Make Your Own Moringa Super-Mask At Home!

The healing power of moringa is astounding – either consumed as a powder or capsule, applied topically as an oil, balm or lotion product for inflammation & itchy skin – or used as a powder for a facial mask.

Universally, moringa helps skin and body recover from imbalance and restores health.

You’ll have most ingredient for these facials at home in your fridge or pantry (or can find easily in your local supermarket).

Moringa Probiotic Hydrating Facial

Blend half a tsp moringa powder with 1 tsp plain unsweetened yoghurt, 1 Tbsp mashed ripe avocado and 1/2 tsp honey. Mix well & brush onto your skin for 10 – 15 mins. Add a few pumps of Moringa Healing Serum for very itchy skin.

Brightening AHA Facial Mask

(not suitable for sensitive skin, Indian skin types and some Polynesian skin types. Patch test first if this is you, or use without the pineapple & papaya).

Mash fresh papaya or pineapple (not canned or frozen). If you have papaya, you can strengthen the facial by adding a couple of brushed pips, but be careful of skin sensitivities.

Mix in 1 tablespoon plain unsweetened yoghurt, 1 teaspoon honey & 1 teaspoon moringa powder.

Mix well and apply to skin. For even more oomph, cover the mask with cling film and apply warm towels on top for 5 minutes.

Anti Inflammatory Mask

Grind oats to a very fine powder in a coffee bean or herb grinder. Add 1 tsp moringa powder, up to 1 tsp Moringa Healing Serum, 2 tsp juice from grated cucumber & 1 tsp very finely ground oats. Mix to a paste and apply cold. Leave 8 – 10 minutes and compress off with a cool compress.

Meet Moringa Oleifera – Also Known As ‘The Miracle Tree’.

I first met Moringa early in 2023. It was a chance encounter that was to change the course of the Baliba brand (and another brand I have that works in the active treatment skincare space).

It was in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. I was in Raro with Jennie – owner of Experience Rarotonga. Do check Experience Rarotonga out if you are planning a holiday in Raro. It’s an awesome place.

Anyway, we visited the moringa tree, with a view to grab some leaves to make moringa tea – we knew this would help fight inflammation & was ‘good for us’. Raro is that kind of place.

What we didn’t anticipate is happening upon Jennie’s friend (and now my friend) – the owner of the tree, who told us of his health journey from super-high ‘about to have a stroke at any moment’ cholesterol levels, back to normal levels in 6 months by drinking tea from his trees – specifically, moringa & soursop leaf tea. Amazing.

That story and his positive energy stayed with us for the entire trip and beyond.

How could a tree make such a profound change in a person’s life…

Needless to say, we drank lots of tea, dried a bunch of leaves and got them through customs back to NZ, and started experimenting with the power of moringa.

Here’s your short version of what I learned, and how I came to appreciate why moringa is known as The Miracle Tree, and what inspired me to create the Baliba Apothecary & carve an entirely new direction for the Baliba brand using the power of natural ingredients, partnered with the power of essential oils. Now The Miracle Tree has also changed my life – in a very different way:

Nutrient-Rich: Moringa leaves are chocka-block with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that play a pivotal role in nurturing skin (and body) health.

Among these, the presence of Vitamin A is particularly notable. Vitamin A supports skin cell regeneration and repair, promoting a smoother and more youthful complexion. It aids in maintaining the skin’s integrity by encouraging the production of new skin cells while shedding old ones. This process helps to reveal fresher, brighter skin underneath.

Antioxidants: Moringa is renowned for its potent antioxidants like quercetin, chlorogenic acid, and beta-carotene. These antioxidants counteract the damaging effects of free radicals, which are notorious for causing premature aging and skin damage. By neutralizing these harmful molecules, Moringa helps maintain youthful and vibrant skin.

Inflammation Soother: Inflammation is often at the root of various skin issues, from acne to eczema. Moringa contains compounds with anti-inflammatory properties, such as isothiocyanates and flavonoids. These components help reduce redness, swelling, and irritation, contributing to a calmer complexion.

Detoxification: Clear, glowing skin is a reflection of the body’s internal health. Moringa aids in detoxification by supporting the liver’s natural function and aiding in the removal of toxins from the body. This internal cleansing is mirrored in the skin’s clarity and radiance.

Hydration: Proper hydration is essential for maintaining supple and youthful skin. Moringa’s high water content, combined with its abundance of nutrients, assists in keeping the skin hydrated and moisturized. This can help alleviate dryness and create a natural, healthy glow.

Collagen Booster: Collagen is the protein responsible for maintaining the skin’s structure and firmness. Moringa is a source of the amino acids proline and hydroxyproline, which are essential for collagen production. By providing the building blocks for collagen synthesis, Moringa contributes to plump and youthful-looking skin.

Nourishing from Within: The saying “You are what you eat” resonates deeply when it comes to skin health. Moringa’s dense nutritional profile positively impacts overall health, which in turn reflects on the skin. When the body is well-nourished, the skin reaps its benefits, radiating health and vitality.

