Gluten Free Skincare Recipes

When you think about wheat, barley, rye and oats what comes to mind? Bread, beer, whiskey and all that tasty stuff, right?

Sadly, for many North Americans suffering from Celiac Disease, they have had to cut out all that goodness and replace it with Gluten-Free options. As a lover of gluten-heavy products myself, I can only imagine how difficult this would be.

Turns out leading a G-Free life is more than just eliminating foods from your diet. It means reading the fine print, knowing the variations and changing your skincare and beauty products too.

100% Shea Butter

The 411 on Gluten and Celiacs

Gluten is a protein found in the foods I mentioned above; wheat, barley, rye and most oats. A Celiac is someone whose body rejects this protein and actually attacks the villi in your intestine.

The villi regulates nutrient absorption from food so when a Celiac eats gluten products they are unable to process the nutrients, therefore becoming malnourished.

Since what you put on your skin is ingested into your body, it’s no wonder that using beauty products with gluten cause a major problem.

Fret not G-Free’ers, I’ve got a fix for you!

Gluten Free Moisturizer

For a rich, creamy moisturizer that soothes, smoothes and nourishes your skin, try this great recipe:

1 Cup Shea Butter
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
1/2 Cup Almond Oil
1 ½ Tbsp Beeswax
1 Tbsp Zinc Oxide
1 Tbsp Glycerine
10 drops of your favorite scented Essential Oil, like Lavender or Tea Tree Oil

Once you have all your ingredients together, simply:

Melt together your butter, oils and wax
Once it turns to liquid let it cool for an hour in the fridge.
Spoon cooled product into a mixer and add the zinc oxide, glycerin and essential oils.
Whip everything together for approximately 5 minutes or until it reaches your preferred consistency

What’s great about this moisturizer is all the ingredients are G-Free, the zinc oxide helps protect your skin from sun damage and from harmful UVA rays. The almond oil softens your skin while the shea and coconut moisturize and hydrate it. You’ll feel smooth as a baby’s bottom with this formula!

Gluten Free Facial Cleanser and Body Scrub

This next recipe is a fabulous alternative to store-bought scrubs because it naturally (and gently) exfoliates, cleanses, and is great for Gluten-Free lifestyles as well as sufferers of sensitive skin.

All you need is a few natural ingredients:

2 Cups Coconut Oil
1/3 Cup Lye
¼ Cup Grape Seed Oil
1 Cup Raw Sugar

Then from there, all you have to do is:

Blend together the Coconut and Grape Seed Oils with Lye
Once it’s smooth mix in the raw sugar

The rough texture of the sugar makes it great for gentle exfoliation while the other ingredients are powerful enough to wash away dirt and makeup while still hydrating your skin.

Gluten Free Fresh Face Skin Toner

A great follow up to the facial cleanser is this toner recipe. The ingredients used all promote clear, tight pores and skin hydration.

¼ Cup Witch Hazel
¼ Cup Aloe juice
2 Tbsp Chamomile Essential Water
2 Tbsp Distilled Water
5-6 Fresh Mint Leaves

Mix together all the ingredients and then mash up the mint leaves. Put in spray bottle and you are on your way!

I love how the chamomile and aloe soothe dry, irritable skin while hydrating it at the same time. The mint aroma soothes your senses and acts as an anti-pruritic agent. One more benefit of the mint is it is full of Vitamin A which can reduce oily skin and strengthen your skin.

So there you have it, a cleanser, scrub, toner and moisturizer that are all Celiac-Friendly and beneficial to your skin. Not to mention, they all smell great and work. Mother Nature sure does know how to make an awesome G-Free skincare treatment!

{she butter image via daveynin on Flickr}

AUTHOR BIO:

Vanessa is a skincare bloggin’ babe for http://besskincare.com where she blogs and vlogs about all things skincare including product reviews and handy DIY tips and tricks, such as homemade acne face masks, that help her readers to look and feel their very best!

Get the Green Living Ideas book in softcover or PDF for as low as $2.99!

Please follow and like us:

Tags: beauty, gluten-free, skincare

About the Author

Guest Contributor is many, many people. We publish a number of guest posts from experts in a large variety of fields. This is our contributor account for those special people. :D