Detoxing the Skin

Have you ever detoxed your skin?

I’ve never been into detoxing, because I’ve never really thought that I needed it. No, that’s not true. I just never wanted to until I got that letter from my doctor that nudged me in the direction of making my personal care products again.

I mentioned in my last post that I got a letter that stated that my last mammogram indicated that I have dense breast tissue. I’ve been concerned about breast cancer since 2011, when my mom passed. She was diagnosed with stage 4 triple negative breast cancer. I had no idea what that meant, but I was told that the type of cancer she had was not hereditary. Still, we are seeing many people diagnosed with cancer that don’t have it in their family at all. It is said that detoxing is an important part of cancer prevention, so I decided to give it a chance.

What is Detoxing?

Basically, detoxing is doing (or abstaining from) something to rid the body of toxic or unhealthy substances. It is good to detox our skin because it is the largest organ on our body, and its function is elimination of toxins. These toxins can manifest in blackheads, breakouts of pimples, body odor, and dark circles under our eyes.

Pretty much everything we eat, drink, and breathe is toxic in some way. Our bodies are meant to detoxify through sweating and elimination, amongst other ways. However, if the body can’t “take out the trash” as fast as we are bringing it in, there’s a problem. Detoxing can help our bodies out with removing the trash more quickly.

If natural detoxing done by the body is like taking the trash out, detoxing the skin is like cleaning the trash can itself. Our bodies come into contact with so many pollutants and dirt, especially those of us homesteading types who spend a lot of time outdoors mucking out stalls or chicken coops. If we are kicking up dust while we work, some of it is going into our lungs and settling on our skin. Our pores are sure to be in need of a good cleaning!

Detoxing is Easy!

I’m sure detoxing can be as simple or difficult as you want it to be, but I’m into simple! I chose a few simple recipes out of Carolina King’s book DIY Natural Bath & Body Products. Each recipe only had 2-4 ingredients in it, and were so quick and easy that it made me wonder why I haven’t been detoxing for the past few years!

My favorite detox recipe was the armpit detox, because honestly, I needed it desperately! It gets really hot here and sometimes deodorant just isn’t enough. This recipe had as its two ingredients bentonite clay and apple cider vinegar and was super simple to do. It only took about 15 minutes all together to get the cleanest smelling pits I’ve ever had! The instructions for this recipe can be found at Carolina’s blog, MamaInstincts.com.

I also tried the Face Detox and the Detox Bath recipes from her book. Both were wonderful, though my face did burn a bit after the face detox. I quickly googled around to see if I was having an allergic reaction or what, but apparently this is a normal reaction. Likely, I slathered the clay mixture a bit too thick and left it on too long, so that could have been the issue. Still, I loved the results of both detoxes, and will be doing those again.

Want to Detox Your Skin?

Let me recommend Carolina King’s book DIY Natural Bath & Body Products. It’s full of plenty of recipes for lovely homemade products that will be safe and gentle on your skin. All of the recipes I tried in my detoxing are in there as well. I am excited to try many of her other recipes for personal care items, as I make changes to what I put on my skin.