Kayla Young
There are several benefits to steaming the face. One of the main reasons why people do it is to help clean their faces. With facial steaming, the pores can be dilated and whatever is clogging them (like blackheads) can be easily removed because of the heat.
We’ve written in detail about what you should do after steaming your face, but one of the areas we wanted to elaborate on is using a face mask. In this article, we’ll look at how to do a homemade face mask after steaming.
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Face Mask While Steaming
You can use just about any homemade face mask that you like. This is because steaming helps your skin better-absorb whatever is in your skincare products. However, if you really want to take advantage of your steaming session, you should use face masks that help clean your pores.
Although steaming can help dilate the pores and soften what is inside, it will not remove the gunk. You have to do that by washing your face or using a mask. For that purpose, this post contains the simplest homemade masks that are best for cleaning your pores after steaming.
But before we talk about those simple recipes, we’ll first tell you what you should avoid when it comes to masks after facial steaming.
Best Homemade Face Mask After Steaming: 4 Simple Recipes
There are several homemade face masks that you can use after steaming. These are gentle enough for your freshly steamed face but they can also effectively remove the clogs on the pores.
Many find adding a toner before the mask can be helpful.
We chose these very simple mask recipes so you can easily create them with just a few ingredients. However, you can treat them as your base and add more ingredients, like essential oils, to further taper them to your skin’s needs.
You may also want to add some herbs to your steamer as well.
Honey Mask
One of the simplest masks you can use after using your facial steamer is honey. Real honey has antibacterial properties to help cleanse your face. Additionally, it is great at unclogging your pores.
Make sure you use raw honey and apply it in small amounts with your fingers. Concentrate on the areas where you have blackheads like your chin, nose, and forehead area.
Avoid using it under the eye, as that area is very sensitive.
After about 3 minutes, you can rinse your face with warm water to keep your pores dilated.
This helps your skin prepare for other skincare products that you want to use. Be gentle in washing your skin and patting your skin while applying the honey.
Clay Mask
Another ingredient that is known for removing clogs on pores is clay. It can help remove impurities on the pores by drawing them out. Combined with facial steaming, clay masks could easily remove those clogs.
There are different clay powders available in the market. You probably want to target red Moroccan clay or bentonite clay. These both come in powder form and to make them stick to your face, you should add some liquid.
You can use distilled water, but rosewater will make your mask feel more luxurious. Plus, rose water has a lot of benefits for the skin like reducing redness and skin irritation, anti-inflammatory properties, pH balancing capabilities, oil control, and pore cleaning as well.
To make this mask, mix 2 parts water to 3 parts clay then add about a teaspoon of mashed avocado. The avocado in this recipe helps add moisture to your skin. Plus, it also helps with the consistency of your mask.
When creating any clay mask, avoid using metal spoons or bowls to make sure the clay remains potent.
Charcoal Mask
Charcoal is a great ingredient to remove impurities and toxins in the skin. It also has antibacterial properties to make sure your skin doesn’t get infected and to avoid acne or pimples. Additionally, activated charcoal also helps control oiliness by absorbing excess oil.
There are many charcoal mask recipes out there and you can add almost anything to it. The simplest we can find only contains two ingredients. All you need is your activated charcoal powder and some Greek yogurt.
Choose unflavored, plain, organic greek yogurt. This provides that mask consistency plus it is also great at dissolving the dead skin cells on your skin. You’ll need this to make sure the covered pores are accessible to the charcoal so you can successfully draw out the clog.
Turmeric Mask
Turmeric has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. This helps prevents acne-causing bacteria from infecting the pores. Plus, it also helps remove whatever is clogging your pores as it acts as a gentle exfoliant.
Just take note that it can stain! Carefully wash your face and hands after using it.
To turn turmeric powder into a mask, mix it with water. You can also use honey to turn it into a honey-turmeric mask. If you love pre-made gel masks, you can use unflavored gelatin plus a mask mold to create them.
Face Mask Ingredients to Avoid
As we’ve said, you can use most facial masks after facial steaming. However, there are a few exceptions. Although you want to thoroughly clean your face and the pores, there are some masks that can be too harsh for your freshly steamed face.
Remember that the heat has already done the hard job of dilating the pores and softening whatever is blocking them. The only thing you need to do is remove them.
If you use a face mask that is too harsh, your heated skin could easily become irritated.
With that in mind, you should avoid using harsher ingredients that cleanse the face. Abrasive materials like powdered walnuts may sometimes be used to help exfoliate the skin. And yes, exfoliation after steaming is generally a good idea.
But they are too harsh for the face, especially when you’ve just steamed it.
You also have to look at the ingredients of your homemade face mask and avoid those that would minimize or close the pores.
Although you want to tighten your pores, you should leave that step or the last product in your skincare routine.
Take advantage of your dilated pores to help products get easily absorbed before you close your pores.
Final Thoughts
Facial steaming helps unclog the pores by dilating them and softening whatever is blocking them. To take advantage of this effect, a homemade facial mask can be used. However, it is best to carefully select the ingredients that you use for your homemade facial mask.
This is to make sure they are not too harsh on your heated skin. Listed above are 4 simple masks that you can easily do with just a few ingredients. You can add more ingredients to the recipe if you wish.
