A Month of Masks - Aztec Healing Clay

As you all know, I am on a quest to get my skin healthy, clear and glowing. I’m not really happy that I’ve had to deal with acne, but I am excited to have a new reason to spend money on new skincare products. On each Monday for the next four weeks, I will be sharing with you step by step tutorial of a few homemade masks that have been helpful during my clear skin journey; this series will be called A Month of Masks. Today, I am going to start off A Month of Masks with my favorite homemade mask thus far, The Aztec Healing Clay mask. 

What you'll need:

Aztec Healing Clay

This was extremely hard for me to find in stores so I had to order from Amazon. This is the seller I used.

Liquid of your choice

Choose from the following:

Water ( for your first time trying this  I would recommend especially if you have fairly sensitive skin)

Rose Water (the smell is heavenly; I use a brand from my local international market, but this one is just as good)

Apple Cider Vinegar (I use this often and have found to be the most beneficial & what I'm using for today's post)

Mixing Bowl

 I actually use a plastic salsa bowl I got from Walmart for about 97 cents.

Mixing Utensil

BUT it CAN NOT be any them metal (for example NO spoons) I use a pack of popsicle sticks that I picked up from the dollar store.

Facial Brush

Whatever you want to use to spread it all over your face. I use my fingers but feel free to use a fan brush, paintbrush or the like, this one from ELF gets the job done.

Steps:

Step 1: Pour some of the Bentonite clay into the bowl. It’s up to you how much you want to use but, I find starting off with about 1/4 cup is just enough to cover my entire face and have some left over.

Step 2: Add the liquid of your choosing. I try to use an equal amount of liquid to clay but sometimes I’m too lazy to measure and just pour until I like the consistency; for the purposes of this post I used 4 tablespoons. If you use Apple Cider Vinegar, it will start to fizz a little.

Step 3: Mix until you have a clay like consistency.

Step 4: Place all over your face; the amount of time you leave the mask on depends on your skin type as shown below:

Sensitive Skin: 5-10 minutes

Normal Skin: 15-20 minutes

What's Gonna Start Happening:

Once the clay starts to harden you will feel a sort of pulsating sensation; It’s completely normal!

Step 5: Rinse

Don’t be alarmed if your face is red afterwards, this is normal as well; the redness will remain for about 30 minutes after you have rinsed the mask off of your face.

Step 6: Moisturize

This step is crucial because your face will be dry and feeling a bit tight since the healing clay removes all the oils from your face. I personally like to use a thicker moisturizer on the days I use the Bentonite clay; I usually grab the Aveeno Daily Moisturizer or Amlactin (which I talked about briefly in my monthly favorites post). 

That's it! You can use this mask either bi-weekly or once a week (no more than this) and watch your skin transform and your pores tighten!

Will you be trying the Aztec Healing Clay mask?