Turmeric Spot Treatment and Facial Scrub

*Photo via rwridley.wordpress.com

           I am not, nor will I ever be, a chef.  The only times you are going to find me in a kitchen is when I'm a) toasting a pop tart or making cereal or b) scrounging up some ingredients for a new facial mask recipe.  Being that this is a "beauty" blog, you can bet that I will be discussing the latter today.
           It's no secret that my skin is not perfect and my love for experimenting with random, often comedogenic, facial products is mostly to blame.  When it comes to spot treatments, I have tried it all from tea trea oil to manuka honey to lemon juice.  Some of these options are effective and others not so much.  I am happy to report that I have recently stumbled upon the miracle product of the Ayurvedic and Chinese skincare gods.  It is:  *drumroll*  TURMERIC.  I mean, seriously, this stuff is a hardcore anti-inflammatory and is used to help with symptoms of indigestion, alzheimer's and ulcerative colitis, amongst many other things.  Although I haven't gotten down to ingesting the stuff regularly, I've started to use it as a mild scrub and spot treatment.  I've found that it really reduces redness on blemishes and gives my skin a nice glow.  Here's how I do it:

What You Need

1.  Turmeric powder (duh): Any 'ole kind will work, but I think organic is a little better.

2.  An old t-shirt and an old wash cloth: Turmeric root is actually used as a component in many dyes, and for good reason, as it will dye about anything that it touches.

3.  Chamomile or green tea:  Water will suffice, but I like to add chamomile tea to my turmeric scrub/spot treatment mixture for its calming effects.

4.  Q-tips:  These are mainly necessary for when you use turmeric as a spot treatment.  They're much more efficient for use on small areas.

What to Do

The mixture for both the spot treatment and the scrub are the same, so listen up!

1.  For a facial scrub, you need to put about a teaspoon of turmeric in the palm of your hand, whereas you'll only need about a quarter of a teaspoon for a spot treatment.

2.  Create a paste with the turmeric powder by slow mixing it with your tea of choice (or water).  The paste should be thick, but spreadable.  Also, the paste needs to be thinner when used as a scrub as opposed to a spot treatment.  

3.  If you're using the turmeric mixture as a spot treatment, dip the Q-tip into the mixture in your hand.  If you are creating a scrub, simply spread the mixture all over your face.

4.  Spot treaters:  Leave the mixture on for no longer than 20 minutes.  Be sure to wash your entire face instead of simply rinsing or else you are going to look like an Oompa Loompa with a bad spray tan all day.  Like I said, this stuff is used as dye, people!

5.  Facial Scrubbers:  Massage the turmeric mixture onto your face for about 10 seconds then completely wash your face.  Don't be alarmed if you're a little orange after the first cleanse.  Simply wash, rinse, repeat. 

6.  Dry your face with the old wash cloth just in case some turmeric powder decided to stay around in the hopes of dying your nice, new towels.

               I understand that all of this talk about how turmeric temporarily dyes your skin is pretty intimidating, but the color will go away pretty quickly.  If you just use the turmeric mixture at night and cleanse thoroughly afterwards, the only thing people will notice about you in the morning is your sultry new complexion.  Now, get to scrubbin'!