I ALMOST BURNED MY FACE 🤦‍♀️

I am not a beauty blogger but I love to share some of my beauty lessons, especially the ones I consider very important.

People who know me well would know that I am a sceptic when it comes to inorganic skin products, let’s just say I like to play it safe. Besides, I low-key think that some of these inorganic products contain chemicals that can cause more damage than good to my skin, I even think that some of them would make my skin age faster (as much as I know that there are some inorganic products that are anti-ageing, I still like to be safe).

So, the basic beauty products you’d find on my shelf and bathroom are;

- Black soap which has very good ingredients like neem, turmeric, honey, etc (made by my beautiful friend, Angela who does hair and skin consultation).

- Rosewater (as my toner; I got this one off the shelf at Bazaar)

- Ori from ‘Jimpo’ (this is the best I have tried in years and it has this very nice fragrance) - Original honey (most essential; my dad supplies me with this)

- Palmer’s Cocoa Butter lotion (this was recommended by my friend, Yomi when I had one skin palava like that, and it has worked well for me).

So, here’s the story;

I wanted to have a face mask after a long time but I had been nonchalant and didn’t have the essentials (the only extra thing I do to this face of mine is to scrub with sugar and honey which is usually on weekends when I am not too busy. Well, for some skin goals next year, that’s about to change).

So, some days back, I decided to get turmeric powder from a woman that sells some organic plants-based powders on my way home then, I saw this greyish powder and asked her what it was, and she told me it was cinnamon powder. Although I didn’t know the uses or benefits of the cinnamon powder, with optimism, I just bought it alongside my turmeric powder and went home happily.

As soon as I got home, I googled the benefits of cinnamon to the skin and saw that it makes the skin glow and look plump and that it is also great for treating acne. I passionately and excitedly made a paste with the cinnamon, turmeric powders and honey, cleansed my face and applied the ‘magic’. I had only applied the paste to my forehead region when I began to feel a burning sensation. In my mind, I was like ‘shoo, this thing is hot o, am I sure this woman did not mix the turmeric powder with some chili’.

I continued the application and my face kept burning like it was some chili paste I was applying. To clear my doubt, I tasted the paste to be sure there was no pepper in it, I did and confirmed that it wasn’t peppery. After about 2 to 3 minutes of masking, I face was literally on fire. Scared that I had done a damage to my face, I ran to the bathroom to wash off. After washing, I still felt my face burning and discoloured from the turmeric, I quickly used my rosewater as a cleanser.

I was confused when I still felt my face burning after some minutes, I began to imagine what my face would look like if it truly burnt, what I would tell people and if I would be able to go to work until it heals, I was just frightened at the thought of having a burnt face.

I was close to tears at these thoughts already just before I sighted my bottle of honey, I then thought to apply some on my face perhaps it would soothe the burn … and of course it worked. Thank God!

*sighs*

I have now done more search on the effects of cinnamon on the skin and I have learnt the following;

- Cinammon itself is really great for different purposes including skin treatment however, it can be highly irritable on the skin so the advise is, ALWAYS DO A PATCH TEST (actually, for any product) on your skin (on your hand) before applying to your face.

- Get you a bottle of honey, it works for almost any skin problem (from experience).

For any product,

- Do your research very well before use.

- Stop use IMMEDIATELY if you feel any irritation, don’t hurt yourself.

- What works for one might not work for the other, know yourself, know your skin, know your allergies and only do what’s best for you.

I still have my cinnamon powder and I am still wondering how best to use it. Got any tip(s)? please be kind to share.

Thank you for reading, don’t forget to make comments, I love to see them.

Stay beautiful,

Olajumoke