[Review & Tutorial] Homemade Skin Care for Oily, Scarred, Acne Skin: Lemon and Oats

YES I KNOW THE TITLE IS A BIT MOUTHFUL. THANK YOU.

Based on Miyu's request on twitter, I decided to share some of the home made face masks recipe I quite often use.

Before we start, I guess I should tell you my face skin condition.

• It's super duper oily, like it would be shiny only two or three hours after I wash my face from the oil build up as if I constantly smother it with a cup of oil;
• full of deep scars and black spots from years of acne;
• big pores, as if I perpetually stab my face with nails those witch hunters usually use;
• and still, breakouts here and there.

Have you ever heard that saying they usually said to cheer you up when you were an awkward early teenage with too much hormone excess and face like the surface of your favourite rice crispy chocolate bar? "It will be gone when you grow up". Yeah, no kidding. I'm 26 now, I've been fighting acne since I'm 11, and more than likely will still be.

Thankfully, I can still have the pleasure to enjoy the rare weeks of having clean skin. Usually it happens when I religiously (trust me this is not an exaggeration) treat my skin with all my might, clean my make up without fail, and when my hormones decide to be civil and not fucking me up. Those days are usually what lift my spirit and encourage me to keep up with my treatment during my low days.

I think, part of me was fed up with splurging my money on trying out different acne treatment products. Dermatologists are expensive as fuck and needs constant visits. The cheap drugstore products are either give no more particular effects or leave quite undesirable side effects. So then I switched to natural treatment since last year, starting from the face oils, and then move up to face wash, masks, and scrubs. Let's leave the face oils for next entry and we'll hit on the ingredients we could find in our kitchen (or, in any supermarket's aisle). Since I kinda forgot each ingredient's properties, I will only write the effects and such so apologize in advance (and anyway, you could find the explanation on each ingredient's properties all over the internet.)

So here we go. Some natural home remedies that I've tried.

• Lemon.

Yeah, lemon is quite expensive here. But if you have a fridge, you can put the leftover in an airtight box and keep it in the fridge. A wedge of lemon (1/16???) is enough for one time face treatment--be it the for the mixture of your mask, or use it as it is. Or you can utilize the rest for your lemon infused water, or mixture for your green smoothies. Lemon can help reduce the oil buildup, reduce the acne's swelling and redness, and brighten the skin. Just make sure that when you apply lemon as it is to your face, don't leave it more than 10 minutes and wash your face right after so it won't irritate your skin. Also, you might want to avoid using lemon right before you do your activity under the sun all day, because as all citron does, it can make your skin photosensitive.

How to use Lemon?

•  Standalone, as face scrub: Wash your face first and pat it dry. Scrub your face with a wedge of lemon (around 1/16 part). Squeeze a little to ensure the juice is coming out. Be careful not to pop it up when scrubbing on your breakouts as there will be a serious case of blood and pus splatter everywhere (also it stings. A lot). Let it sit for 10 minutes. Wash your face with warm water (or cold one, if you're a lazy ass like me and has no hot water tap, doesn't matter). Use once or twice a week.
• Face mask mixture: Before you put the liquid of your choice as a mixture of your face mask, add some drops of lemon juice (again, from about 1/16 part). Be careful to other ingredients' composition, though, because applying a too liquid face mask will be a mess.

• Oats

Ever heard that commercial gimmick about how oats can absorb the excess fat and cholesterol in your body and took it out? That's more or less like it when we use oats on our skin: we want to absorb the excess oil, dirt, bacteria, and a bunch more of other things out of our skin. Plus oats has some properties that I forgot what (I'm sure by now you started to raise your eyebrow and cursing about how trashy this piece of entry is) that is good for the skin but anyway oats is love, oats is life.

It's better to use the natural rolled oats, but if it's too expensive/difficult to find, the normal easy-to-cook oatmeal is fine. Some people claim of getting breakouts when they use the instant oats, some people are fine, so you might want to take that into consideration.

How to use oats?

•  As face wash: If you're wearing make up, please use your choice of make up remover first. Use this step to replace your regular face wash. Mix a teaspoon of oats (use your own estimation, after some times you will know how much is needed for your face) with water. Some people directly mix it on their palm. I prefer to mix it in a small bowl or dessert cup or something like that. Squeeze and crush a bit until the water is clouded and no longer clear. Take the oat pulp and use it as scrubs on your face until all pulps are used. Pour the oat water little by little to wash the pulp out of your face while you scrub and massage the water to the skin, until all is used. Some people prefer to leave it as it is, some people like to wash again with cold water, depends on your preferences. Because it's quite rich, I prefer to use oat face wash at night before sleep.
• As mask: Oats can be used as the base or thickener for your face mask. Mix 1 tablespoon of oats with all the liquid needed (honey, lemon juice, some carrier oils, essential oils, rose water, or potato juice) until desired consistency. Or you can just use oats and water. Spread evenly to your face. Wait for about 20 minutes, or until it doesn't stick to your finger anymore when you touch, but still quite damp. Splash water until the mask is damp enough, scrub for 2-5 minutes. Wash with cold water. Or you can wash with your face wash if it still feels sticky--especially if you use honey. Use 2-3 times a week at night before sleep.
• Fermented mask: I once read an entry about using yeast to ferment the mask before used. She compared it with the pitera stuff in SKII people all raged about (though my sister once ridiculed me about how pitera is from rice and oat is not rice, well) and I can tell you the skin feels cleaner and more supple when I use fermented oats instead of regular one. How to make: In a glass or ceramic bowl (never, EVER, use plastic bowl because the fermentation process won't be perfect), mix one or two tablespoon with water, just enough to make a porridge-like consistency. Add a dash of yeast (I use the regular Fermipan), like, as much as the tip of your spoon. Mix well. Cover with plastic or foil sheet, tie with rubber band, leave it for 2 hours. It will be stickier with that usual smell of tape. Spread evenly on your face, let it sit for about 20 minutes or until the surface is not sticky anymore but still quite damp. Splash some water, scrub it away for 2-5 minutes. Wash with water until there is no more oat bits on your face. You can use your face wash too, if it feels not clean enough. Use twice a week at max.

SHIT IT'S A LONG-ASS POST I'M SURE BY NOW YOU'RE THINKING THE WALL IS MORE INTERESTING THAN MY ENTRY. Okay let's stop here. We'll continue later.

Off and go.