Condimentology

We’ve all been there. You look at the mirror, at the unkempt wild being staring back at you and think “who the heck IS that?!” In the giant hustle and bustle that is life, it can be pretty easy to forget about taking care of yourself.  And, even on the weekends, looking at the costs of pricey salon treatments can make you feel pretty squeamish. Sometimes, as a woman, the financial and time constraints/pressures can make you feel like:

Trust me…I get it. Just the other day I had a similar experience. As I sat there looking at my reflection, I was truly shocked by what I saw. I had the driest, most brittle hair quality I think I have ever had. This hair couldn’t simply be describes as “bad.” No, no dear readers. As a mental image, it looked as though my hair had been crawling around the Sahara dessert for months on end—confusing the cacti in its wake for a much-needed water fountain. That is the level of dry we are talking here. 

I’m going to go ahead and blame this (ahem excuse this) on living in the state of Florida. Sun does a pretty outstanding job of damaging hair. And wouldn’t you know I live in the darned sunshine state.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/322161-sun-damage-to-hair/

One thing I couldn’t blame on sunshine, though, was another aspect of my reflection I wasn’t too pleased with. My face looked tired and older somehow. I haven’t been getting too much sleep lately, and trust me---my face told the tale.

So I made the decision, when I had a few, spare hours one day, to try to whip up some inexpensive yet proven remedies to aid myself with looking a little better. With a LOT of help from the Internet and a little (minute, finite, tiny) assistance from my own creativity, I found that ladies may look no further than their own pantries for several popular beauty treatments.

This is the portion where I opened the door to CODIMENT-ology (I won’t lie—it took me some time to come up with that one. WORTH IT!) I pulled out two, popular condiments from my pantry. I then took this awesome photo.

            I wanted to try a recipe similar to this one below for my hair. 

       http://www.youbeauty.com/hair/the-broot-hair-masks#9

 It details a mayonnaise hair mask with eggs and honey to keep your tresses in tip top condition. I felt a little odd putting honey in my hair, and mayonnaise already has eggs in it--but mayonnaise seemed a legitimate hair ingredient. I know, I know, who can understand what I’m thinking when I’m doing these things? The recipe for the hair mask I used is listed below.

MAYONNAISE HAIR MASK:

*2Tbsp Hellmans Light Mayonnaise

So, essentially, I just put some mayonnaise in a bowl, and then applied it all over my hair (especially concentrating on my ends). Lots of bloggers suggested applying heat somehow, so I put on a shower cap to seal in the heat (and to avoid the nasty smell).

Here is a photo of me looking like Chef Boyardee.

 THE RESEMBLANCE IS SPOT ON NO?!

From that point forward, I attempted a facial mask like the one I found and listed beneath  this text.

http://www.acneskinsite.com/homemade-facials/banana-oats-honey-facial/

 It creates a facial mask from bananas, honey, and rolled oats. So I assembled my ingredients and got started. I basically just mashed up the bananas, added some rolled oats, and some honey. The recipe is listed below

NATURAL FACIAL MASK

*1 Banana

*2 tbsp rolled oats

*1 tbsp honey

 It looked like a pretty delicious breakfast, but alas, I applied it to my face. No pictures of this one actually on my face because I just looked too darned ridiculous.

I let the mayo hair masks sit on my locks for about an hour and the face mask sit for fifteen-twenty minutes. I then rinsed both off  the facial mask in the kitchen sink under warm water and the hair mask in the shower.

REVIEW HAIR MASK: Definitely left my hair feeling much softer, silkier, and overall less-damaged. Word to the wise though, this remedy is NOT designed for those with a tendency to sicken from smells. It definitely felt a tad strange, even under the shower cap, to catch whiffs of mayo from time to time as I waited for it to set.

REVIEW FACE MASK: Did I look less aged at the end? Nah. But I think I just really need to catch some Z’s and you can’t expect bananas, honey, and oats to work miracles. However, I thought my skin seemed softer as a result and also much less red.  A week after this experiment, my skin still feels nicely conditioned. I would certainly do that again with the right time and ingredients willing!

Here is a look at the total result. So, in conclusion, these home remedies are both inexpensive and simple…heck you could even call them downright CONDIMENT-ary (elementary…get it? Hehehe). I really had fun concocting these little beauty treatments and I think most people would. With items you already have in the pantry, it doesn’t hurt your wallet or your time. So get a move on and start sifting through your fridge and pantry today!

                   

  WITH NO FLASH

   WITH FLASH

                     Until next time, courageous condiment concoctions!!

                                                            Eliz