DIY Brightening Face Mask

A DIY brightening face mask is the perfect beauty tool to remove sunspots and get a natural glow. It’s easy to make, uses 100% natural ingredients like brown rice flour, and orris root powder to brighten the skin.

Don’t get me wrong with this recipe! I am not saying that you should bleach your skin. I find it quite sad that big commercial companies like Nivea promote skin whitening to Africa.  Nivea got quite a backlash from one of their campaigns and it’s well deserved, you can read more here.

I personally think we should all be proud of our heritage and what nature has given us. This recipe is simply meant to enhance the natural tone of the skin and reduce dark spots from the sun and aging. It can be used on all skin tones.

Best of all this brightening scrub can be used at home and is totally free of harmful chemicals and toxins.

DIY Brightening Face Mask Ingredients

Organic brown rice flour is exactly as it sounds! It is flour ground from rice kernels. It is high in vitamins C and B5, which are naturally brightening. Rice flour also helps to absorb any excess oil on the skin and tightens pores. To avoid any chemical compounds, look for certified organic rice flour.

Orris root powder is a plant-based powder made from orris root. It’s 100% natural and has long been said to have medicinal properties. Orris root powder is a natural cleanser and detoxifier that helps to draw out any impurities in the skin, instantly improving skin tone. Make sure that your orris root powder is a single-ingredient powder and buy organic when possible!

Chamomile flower water is a hydrosol made from chamomile flowers. It has calming benefits due to the types of naturally occurring esters and alcohols in the plant. It naturally reduces redness and soothes the skin. Look for a 100% hydrosol, which means it should contain only water, plus either matricaria chamomilla and/or anthemis nobilis. These are the two types of chamomile flowers that chamomile flower water is made from.

Optional:

Bengkoang powder (Pachyrhizus erosus)  is made from an Asian yam potato-like fruit and helps to brighten and rejuvenate skin. It helps to decrease the appearance of dark spots. Look for single-ingredient powder for the best results. I discovered it while I was traveling to Bali, Indonesia. It a little hard to find since it is an exotic product but if you ever go to Bali, make sure you look for the raw and natural ingredient with no additives!

If you are headed to Ubud, you should definitely book a day with Bali Herbal Walk with Lilir and Westi. I learned a lot and it was one of the highlights of my trip for sure!

The danger of commercial skin whitening and skin bleaching

In addition to the white supremacy-tinged aspects of traditional skin bleaching, products that try to achieve these results are laden with harmful chemicals.

The skin bleaching ingredient hydroquinone, for example, is banned in the European Union because it may act as a cancer-causing agent, but companies can still manufacture products with it, export them to foreign markets, and sell them in communities of color.

Other harmful chemicals in commercial skin bleaching and whitening products include:

Mercury is an easily absorbed chemical that causes heavy metal poisoning in the body and can damage the kidneys and nervous system. Even in small amounts, it may cause rashes and even scarring.

Steroids are also often added to commercial skin lightening products because they reduce they constrict the blood vessels in the area that they are applied to. They also reduce cell turnover so less melanin is produced in the top layer of the skin. This results in less redness and coloration of the skin, but can thin the skin, leading to damage and premature aging.

 

How to use my DIY Brightening Face Mask

Instead of applying harmful chemicals to your skin, use a natural DIY brightening face mask and gentle scrub!

Simply mix all ingredients together to form a paste and apply on your face and gently massage for a few minutes.

Let dry for about 10 minutes and rinse well.

You can start using this face mask weekly and increase to 2 times a week maximum not to disrupt the fragile balance of your skin sebum.

Apply your daily moisturizer and you are set!