AROMATHERAPY

Wrinkles and Ageing Skin - Facial Scrubs

Facial scrubs are used to exfoliate the skin and unplug pores, and they leave the skin looking fresh and dewy as the dead layer of cells is sloughed off.You only need about one teaspoon of the raw material and you can use many foodstuffs as your base: cereals in general make good scrubs - oatmeal, for example - or any pulse like mung beans or dries peas, as well as nuts, almonds and hazelnuts.

So use what you have in the cupboard or were to buy anyway.

Whatever you use should be ground up in a food processor or pestle and mortar so that it forms small, gritty lumps like coarse sand. The starches and enzymes in these cereals, pulses or nuts will be activated during treatment and get tpo work on cleansing the face.

Oatmeal is used in many cosmetics products and combined with ground almonds makes an excellent scrub.

Mix one teaspoon of each, add 1 drop of essential oil from the skin type list that relates to you on page 504, and roll mthe mixture over the surface of your skin with damp fingers. Rinse off with warm water.

Basil essential oil is excellent for this type of scrub, as it lifts greying cells and enlivens the skin tone. It is an important ingredient in this rejuvenating face scrub, which is best suited for normal to oily skins.

1 teaspoon ground almonds - 1 teaspoon oatflakes - 1 pinch salt - 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar - Basil 1 drop

Mix the vinegar, salt and basil together then add the almonds and oatflakes. Use damp fingers to roll the mixture over the face. Rinse off well.

The skin really needs a spring clean after the long sunless winter months of drying central heating and pollution-laden smog, and this next formula will do a tremendous cleansing job while saving the forty or so pounds it would otherwise cost at an exclusive beauty clinic.

1 teaspoon ground pulse or nut - 1/2 a teaspoon almond oil - Lemon 1 drop

Mix the ingredients well together and pat over your face, leave for thirty seconds. Roll the mixture gently over your face and then rinse away all the dirt, grime and dead cells with the cleansing mixture.

Now splash water on your face twenty times, dry, and feel that soft skin. Apply this scrub twice in one week for the full affect.

Pawpaw fruit contain enzymes that eat away dead cells and bacteria - just like the enzymes in biological washing powder - and proovide a simple but effective treatment for open pores and blackheads.

Again, you don't need a great deal so just save a bit from a pawpaw you would have bought anyway. You'll need one large spoonful of mashed-up pawpaw to which you add 1 drop of bois de rose essential oil: Mix well and spread the Mixture over affected area of your face and neck, avoiding the eyes. Leave for seven minutes and wash off. Do not use on sensitive skin.

Reference: The Fragrant Pharmacy: Valerie Ann Worwood