Beautiful Tips for Skin and Hair

It's relatively easy to make and enjoy natural beauty products that pamper your skin and hair while enveloping yourself with their light herbal fragrance. Relaxing homemade face scrubs, soothing skin lotions and healthful hair rinses can be made in a matter of minutes from the leaves and flowers of herbs.  Packaged in beautiful old etched bottles, silver-topped jars and pretty soap dishes, they also make wonderful gifts.

In early summer when fields and gardens are a bloom with elderflower, rush to pick the delicate blossoms. Some elderflower recipes are turned into the sweet, crispy fritters we can enjoy only a few short days each year, while others are set aside to add their softening qualities to soothing skin creams and lotions.

Elderflower, however is only one of the many herbs women have relied upon since ancient Egyptian times in their quest for soft skin, shiny hair and alluring perfumes. Those early Egyptian beauties conditioned their hair with henna, perfumed their bodies with such herbs as myrrh and juniper, and let fragrant herbal oils soften their skin and scent their baths.

In Greece, courtesans used such herbs as alkanet to color lips and cheeks. Mint, fragrant roses, sweetly scented chamomile, even marjoram and lovage yielded their cosmetic benefits to the bath water of some of the great beauties of history. The famous French courtesan Ninom de Lenclos's secret her bath with mint, lavender, thyme and rosemary and houseleeks or comfrey (depending upon the source) and was rumored to be the reason she remained unwrinkled and young of face to a very old age. Men too have luxuriated in herbal baths ever since they anointed their bodies with scented bath oils and threw lavender into the water of Roman bathhouses.

Since many of the most useful beauty herbs are the same ones used in culinary recipes or in herbal decorations, you are probably already growing a few of your own. The fresh scent of mint, for example, is just as refreshing in the bathtub as in a summer drink. Each herb has its own special properties.  Here is a list of some of the most popular along with their particular benefits so you can tailor your own beauty potions to your special needs.

List of Beauty Herbs: Add any of the following to your Home Hair Remedies or Skin Care recipes.

Calendula Benefits: Mildly astringent; soothes, softens, and heals the skin; hightlights for hair in blond or brown when used in shampoos and rinses. Makes a useful first aid remedy for all kinds of wounds.

Catnip in Tea: Quite the opposite effect on humans; relaxes and soothes often used in combination with Chamomile. Relaxes skin and hair follicles.

Chamomile Benefits: Lightly astringent; soothes, softens, cleanses skin; softens and adds hair highlighs for blond or brown coloring. Tones up relaxed muscles.

Comfrey: A healing herb, heals and soothes; good for sores, burns and swelling, used as a tea bag to decrease puffy bags under eyes, all around tonic for skin, hair and nails. Helps sooth wrinkles and is a great tonic.

Elder: Softens, heals and cleanses; adds light bleaching properties. Elderflower water was traditionally used to improve the complexion. Helps fade blotches and freckles.

Fennel Benefits: Invigorates; lightly astringent; cleanses, helps to eliminate toxic wastes from the body. Clear spots on the skin.

Hops Rhizome: Induces sleep, sedating effect on the central nervous system.

Juniper: Relieves sore muscles, is great for hair loss and assists with wound healing. Stimulates appetite, relieves nervous tension and is an excellent disinfectant.

Lady's Mantle: Heals; slightly astringent; good for dry skin and hair. Particularly good for sensitive skins.

Levender Oil: Lavendor oil stimulates; adds fragrance; good for oily skin and hair. It is also effective against colds, flu, and catarrhal conditions. Known to lower blood pressure.

Lemon Balm: Soothing and astringent; cleanses gently; fragrant. Low dilutions can be beneficial for eczema and other skin problems. Has an uplifting effect on the emotions. Helps sooth wrinkles.

Lemon Verbena: Stimulates; fragrant

Lime Flowers (Linden): Relaxes; aids circulation. Helps smooth wrinkles.

Lovage: Deodorizes, great for dandruff

Marjoram: Relieves fatigue, promotes longevity. Warming and pain relieving.

Nettle: Cleanses; stimulates circulation; conditions hair; fights dandruff; good for oily skin and hair

Parsley Benefits: Good for oily skin; adds shine to dark hair in a rinse. Shrinks small blood vessels and reduces cellulite.

Peppermint Benefits: Refreshes and cools; heals; stimulates; astringent

Rose: A hydrating agent that helps keep skin young looking; fragrant, slightly astringent

Rosemarry Oil: Rosemary stimulates, invigorates; good for oily skin; gives dark hair body and shine. A tonic which brightens up sagging skin.

Sage: Stimulates; very astringent; good for oily skin; relieves aching muscles; Can be used as a hair rinse to promote shine (especially dark hair), stimulates hair growth.

Scented Geraniums: Adds fragrance, treats acne and eczema.

Thyme Oils: Stimulates; deodorizes; antiseptic. Helps to clear spots and acne. Eliminates scalp itching and flaking caused by dandruff.

Valerian: Soothes nerves; soporific. Good for anxiety, fatigue, high blood pressure and insomnia.

Yarrow: Quite astringent; good for oily skin and hair; cleanses.

Learn to Grow Your Own Herbs:
List of Good Hair Growing Oils:

Successful Styling ~
Kali S Winters