A turmeric facial mask to tone your skin and reduce inflammation

By Amanda Rose | Turmeric

Jan 02

An edible facial mask to tone your skin and reduce inflammationMy poor face has needed a lot of help lately and so I bring out the big guns: a turmeric face mask. Yes, it’s very orange but luckily does not stain your skin, at least it hasn’t stained mine. It may well scare your children, as my five year old can attest. (His face wrinkled up and he began to whimper…)

It’s been a bad season for my face. In October I entered the dermatologist’s office for a routine basal skin cancer excision and exited with part of my cheek grafted to my nose. By the end of three rounds of excisions and testing, a spot the size of a dime had been removed from the side of my nose and the doctor cut a strip of cheek skin and stretched it up on the nose and just left it there, all stretched and nasty. I spent the week freaking out and then returned to have the stretched skin sewn onto my nose.

Three months later the nose actually looks fairly normal but the incision area on the cheek is still inflamed. Facing a TEDx talk very soon, I hope that the turmeric works some magic by then lest I have to buy out the local supply of cover-up makeup. (You should come to the TEDx talk.)

Turmeric is a strong anti-inflammatory with a long traditional use in skin care. It happens to be abundant in my kitchen cabinet and so it finds itself on my face as well, noticeably reducing the inflammation on my cheek.

I use the mask recipe from Leslie Martin at Crunchy Betty, though I have doubled the turmeric and found that the doubled amount really pushes the limits if your hope is not to have orange skin. The recipe below calls for the regular, sane amount of turmeric. Doubling the turmeric may give you a new hue, particularly if you are fair-skinned.

While your skin is not likely to be stained, it is possible to stain clothing. The process isn’t particularly messy, but your clothing is something to consider. I rarely wear anything so dear that I would care, but I am sure that the readers of Fresh Bites Daily are far more fashion-forward than I and so I offer that small warning. 😉

The masks whips up quickly. I always double or triple the recipe and keep it in the refrigerator to use that week. I haven’t kept it longer than that and wouldn’t recommend making a giant batch.

How to make your own turmeric face mask

An edible facial mask to tone your skin and reduce inflammation

  • Mix together 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric, 2 teaspoons of ground oats (or rice flour or garbanzo flour as Leslie recommends), and 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt (or sour cream, cream, or milk)
  • Apply to your face.
  • Allow the mask to dry for about 20 minutes.
  • Wash off the mask, massaging the skin a bit as you do. (A shower is the easiest place for this.)

Do you notice a new luster? I bet you do!

Check out many more turmeric ideas here at Fresh Bites Daily. It’s one of our favorite spices!

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