I cannot believe that my supply of face mask from my pre-zero waste days are finally gone. I saved the plastic packaging and mailed it to Terracycle under the Personal Care and Beauty Recycling Program. It usually takes forever for me to go through a tube of face mask and I had to throw away some because it started smelling weird.
My DIY face mask was inspired by the following video from Refinery 29:
What I do
For my DIY face mask, I used bentonite clay because that’s what I have at home and that’s what I use for my toothpowder. I put a 1/4 teaspoon of bentonite clay in the palm of my hand and I mixed it with a few drops of water. It’s important not to use stainless steel when working with bentonite clay because it causes some chemical reaction. I used my fingers to mix the water and clay in the palm of my hand. Slowly, I rubbed the mixture with both my hands and applied it to my face and neck. This saves me from having to wash a bowl.
It takes between 10 to 15 minutes for the mixture to harden depending on how thick your paste is. A 1/4 teaspoon of bentonite clay is really not that much. After applying the mixture on my face, my face looked wet but when it hardened, you can see a thin layer of gray all over my face and neck. I washed off the face mask in the shower and my skin felt smooth and tight. When I’m done with my shower, I pat my face dry and applied moisturizer.
Variations
There are many variations to this recipe. Mix bentonite clay with honey for a moisturizing effect. Mix bentonite clay with yogurt or apple cider vinegar for exfoliating purposes. I’ve seen some recipes require at least 1 teaspoon of clay. If you have sensitive skin, you may want to do a patch test first or reduce the amount of clay. For those with acne, your face may look worse after the face mask but that’s probably because the clay is drawing all the impurities to the surface of the skin.
The way I see it, the world is your oyster. So, feel free to experiment and do what works for you or try and work with what you have at home. I’m just lazy so bentonite clay and water it is for me.
Zero Waste Log 