Fruits to keep your skin soft and smooth
For sparkling teeth, mix one teaspoon of fresh lemon juice with one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and half teaspoon of salt. Use like toothpaste – once a week. Lighten the skin and smoothens rough edges of elbows and knees. Cut a lemon into two halves and rest your elbows in each half for 15 minutes. Or squeeze juice of lemon and apply on your knees. Peel a tomato and chop it finely before spreading on face. Work as an effective cleanser and gentle astringent to tighten pores. Squeeze juice of an orange and mix with a tablespoon of plain yoghurt. Apply on face, avoiding the eye area. Rinse off after 10 minutes and splash face with cold water. Run about 10 unripe cherries in a blender. Mix the juice with a tablespoon of dry oatmeal and use as a five-minute facial mask. For the body; mix cherry juice with a tablespoon of sea salt and massage over damp skin. Mash half a ripe papaya with two teaspoons of honey. Apply to areas of face that are prone to wrinkles such as between the brows and along the sides of the nose. Leave on it for 10 minutes.
Home face treatments
Steep a pair of Earl Grey teabags in boiling water, run them under a tap and place over eyes for 10 minutes before night out. Use four bags of chamomile tea. Leave them to steep for 5 minutes then hold your face over the bowl. Freeze cooled chamomile tea in an ice-cube tray. When set, remove cubes and run over your face. Soak some gauze in cooled green tea and apply on skin the way you would a toner. Heat a cup of olive oil in the microwave for a few seconds. Massage onto dry areas of your skin. Heat enough olive oil to fill half a small clothes basin. Soak your hands in the oil for about 10 minutes, followed by the feet. Use it as a conditioner by leaving warmed olive oil on your hair for 15 minutes before shampoo. Remove all traces of mascara by dipping an overused mascara wand into some olive oil and use it to apply on your lashes the way you would mascara. Chop up a cucumber and drizzle a few drops of lemon juice in the mixture. Apply on your face. Soothe tired eyes by cutting two rounds and place them on the eyelids. Rub down hot skin with a mixture of chopped cucumber, olive oil and plain yoghurt.