DIY Herbal Red Clay Mask with Essential Oils
This post is sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs.
I love a good natural face mask — and nothing puts me in the spirits for a face mask more than the cold Winter doldrums. It’s my go-to pick me up when I’m feeling lackluster. My skin gets so dry in the Winter months — this mask is the herbal antidote to those dry skin blues!
This mask is made with:
Raw Honey
To make this mask, simply powder the herbs in a blender or spice grinder (you could also powder them with a mortar and pestle). Then stir together with the rest of the ingredients.
Don’t you just LOVE a 5 minute DIY?
So let’s talk a little bit about these ingredients. Why would we add herbs to a clay mask recipe? Well, here’s why:
Rose is calming to irritated skin and reduces redness.
Nettle is naturally anti-inflammatory, astringent, antioxidant, anti-microbial, and packed with minerals. It promotes reduced redness, skin tightening, and acne healing.
Calendula is antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial making it great for irritated, dry, eczema, and/or acne-prone skin.
Rhassoul red clay is great for all skin types but especially beloved by people with dry, sensitive skin. Red clay is moisturizing and polishing. So if you find other types of clay masks too severe or drying, red clay is a great alternative.
Raw honey is cleansing, protective, healing, and moisturizing. It is known to help heal acne and combat acne. This is only true for raw honey — the natural enzymes and healthy bacteria in the honey must still be present for it to be effective. Manuka honey is especially potent in skin applications.
Rosehip seed oil is deeply moisturizing, mimicking the natural oils our skin produces.
Geranium essential oil is antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, making it great for protecting and soothing weather-whipped skin.
Lavender essential oil is soothing to dry, sensitive skin (and it smells amazing).
So, all in all, this mask does a whole lot of good for your skin with very little time-input. And, best of all, you can keep it on for 25+ minutes without discomfort, cracking or drying like other clay masks.
If you love sheet masks for their moisturizing qualities, you’ll LOVE this mask! Plus it’s so much more environmentally friendly than disposable sheet masks.
Scroll to the bottom of this post to find the exact recipe for this DIY!
DIY Herbal Red Clay Mask with Essential Oils
Makes: 6-10 mask applications, 6 oz - Prep Time: 5 mins - Application time: 25 mins
Notes: 1. Make sure you use raw honey. Even better, use manuka honey! Manuka honey does wonders for skin. 2. The herbs in this mask make it gently exfoliating. 3. If you start to feel dry with this mask on (hopefully you won’t!) mist your face with rose hydrosol or water.
Ingredients
2 tbsp Organic dried rose petals
2 tbsp Organic dried nettle leaf
2 tbsp Organic calendula flowers
2 tbsp Rhassoul red clay
10 drops Organic lavender essential oil
5 drops Organic geranium essential oil
4 tbsp raw honey (use liquid honey, not creamed honey) + more as needed
1 tsp rosehip seed oil
Method
In a blender or spice grinder, combine rose petals, nettle, and calendula. Grind until powdered.
In a small bowl, combine the powdered herbs, clay, essential oils, raw honey, and rosehip seed oil. Add more honey and rosehip seed oil as needed until you get a thick but spreadable paste.
Scoop into a jar with a lid for storage. I like to add more herbs to the top of my jar for aesthetics but they also make a nice exfoliating addition to the mask paste.
To apply: wet face with water or spritz face with rose hydrosol until wet. Scoop out a quarter-size dollop of the mask into palms -- wet hands and rub the mask between palms to warm and thin the paste. You may need more water to get it spreadable. Note: If the mask is too hard to spread you can microwave it for 10 seconds to warm it up (warm, not hot! you don’t want to kill the enzymes and good bacteria in the honey). Spread over face and set for 10-25 minutes (the longer the better). Wash off with warm water, rubbing the mask off using gentle circular motions with your fingers to gently exfoliate. Follow up with a moisturizer. Done!