I’ve now created a number of products that include moringa oil and moringa extract, and am moving to create more that focus solely on moringa, simply due to its superior performance.

Now, 5 months later, I use moringa daily in my diet, and twice daily in my own skincare regime. I’ve worked in the beauty industry for decades – and have used top salon-only skincare brands & treatments.

I can honestly say that non of them come even close to what the simple serums & balms that I’ve created with moringa and other active ingredients & my skin has never looked better. I’m a firm advocate of natural + actives (peptides), where the actives/peptides replicate natural skin functions, but for the Baliba brand, I’ve stayed with natural only & used my knowledge of essential oils to add even more to the bounty of the natural ingredients. It’s my happy place without a doubt.

Essential Oil Treatments For Hair & Skin Rejuvenation

As much a relaxing spa treatment as a revival, essential oils are often overlooked as effective treatments for both skin and hair damage, yet are very frequently used as active ingredients in high-end skincare products.

In the case of skincare for mature and dry skin, using a drop of an essential oil blend of Lavender, Geranium, and Frankincense in your daily skincare routine, can achieve cellular rejuvenation, cellular repair & reduction of redness or inflammatory conditions – and also give it a really nice smell. Similarly, lemon and bergamot are frequently used for both brightening and sebum control in active skincare products. Citric acid by itself can balance oily skin.

Taking this to the next level, a weekly spa treatment for your skin is a wonderful addition to an afternoon or evening, can contribute to your skin’s health, while also reducing stress levels remarkably. It’s worth a try!

Essential oils absorb through the skin very easily through massage, as long as you use an oil with good absorption properties. Sweet almond oil is a good choice for ‘normal’ skin & easy to get hold of. For dry or damaged skin, see if you can find jojoba oil & for super dry and mature skin, apricot kernel oil is great (or a combination of all the above). If you don’t have these oils – or time to hunt them down, just go with whatever you have – or get some Cetaphil cream from the Pharmacy and use that instead.

Essential oils, when topically applied have a slow-release mechanic. Ideally, perform these rituals in the evening, then spend some time relaxing, reading, breathing, or just doing nothing while they are on the skin/scalp.

Use as little oil/cream as you can – you really are looking for absorption into the skin, so apply small amounts at a time and focus on long, firm upward moving strokes as you massage them in.

Essential Oil Facal Masks

Warm your oil or cream a little in the microwave (think warm – not hot), then add a drop of each of your essential oils.

You can use any brush to apply – I’ve used both a fan brish and a pastry brush (or even use your fingers if you need to, with small amounts each time).

Starting about 10cm below the clavicle bone, apply the warm cream or oil evenly to your skin using upward strokes. Apply first to your upper chest & neck, then refresh the brush, sweep across the jawline one side at a time moving from the ear to the chin. Thirdly, move your brush from the jawline up to the temple and cheekbones, working from the outside in. Finally, brush across the forehead from the temple to the brow centre line, up both sides of the nose, then along your upper lip with the remaining product still on your brush.

Next, move to massage each of those areas one at a time, with flat hands – one hand following the other, using a medium to firm pressure. Take your time & use broad long strokes, one hand following the other.

The mission is to absorb as much product as possible through the massage, so continue your upward sweeps, continuously moving around the zones above.

Once you have massaged in as much oil as you feel you can, massage any remaining product into the backs of your hands, relax for ten to twenty minutes.

All told, this ritual will take a little over 30 minutes. You can leave the oils in your skin overnight if you wish to, or remove them with a cleanser as you usually would.

Which Essential Oils To Use For Facial Masks:

Normal skin: bergamot, sandalwood, lavender

Dry or mature skin: Sandalwood, lavender, frankincense & geranium

Oily skin: cedarwood, lemon, clary sage

Combination skin: cedarwood, geranium, ylang ylang, lemon

Note: avoid the sun & any UV light source after using lemon or bergamot essential oil on your skin

Essential Oil Hair Masks

Hair masking can get messy if you use too much oil. Remember, you are applying the oil (or cream if you prefer). The easiest approach is to section the scalp and work on one section at a time, massaging more with your fingertips than your whole hand. Absorption through the scalp is faster than through the skin, so you won’t need to leave your mask on for quite as long.

Warm your oil (about 100ml should be plenty). Add a drop of each oil, blend the essential oil into your warm oil.

Use a brush to apply the oil, but dab rather than brush. Doing one section at a time will allow you to apply the oil, then massage it in with your fingertips on each section.

Once all sections have been done, if you wish to, use the heels of your palms to massage firmly in short upward strokes from the base of the skull (the occipital ridge). Use short strokes about 10cm long. Move around the head, starting at the back and moving to the sides – always with short, upward sweeping motions. You can use your knuckles if that’s easier for you.

Once you’ve completed massaging the oil or cream into the skull, place a towel around your head and relax for 10 – 20 minutes before removing the medium in the shower. To get the oils out of your hair effectively, use a tiny bit of shampoo directly on the scalp and emulsify before adding water & shampooing as usual. This will lift the oils out easily and leave your hair & scalp feeling great!

