, instead of hot water feel free to add in a hydrosol (e.g., rose or neroli water — which you can get in the beauty and international cooking section of some stores ), apple cider vinegar (great for acne), fresh vegetable juice, or an herbal tea (e.g., chamomile). In addition, to make it more moisturizing, you could also add in a touch of aloe vera gel.

Apply a thin layer to freshly exfoliated (try this easy DIY lavender salt scrub) and cleansed skin using your hand or a clean paint-brush reserved for spa treatments only. (By the way, natural bristle paint brushes cost under $1 in any hardware store.) Then let it dry for about 10-15 minutes. Gently wipe off with a warm washcloth. If desired, follow with a facial toner and then use your daily, natural moisturizer. Also, be sure to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated afterwards. Treat yourself to some home-made lemon, spa water or cucumber water.

Therapeutic Benefits

• Draws out impurities
• Moisturizes
• Exfoliates dead skin cells
• Cleanses
• Removes excess oil
• Provides vital minerals and vitamins
• Increases circulation

Ingredient Benefits

• Coconut milk is a nice alternative for those who are vegan. It is softening to the skin and moderates the drawing effects of the clay.
• Green tea has antioxidants in it that help protect your skin from free radicals and sun damage.
• Honey softens and cleanses skin due to its emollient, humectant, and anti-bacterials properties, which also make it  effective for reducing acne.
• Kelp and other seaweeds nourish the skin, help increase circulation, and aid in the removal of toxins and impurities.
• Kaolin is a gentle white clay good for very sensitive, dry, and normal skin.
• Lavender essential oil is great for all skin types, especially damaged, sensitive, or irritated skin. It helps repair damaged skin.
• Milk moderates the drawing effects of clay and makes the mask more moisturizing. Also, the lactic acid in it gently exfoliates the skin.
• Oatmeal is soothing to the dry or irritated skin. It’s also used in many over-the-counter (OTC) drugs for its skin protectant qualities.
• Sea clay is full of minerals that nourish the skin. It’s also very cleansing and helps remove dead skin cells.

Essential Oils for Skin Types

Below are some suggested essential oils based on skin type. If I had to choose one, though, I’d start with a good quality French lavender essential oil. It’s great for almost everyone and has so many other uses as well!

• Acne-prone skin – lemon, tea tree
• Dry skin – chamomile, geranium, lavender, neroli, rose, rosewood, sandalwood, ylang ylang
• Mature skin – rose, carrot seed oil, sandalwood
• Normal skin – German chamomile, neroli, rose, geranium, lavender, rosewood, sandalwood, ylang ylang
• Oily skin – bergamot, clary sage, cypress, geranium, lavender, lemon, juniper berry, mandarin, palmarosa, spike lavender, rosemary, sandalwood, tea tree, thyme ct. linalool, ylang ylang
• Sensitive skin – chamomile, lavender

Copyright © Karen Peltier and Well Gal, 2014. All rights reserved.