Homemade Honey and Peppermint Facial Toner

I come from a long line of people who suffered with acne well into their adult years. Actually, my poor mother still deals with cystic acne and she’s … well, a grandmother. It’s not fun. It’s painful and embarrassing. As a teenager acne is to be expected, but you trudge through in hopes of better days when the wrath of adolescence has loosened its grip. Unfortunately for some of us, it’s a struggle that lasts much, much longer.

I’ve tried everything. Everything from oil cleansing, to store bought, to that line of skincare products that you see on the infomercials that supposedly helps all the celebrities, to prescription acne treatments. Nothing really helps. Some stuff helps for a while, then stops working. It’s a really big point of frustration. And it’s not about vanity. Acne is really painful. It hurts.

What I have found that helps is a routine of mostly oil cleansing (to be described in a later post). However, I find that I really need an exfoliant, too. So I exfoliate about 3 times a week. And then 3-4 times a day, I use this toner that I’m writing about today. It really does help most if I do it many times a day. I used it for a month and saw a significant improvement in my skin. Then I ran out … and procrastinated on making another batch. And now I’m dealing with a breakout. The day before we get family pictures. Nice. ::sigh::

I’ll post a link to the website where I found the recipe and I recommend that you go check it out because the author, Aubrey, did a really great job of describing how each ingredient helps your skin.

Honey and Peppermint Facial Toner (Original Recipe found Here)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 5 drops peppermint essential oils

Directions:

• Combine the honey with the 1/3 c. warm water. This helps loosen the honey up a bit so that it’ll mix well with the other ingredients.
• Add remaining ingredients, then pour into the bottle or container you’ll be storing the toner in.
• Apply multiple times a day with a cotton ball or cotton facial pad.

Tips:

• IMPORTANT!! Make sure to store the toner in a container that has a good seal so that you can shake it before each use. Otherwise the peppermint oils can float to the top and when you dip in your cotton ball, you’ll get a face full of peppermint oil. And let me tell ya (from experience)…. it burns. Yowzers. Whoa.
• At first your face will smell like a salad because of the vinegar.  Or toothpaste because of the peppermint oil. Your 4 year old will probably even tell you so. Once it dries, the smell dissipates and just a light minty-fresh scent remains.

This is a list of some of the awesome sites that I occassionally link my posts at. They’re all great blogs about anything from parenting, simple living, cooking, homesteading (backyard and large scale), gardening, Christian life, frugal living, etc. Check them out!

The Chicken Chick, The Prairie Homestead- Homestead Barn Hop, Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth- The Art of Homemaking, Homestead Bloggers Network- Tasty Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection, Growing Home- Growing Homemakers, Wildcrafting Wednesday, So Much At Home, Hope in Every Season, Green Thumb Thursday, Home Acre Hop, From the Farm Hop, Farmgirl Friday, Front Porch Friday, Simple Meals Friday, Better Hens and Gardens.