Part of your daily skin care routine should include exfoliating your face. There’s no reason to put those expensive moisturizing creams on dead skin cells where they can’t penetrate to do their intended work.

When you exfoliate your face you’re loosening and washing away dead skin cells in order to expose the fresh new skin cells beneath. Natural Alpha Hydroxy Acids are excellent for exfoliating your face. These acids are found naturally in fruits (citric acid)and , sour milk (lactic acid) and sugar cane (glycolic acid).

Natural Alpha hydroxy acids also enhance new skin cell growth thus allowing the skin to better retain moisture which will plump the skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

Lactic acid in sour milk, cream and yogurt softens skin and cleanses pores. Glycolic acid like in sugar helps to loosen ceramides which are substances that hold skin cells together. Once dissolved, healthy new skin cells beneath are exposed removing the fine lines and wrinkles and age spots. The citric acid in fruits acts as a bleaching agent for age spots and skin discoloration. Fruits are also full of powerful antioxidants that help fight free radical damage caused by sun and wind. Citric acid also stimulates collagen production.

The recipes that follow all use alpha hydroxy acids to exfoliate your skin. Choose your favorite or use several depending on what you have on hand. People with sensitive skin may find one irritating while another isn’t so I’ve included several. You’ll also need to see just how often to exfoliate. I suggest a couple times a week minimum.
You can use any of the following to lighten age spots as well.

Aloe and Milk Sugar Scrub – This sugar scrub is very moisturizing for dry and also sensitive skin.

1 T Aloe Vera Gel
1 T heavy cream
2 T sugar

Mix heavy cream with half the Aloe Vera Gel. Heat to just warm in microwave. Apply to face and neck area and leave sit for 15 minutes.
Next take the remaining aloe vera gel and mix it with the sugar. Gently massage the sugar mixture into face using small circular motions. Rinse with warm water. Your face will feel silky soft and smooth. Follow with a toner and your favorite moisturizer. The lactic acid and sugar will exfoliate your face to help remove fine lines, expose fresh skin and stimulate new cell growth.

Egg On Your Face Lemon Face Mask – This mask is nourishing and toning for dry mature skin.

1/2 lemon
1 egg yolk

Cut lemon in half and scoop out just enough for the egg yolk to fit. Plop in unbroken egg yolk. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning spread the egg yolk over your face and neck. The yolk will have absorbed some of the lemon oil and juices. Leave on for 10-15 minutes. Rinse with tepid water.

Creamy Strawberry Mask – Do NOT use if you’re allergic to strawberries.

3-4 strawberries
2 T plain organic yogurt
1 T raw honey

In a blender combine 3-4 strawberries, 2 T organic yogurt, and raw honey. Apply to face and neck avoiding eyes. Leave for 10-15 minutes. Rinse gently with tepid water.

Papaya Scrub

1/2 ripe papaya,
2 T heavy cream,
juice of 1 lemon
1 T raw honey

Scoop papaya out of skin. Plop in blender with remaining ingredients. Process to mix. Apply to face and neck – leave for 10 minutes and rinse off gently with warm water.

Brown Sugar and Cream Face Scrub
1 T cream
2-3 T brown sugar
1 T fresh lemon juice

Mix together and rub onto damp skin. Leave for 5 minutes or so then gently massage in to loosen dead skin and gently exfoliate. Rinse with warm water.

Simple Sour Milk Face Exfoliate

2 T heavy cream
1 T fresh lemon juice

Mix together. Yes this is going to get lumpy as the cream will sour with the lemon. It doesn’t smell real nice either, but I do love this one. Spread over face and let dry. Usually about 10 – 15 minutes. Rinse and massage gently with warm water. As you rinse you can also apply some plain sugar to help exfoliate.

Plain Old Grapes

Red or Green Grapes

Mash them up and apply to face and neck. Leave on 10-15 minutes then rinse with warm water. I like to use this time to complain to my husband. I tell him I’m just feeling sour grapes. He hates this mask!

