Garden Face Mask Plants to Grow
First, make sure you have the right plants for creating face masks. Different herbs and plants can do different things for your skin. For oily skin, use:
Basil
Oregano
Mint
Sage
Rose petals
Bee balm
Lavender
Lemon balm
Yarrow
For dry skin, try:
Violet leaves
Aloe
Chamomile flowers
Calendula flowers
If you struggle with red, sensitive skin, you’ll benefit from:
Lavender flowers
Rose petals
Chamomile flowers
Calendula flowers
Aloe
Lemon balm
Sage
To soothe skin prone to acne, use plants with antimicrobial properties. These include:
Basil
Oregano
Mint
Thyme
Sage
Bee balm
Yarrow
Lavender
Lemon balm
Nasturtium flowers
Calendula flowers
Chamomile flowers
Natural Plant Face Mask Recipes
For the simplest of DIY herbal face masks, simply crush the leaves or flowers in a mortar and pestle to release the liquids and nutrients. Apply the crushed plants to your face and let them sit there for about 15 minutes before rinsing. You can also make plant skin care masks with some additional ingredients:
Honey – Honey helps a mask stick to your skin but is also useful for its antimicrobial properties.
Avocado – Adding the fatty avocado fruit to a mask helps with extra hydration. Growing avocado is easy too.
Egg yolk – The yolk of an egg tightens skin that is oily.
Papaya – Add mashed papaya to help lighten dark spots.
Clay – Use powdered clay from a beauty supplier to draw out toxins from skin pores.
You can experiment with ingredients to create your own mask, or try a couple of tried-and-tested recipes:
For treating acne-prone skin, blend about a tablespoon of honey with the inside of a 3 inch (8 cm.) aloe leaf.
To moisturize, crush a couple of calendula and chamomile flowers and mix them into one quarter of a ripe avocado.
For an oily skin mask, crush six or seven rose petals with a tablespoon of lavender flowers and three leaves each of basil and oregano. Mix with one egg yolk.
Before using any ingredient in a face mask, be sure that you have identified it correctly. Not all plants are safe to use on the skin. It’s also a good idea to test individual plants, even if you know what they are. Put a little bit of a crushed leaf on the skin on the inside of your arm and leave there for several minutes. If it causes irritation, you won’t want to use it on your face.