Soothing Oatmeal Facial Mask

Today, I burned the shit out of my face. I finally finished the Olay facial hair removing thingie, and upgraded to the medium-to-coarse hair version. It works much better for my stubborn sideburns. But I have to be careful with it, because my skin is pretty sensitive. If I don't rub that balm all over, I get wee chemical burns on my cheeks...which suck, by the way. But thankfully, everything I need to soothe my poor face is right in my kitchen!

Supplies needed:

plain old oatmeal. I use the Target store brand. 

plain greek yogurt. Full fat is best, but whatever you have handy will work. No fruit or anything silly.

a coffee grinder

ground up oats

Take a few tablespoons of oatmeal and stick them in a clean coffee grinder. (If you, like me, use your coffee grinder for spices, a few tablespoons of rice in the grinder will clean out most of the spices first.) Once you have ground your oats into a fine powder (which, by the way, is how you make Colloidal Oatmeal. Check out this video if you are curious. There really is a youtube video for everything.) you're pretty much done with the hard part. I generally make a cup or two at a time, and keep it in a mason jar. It's great for irritated skin. A few spoonfuls in the bath is also great for diaper rashes and excema.

plain greek yogurt.

Take a scoop and mix it into a few tablespoons of the yogurt. Mix well. The amount of yogurt you use will determine the thickness of the mask. I prefer a thicker mask, so I generally make this a 50/50 mix.

all mixed up. I prefer a thicker mix, so it doesn't slide
all over your face.

Go put on a movie that you've already seen a few thousand times, I like Bridesmaids lately. Lay a towel down over your pillow, slather the mix thickly over your face, and relax for 10 minutes or so. Rinse with lukewarm water, and moisturize. Easy peasy.

During:

the mask, all over my face. awesome.

 After:

this side was the worst. it still stings, but it's much better

my face is much less red all over.  I love this stuff.

Here are some links if you want more info on oatmeal:

• US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
• http://colloidaloatmeal.com/
• WebMD
• Different recipes for fancy oatmeal masks
• The ubiquitous about.com link
• It really does have multiple uses...other than food
• Honey and Oatmeal mask

a new version of this post is available at BedlamBeauty.com