Tune Up Your Skin With Homemade Toner
– includes four easy recipes for homemade facial toners
Skin toners are the next step after a facial cleansing routine. Skin toners ensure complete removal from the skin of all cleansing preparations. They freshen and tone up the skin and prepare a clean surface for the application of make-up. They also restore the acid or alkali balance of the skin, because they are pH balanced. They are designed to penetrate pores, refresh and cool your skin while clearing away excess oil, impurities and dead skin cells that were not removed with your cleanser.
Toners restore the skin’s natural pH balance. When you wash your face, the pH balance of the skin is distorted leading to skin working overtime to restore pH levels; the process of skin restoring the pH levels on its own can take up as much as half and hour or more. By using a skin toner, the pH level of your skin is restored instantly.
Choose a toner appropriate for your skin type. A wide variety of toners are available. Alcohol dries the skin and harms the soluble collagen below the surface of the skin. It is thus safer to use an alcohol-free toner.
Common herbs used in toners include witch hazel, geranium, honey, lemon, ivy, sage, nettle and burdock. Witch hazel has a tendency to dry the skin. It is ideal to combine it with moisturizers such as Vitamin E, honey, etc. Rosewater helps keep skin and face moisturized, fresh and balances the pH levels.
Essential oils are the gentlest way of toning up. Rose water for normal or dry/sensitive skin or witch hazel for oilier skins are ideal bases for fresheners. These can be applied with cotton wool, using smooth, gentle upward strokes or sprayed on to the face. Oily skin benefits from juniper or lemongrass whereas drier skins would benefit from rose or sandalwood.
Apply the skin toner to a cotton ball and sweep it gently across your face. The cotton wool should come out relatively clean when toning. If it is not clean it indicates the cleansing has not been done properly. Do not succumb to the temptation to tone the skin whenever you feel it has become dirty. It should be used only after the skin has completed a cleansing routine and not as a substitute for cleansing. So, remember that your toner must function as a toner and not as a cleanser.
Toning is pleasant and refreshing, can act as an additional cleanser on very oily or dirty skin, and is valuable in removing any traces of grease that the cleanser may have left behind. Think of it as the polishing touch in your skin care treatment.
Four Easy Facial Toner Recipes
Watermelon Toner
1 cup watermelon chunks
2 tbsp witch hazel
2 tbsp distilled water
Puree watermelon chunks in a processor or blender. Strain liquid and discard solids. Mix strained liquid with remaining ingredients, stir and pour into a glass bottle. Dab on face using a cotton ball. Rich in sugar and vitamins A, B and C. Watermelon has astringent properties, and the super high water content makes it an excellent skin refresher.
Rose Skin Toner
3 ½ cups of witch hazel
½ cup dried rose petals
5 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Mix ingredients together making sure it is all blended well.
Strain the liquid, decant into a bottle, and splash on your face after cleansing.
Easy Apple Toner
1 large apple, cored and seeds removed, cut into chunks with skin left intact
1 cup distilled water
1 cup witch hazel
Place apple chunks and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Strain water and discard apple chunks. Stir in the witch hazel and decant toner to a clean glass bottle.
Red skinned apples will give the toner a slight pink hue; green apples lend a hint of green coloring. This apple facial toner is soothing for all skin types. Apply gently to face with a clean cotton ball and do not rinse.
Pine Facial Toner
1 cup fresh pine needles
small sprig of pine needles (optional)
1 cup distilled water
1 cup witch hazel
Place pine needles and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Strain water and discard the pine needles. Stir in the witch hazel. Add the pine sprig to a clean 8oz glass bottle and cover completely with toner. Store in a cool, dark place.
This fragrant, refreshing pine toner is mildly astringent and good for all skin types. Apply gently to face with a clean cotton ball and do not rinse.
For a complete home spa pampering day, see how to give yourself a manicure and how to give a home pedicure.
Contributed by Sharon Hopkins and Jane Lake
Caution: The reader of this article should exercise all precautions while following instructions on the recipes from this article. Avoid using if you are allergic to something. The responsibility lies with the reader and not the site and the writer.