Rhassoul Clay Mask

My friend, Brittany, and I have many things in common. Firstly, our sons share a birthday. Second, we are both incredibly interested in going more green and natural, and where we've started is with health (yoga and food), beauty (getting rid of old beauty products and either buying natural or making our own), and household cleaning (as both our little ones are starting to crawl, we've stopped using all chemical cleaners and instead use vinegar, lemons, baking soda, salt etc and essential oils). It has been a lot of fun, because we try different things, talk to the other about them and compare experiences, and bounce ideas off each other. So on this track, we decided to place an order from New Directions Aromatics (NDA) for a few ingredients to kick us off on making beauty products. This way, we split a couple things so that it was a bit less of an investment in case we didn't like it. I'm happy to say that was unnecessary! So far, I love everything, and I got a LOT! :-D

Eek!

We split a kg of cocoa butter, shea butter and beeswax, and then I got: witch hazel, aloe, vegetable glycerine, rhassoul clay, and essential oils - lemon, bergamot, vanilla 10 fold, sweet birch, cinnamon bark, grapefruit and wintergreen! Beyond stoked!!

I have so many things I'm going to make with these - safe cleaning products, lip balm, body balm/lotion, face masks, some sort of shaving cream for Adrian... And that's just a few ideas. So as I said, this order is just to get us started and experimenting, and then I know I'll be placing another in a few months and get some more things. There's also another website - Saffire Blue - that I'll be ordering from in the future as well for some things that I couldn't get from NDA. Very excited to get going on these!

However, I got the order yesterday and just didn't have it in me to jump right in and start experimenting, so I decided to try the easiest thing - the rhassoul clay mask! Simple add water. Brainless, effortless, perfect.

I was originally going to get French green clay, because I though it was the "fancier" one. However, after doing some reading, I decided to get this Moroccan clay instead.

Rhassoul clay is mined from the Atlas mountains in northeastern Morocco. It is extracted, washed, sun dried and then ground into a fine powder. It is reddish brown in colour and mixes into a beautiful, smooth paste in water. This clay is also higher in a number of minerals than other clays, so it's incredibly moisturizing, clarifying and absorbent. It's great as a hair conditioner or even shampoo, and a detoxifying face and body mask as it helps control sebum  production and sloughs away dead skin. It's mineral content is as follows:

Silica - 58%
Aluminum - 2.47%
Iron - .64%
Sodium - 2.3%
Magnesium - 25.2%
Calcium - 2.34%
Moisture - <8%

It is reported to reduce dryness, improve elasticity and clarity, and even extract blackheads, unblock pores and remove dead skin! As a hair mask, it's supposed to remove residue and leave your hair feeling voluminous and light.

I haven't used it as a hair mask yet (but will!!), but I can attest to everything this clay is supposed to do for the skin!

Beautiful texture!

Already starting to dry, immediately following application.

It is so smoothing and hydrating - my fingers immediately felt moisturized and smooth just from applying it! I smoothed it on quite thick, because as usual, I mixed up too much, and it started drying immediately. I may have left it on for a bit to long (again, a common occurrence with me... I get going on something and lose track of time) because I decided since Jaxson was down, this was a perfect time for me to update my blog! By the time I was done, I felt like I couldn't move my face at all, it had tightened so much.

Dry, cracking, TIGHT!

Rehydrating it felt amazing. Just because it felt so good, before I washed it off completely, I wet my fingers with water and patted my face. The clay soaked the water right up and started to soften and loosen. After that, I wet it a bit more and gently massaged it into my skin in small circles to exfoliate. It felt so soft and smooth, not gritty or harsh at all. I washed it off after this, which was very easy to do as it started to just fall off my face in little clumps.

I could not believe how soft and smooth my face felt. It felt completely hydrated and almost like the bumps were smoothed over. The most amazing thing for me though, because I was not expecting this at all, was that the blackheads on my nose were visibly reduced! I was so impressed.

One thing that happened, and it may have been because I left it on too long, was that my forehead got all red and splotchy. However, it went away in no time at all. I think my skin just got a bit irritated because it tightened so much!

A day later, and my skin still feels smooth and looks more clear and radiant. I love this clay!

Source: Amal Oils