Having fabulous taste often comes at a price. When you’ve used the best all-natural, organic, vegan face products – it’s hard to ever use generic crap on your skin ever again.
Vegan aesthetician Carmen Cherry is a vegan skincare expert working out of at Zolton’s Salon and Day Spa in Arizona. A vegan herself, Carmen incorporates her knowledge of healthy nutritious eating into skincare treatments. Vegan treatments are packed with natural ingredients, and fruits and vegetables that are full of vitamins and antioxidants that naturally nourish skin. Wouldn’t it make sense that we wouldn’t put anything on the outside of our skin that we wouldn’t put inside it?
Here are some of Carmen’s favorites. We can’t promise it’ll work as well as a platelet rich plasma facial, but they’re pretty close. And should you ever find yourself in Scottsdale, book a vegan beauty service with her.
SALAD GREENS FACIAL MASK
Use only organic ingredients in this facial rejuvenation mask.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup dandelion greens
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1/4 cup romaine lettuce
- 1/4 cup watercress
- 1/4 cup sunflower seed oil
- Half a ripe avocado (optional)
- a few drops of lemon or lime juice (optional, for scent)
- 1/4 cup of fennel (optional, for scent)
- Hemp (optional, for added benefits)
Wash and dry all the salad greens. Pulse a few times in a food processor. Slowly add the sunflower seed oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. For an added bonus, try adding hemp (such as is available from somewhere like PureHempFarms). Hemp is the ultimate vegan ingredient and has powerful antioxidant properties. It’ll help to reduce redness and inflammation, leaving your face nourished and glowing without leaving it raw as some ingredients can. Allow the mixture to sit for a least 10 minutes before application, then slather it on!
SUNFLOWER SEED EXFOLIATOR
Use this recipe for gentle exfoliation and skin moisturizing.
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces ground sunflower seeds
- 4 -5 ounces sunflower oil
- 2 -3 drops of lemon, lime, fennel, or orange juice
Place whole sunflower seeds in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Combine ground seeds with oil. Massage onto skin.
CUCUMBER TONER
Cucumber extract contains high levels of antioxidants and reduces the production of sebum in oily skin. It inhibits dark spots and it good for acneic skin.
It can be used as a toner or for eye and facial compresses.
Ingredients:
- 2 organic English cucumbers
- 24 ounces of warm water
- Lemon/lime
- 3 sprigs of fresh mint
Wash cucumber and pat dry. Slice cucumber (with peel on) paper-thin. Add slices to sterilized container with warm water. Cover and shake container. Let steep for 10 minutes. Make fresh daily.
The same ingredients can be used to make a pure cucumber juice concentrate by running them through a juicer. The resulting concentrate should be kept in a sterilized container and can be added to many treatments, including clays and dry exfoliants. This should also be made fresh daily.