Words: Emily Cliff

December, a time where the wind blows colder and the fires burn warmer. Here at Self-Care Sunday, we won’t judge if you’ve forgotten to give your skin and hair the TLC it needs in winter. So grab your mixing bowls and a large brew, this week we are making facemasks! And not the kind that you need to leave the house! So stop what you are doing and slow down the mind, Self-Care Sunday number four is underway.

One of the main things people like to do for Self-Care is do a face mask and have a bath, and i’m sure we are all no strangers to some of the staggering prices of good facemasks. So what if we told you there was a way to achieve that incredible soft glowing skin at home using ingredients you probably have in your cupboard or better still, in your garden! Glowing skin and flowing hair locks dont have to cost an arm and a leg, and it is the perfect activity to do on your Self-Care Sunday journey.

If you are anything like me, there is probably a rather sad looking avocado in your fridge that you promised yourself you would use to be a health queen, but the chicken nuggets just wouldn’t stop calling. While you could make avocado on toast and live out your millennial dreams, you could do a natural facemask. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is no greater pride or joy than making something useful and beneficial to you from scratch, the same applies to making your facemasks. In this recipe (you can read here) you can learn all about the benefits of avocado for the skin, as well as being able to scare your family into thinking you are the grinch. Not many know the benefits of avocado, and the list is quite long. Avocado can help clear up acne and bring down inflammation in the skin, perfect for those cold winter winds! This recipe also uses honey and oats. Honey, as some may know, is a natural antiseptic and is brilliant for reducing blackheads and pores. The oats act as a gentle exfoliant to get all of the dirt and grime out of your pores. With this mask, leave it on for 20 minutes before washing away with warm water.

Now we have spoken about the benefits avocado and honey have on the skin, but what about the hair? (click here for the recipe) It’s amazing how many benefits this sad avocado sitting in our fridge has! With hair, avocado helps strengthen and repair damaged hair as well as leaving it lovely and shiny. Now at this point I am very aware that I sound like the next Herbal Essences advert on the telly, but all of this is true and it’s a brilliant way to incorporate craft, skin and hair cair into your Self-Care Sunday routine. As well as its repairing properties avocado is also incredibly moisturizing for your hair! So whilst you are running your Self-Care bath, put on some of your hair mask and see the benefits.

Making your own face and hair masks is not only beneficial to you, it’s sustainable for the environment. We all have a sad looking avocado or some honey stuck in the back of the cupboard and even some oats lying around. Not only are you reducing your waste, you are creating something that will make you feel relaxed and will show your skin and hair good, healthy benefis. You can also see what goes into what you make! There have been a thousand and one times when you buy a facemask and there is a long list of ingredients on the back that seem like they are written in some alien language. When you make it yourself, you know what you are putting on your skin, which is incredibly helpful if you are prone to sensitive or dry skin.

We talk every week about giving yourself some TLC and some care, so don’t forget your skin! Out in the world when you are around pollution, cold air and when you are wearing your face covering for hours on end, it’s like our skin has been dragged through Hell and back. So it is time to say bye to spotty chins and sore dry skin and hello to a new glowing you! After a long week i’m sure you deserve to have a nice Self-Care Sunday.