Food for your Skin

12 Key Natural Skin Care Ingredients! Keep your kitchen stocked with these essentials to whip up on-the-spot masks, cleansers, and lotions without even a trip to the store.From the scientific side to home remedies.
Avocado Carrot Cream Mask - This mask combines avocados, which are rich in Vitamin E, with carrots, which are high in beta-carotene and antioxidants, and cream, which is high in calcium and protein. These ingredients will rebuild skin collagen, improve tone and texture, and fade age spots. 1 avocado, mashed, 1 carrot, cooked and mashed, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 egg, beaten, 3 tablespoons honey. Combine all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Spread gently over your face and neck, and leave in place 10-15 minutes. Rinse with cool water and follow with your favorite toner.
Cucumber – hair drench: 1 egg, 1 egg shall of olive oil, 1 quartered peeled cucumber. Blend the egg, olive oil and peeled cucumber. Spread evenly through your hair, leave on for 10 minutes, and then thoroughly rinse. For the best results year-round, continue this treatment monthly.
Eggs - The protein in eggs is especially good for your hair. Add one to one ounce olive oil, one tablespoon lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar for an easy shampoo—or combine one teaspoon of baby oil, one egg yolk, and one cup water for a quick conditioner.
Fruits and Vegetables - You already know they're keys to good health—turns out they're important for great skin, too. Different recipes take advantage of the vitamins, minerals, and clean scents of different foods: avocados are great for vitamin E, carrots are high in beta-carotene and antioxidants, ginger is energizing, the folic acid and nutrients in strawberries have been shown to fight acne, tooth tartar, and cancer.
Ginger - cream: Ginger invigorates, and oil soothes. Try this double dose for dry skin. 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, 2 teaspoons light sesame oil, 2 teaspoons apricot kernel oil, 2 teaspoons vitamin E oil, ½ cup cocoa butter. Preheat oven on lowest setting. Finely grate the ginger just enough so that you have about and 1/8 teaspoon of ginger "juice." To obtain the juice, squeeze the freshly grated ginger over a small bowl. Place the ingredients (including the ginger) in a glass container and heat just until the cocoa butter is melted and the oils are blended. Pour into a clean, dry container and store in a cool dry place. You can add a few drops of orange or other essential oil for a nice twist.
Honey - the bees' sweet stuff is a natural humectant, so it's made to hold moisture. For a simple skin lotion, mix one teaspoon honey, one teaspoon vegetable oil, and ¼ teaspoon lemon juice, rub on dry skin, and rinse off after ten minutes.
Lemon – hair spray for fine hair: 1 lemon and 2 c. H20. Chop up the Lemon in a wooden bowl so that you don't lose any of the juice. Add the chopped Lemon to the water in the top of a double boiler. Simmer the mixture until the liquid has been reduced by half. Strain through cheesecloth or fine silk cloth and pour the liquid into a bottle that will fit a pump-type sprayer. A washed and rinsed Windex bottle will do for your spray container. Add 1/2 cup of water to thin the mixture if necessary. Spray your hair with this mixture whenever necessary. Since it is gentle, with not alcohol or chemical additions, it can be used on children's hair too. Should be made fresh every few days and kept in the fridge between uses. One cup of the Lemon Hair Spray can be preserved with 1 oz. or more of Bay Rum. Substitute an Orange for the Lemon for dry hair.
Olive Oil - The vitamin E and antioxidants in olive oil make it another great moisturizing option: try soaking your nails in a cup for a shiny, at-home manicure; apply it to your hair, leave on half an hour, and then shampoo for gleaming locks; or rub it onto hands and feet for soft skin.
Oranges - are ripe with naringenin, a naturally occurring flavonone that may help shield skin from UV rays. It won't replace regular sunscreen use, but researchers hope it may help stop skin-cell death.
Papaya - You really can fight wrinkles from the inside out. Papaya has loads of Vitamin C, makes youthful skin - fewer wrinkles and less thinning and dryness. Vitamin C is a natural friend to skin. The nutrient is essential for making collagen, the protein fibers that give skin its strength and resiliency. And being a powerful antioxidant, C also disarms free radicals that would otherwise chip away and weaken collagen. It also helps protect skin from this sun scourge.
Sugar - The glycolic acid in suger and the rough texture&makes;makes it ideal for exfoliating while giving skin a healthy glow. Make a body's worth of sugar scrub by combining ½ cup sugar, two tablespoons of cream or whole milk, five drops of orange oil and one cup of olive oil. Leave on for 10-15 minutes and then rinse off.
Walnuts - Munch on walnuts. In the vitamin C study, researchers also noted that diets rich in linoleic acid -- an essential fatty acid in walnuts -- meant moister, plumper skin. When walnuts are part of a healthful diet, they help lower your bad cholesterol -- that sticky blood-fat that clogs your arteries and boosts your risk of a heart attack. It's the fat in walnuts that does such great things for your heart. The nuts are particularly rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid with cardioprotective properties, having 6.8 grams. Walnuts are loaded with other good-for-you nutrients, too, including vitamin E, folate, and fiber.