Honey Lemon Rooibos Tea

Rooibos Tea is a red tea from Africa that has 50 times the antioxidants of green tea. You’ve all heard how good green tea is for you right? Try rooibos now in addition. Rooibos also has alpha hydroxy acid. So I make a cup to drink and one for the face.

2 Rooibos Tea bags
3 cups water
honey to taste for tea
lemon for mask
sugar for scrub

Boil water then turn off heat and steep tea for 10 minutes.
Make one cup of tea with honey to drink while you relax for your facial. Let the rest cool and add 1 T lemon. apply with cotton balls to face and let dry. You can apply more and let dry again. Leave on 20 minutes then moisten some sugar, brown or white. Gently massage to help exfoliate face and reduce wrinkles. Rinse with warm water.

After exfoliating I always use a toner, then moisturizer. This is my favorite toner and it’s simple.

Green Tea and Herbs (you can vary the herbs depending on what you’re after. Roses and rose hips soften skin and are good for aging skin, chamomile is soothing and moisturizing, lavender is good for acne and oily skin)

Chamomile Flowers
Green Tea

I use a tea frog and bulk green tea leaf mixed with chamomile flower. I pack the frog with both. Boil a cup and a half of water with frog in place. Continue to boil low until reduced by about 1/3 about 15 minutes. Let cool. Pour into a spritz bottle. You can spray this on or just apply with cotton balls and let dry. Don’t rinse off. Chamomile is soothing to the skin and green tea provides antioxidants.

If you have recipes to share please feel free!

When I got smart and start taking care of myself one of the things that was just driving me nuts was all those horrible looking age spots on my forearms and back of my hands. I swear just looking at them you’d thing I was 20 years older than I really am.

I also had pretty bad skin discoloration on my face (streaks really) as a result of freckles and over exposure to the sun. This is something my mother suffered from as well, so while not unexpected, the hyperpigmentation was very unwelcome.

Mom never did anything about her skin discoloration, but I’m here to show you how you can get rid of age spots and skin discoloration with some easy to get natural and inexpensive products.

ROSEHIP SEED OIL gets rid of age spots. This is what I use and I’m amazed with the results! I use this on my hands and on my face at night. The skin discoloration (hyperpigmentation) on my face has disappeared within 3 months of use. The age spots on my hands are faded and almost, but not completely gone. My hands do look much much younger and my skin on both face and hands is soft and smooth.

Rosehip seed oil is high in fatty acids and is great for aging skin and age spots. It absorbs fairly quickly and has been shown to reduce wrinkles and scars too.

I can stop right here (but I have a few other things to remove age spots you might want to check out) and tell you to just go get rosehip seed oil for age spots and you can purchase this to remove skin discoloration from my link here and I earn a few bucks if you get it from Mountain Rose Herbs, or you can get it somewhere else if you want. It does work. I do suggest you try it regardless of where you get it.

DANDELION SAP is said to remove age spots. This one is super cheap, just go to the park or out to your front yard. This annoying weed to some can be your secret solution to younger healthier looking skin. Break open the hollow stem and apply the sap to your age spots 2-3 times daily.

FRUIT ACIDS AND AHA – Fruits are the natural source of AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) You’ll find AHA as an ingredient in many skin care products. Alpha Hydroxy Acid is a natural skin exfoliate that removes the outer dead skin cells and stimulates cell growth in the exposed healthy new skin cells. AHAs are what are used in acid peels which can lighten skin discolorations and age spots. While you won’t get near the concentrations used in a clinic (up to 50%) you don’t need to pay a fortune to get AHA benefits. Try either lemon (citric acid) or fresh pineapple (sorbic acid). Just cut up the fruit and apply to the age spots 2-3 times daily. Leave it on for about 10 minutes then rinse. You should see age spots lighten if you keep it up.

OOLONG TEA – It’s just plain healthy! Oolong tea has been shown to reduce age spots and wrinkles and is also said to help with weight loss. We know that teas contain antioxidants so I’d suggest you drink a couple of cups of oolong tea a day. You could drink this instead of coffee and you should see some amazing benefits. Lightening age spots and reducing wrinkles may be only two of them.