Hair Masks & Rinses

Damaged hair: bergamot, geranium, sandalwood.

Oily hair: bergamot, sage.

Dandruff: eucalyptus, tea tree, cedarwood

Thinning hair: cedarwood, rosemary (don’t use rosemary if epileptic or pregnant)

Remember: your oil application is on the scalp – not the hair. You don’t the need hair to be oiled. Generally, hair masks are easier if you use an oil  base rather than cream.

Essential Oil Facial Cleansing Ritual

This is a beautiful skincare regime that will be a beautiful daily experience that will do wonders for your skin. Make it a twice-daily ritual and you will find yourself looking forward to it in more ways than one!

First, prepare the bathroom.

You need a clean bowl (or basin). It’s easier to keep a bowl clean on a day to day basis when you have children or family members around, so I recommend that. Make it a large ceramic bowl if you can – plastic is just not the same experience.

Half fill your bowl with warm water (not hot) and place a soft flannel or facial compress in the water.

Compress your face (that means wring the water out and wrap the warm wet flannel around and over your face – press gently on the skin.

Next, place two drops of each of the essential oils in the basin and agitate the water:

Normal to dry skin: lavender essential oil, bergamot essential oil, mandarin essential oil. For mature skin or super dry skin, I also recommend one drop of sandalwood essential oil, but it’s an expensive essential oil, so let’s make it optional for now (I do recommend it)

Inflamed, congested or irritated skin: chamomile essential oil, eucalyptus essential oil, lavender essential oil, juniper essential oil.

Immediate after agitating the water, submerge your flannel again and allow it to rewarm, then repeat the compress process.

Repeat this 3 or 4 times.

Gently pat your skin dry and mix the following essential oils in a spritz bottle:

• Lime essential oil
• Orange essential oil
• Ylang ylang essential oil
• Lavender essential oil

Shake well and spritz into the air. Lift your chin [with your eyes & mouth closed] to allow the spritz to fall back on your skin and allow the mist to settle on your skin. This is beautifully refreshing.

Next, pat your moisturiser gently into your skin. You can use any moisturiser and just add a drop of essential oil – if you have broken capillaries lemon essential oil is a good choice, if your skin is inflamed – use lavender and for mature skin, sandalwood if recommended.

Just be aware that lime, lemon and orange essential oils are photosensitive, so do not go directly out into the sun after this ritual – allow at least an hour before you hit bright sunshine. Early morning sun should be fine.

NURTURE SKIN, MIND AND BODY WITH ESSENTIAL OIL SKIN CARE.

Using Essential Oils as natural skincare.

 Natural skincare solutions is a topic near to my heart – having owned beauty salons for almost ten years and in the retail pharmacy & beauty industries for a large chunk of my career.

I have used, stocked, had training from many brand owners – natural and otherwise.

Essential oils are very often included as skincare ingredients to fortify, balance, regulate and rejuvenate skin.
Essential oils are not so very often used, however, as singular ingredients for a specific purpose in skincare, but are very powerful in this arena.

Here’s what you need to know about the various essential oils and how they manifest on the skin when applied regularly in a skincare routine.

Skin is one of our largest and most important living organs – the weight of the skin of a 75kg person is around 3kgs – that’s around twice the weight of other larger organs! Skin continually renews itself, but as we age, it starts to function relatively more slowly.

Essential oils are able to pass through the skin transdermally – as demonstrated in massage therapy.

On absorption, essential oils are retained in the skin’s epidermis and eventually transported through the body via the lymph system.
Those essential oils used most commonly in massage therapy are the calming and stress reduction ones – and sometimes those that help with the improvement of microcirculation – and energy booster in its own right.

For facial skin rejuvenation, we need to be more precise with our oil selection and more mindful of the carrier that we place the oils in.

Essential Oils effective in skincare regimes:

• Lavender – softens and rebuilds epidermal strength
• Bergamot – cleanses and tonifies
• Mandarin – freshens
• Sandalwood – moisturises & strengthens – Sandalwood is expensive, but well worth it, given that one drop per day added into your moisturiser is enough.

Best essential oils for inflamed skin:

• Chamomile essential oils (chamomile tea actually is quite good as a spritz base for inflamed tea.
• Eucalyptus – clarifies and soothes, is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.
• Lavender is the great healer and rebuilder.
• Juniper – antibacterial and anti fungal.

Natural toners and balancers:

• Lime essential oil – stimulates and invigorates.
• Orange essential oil – softens and refreshes, balances.
• Lavender – calming and rejuvenating.
• Ylang Ylang – regulates sebum

Improve capillary strength for broken capillaries:

Lemon essential oil is indicated for reducing broken capillaries by strengthening endothelial cells, but a robust vitamin C serum using either freshly mixed L- Ascorbic Acid or Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (both natural forms of vitamin C) will help enormously also.

Nourish and rebuild your skin with essential oils

Use a regular mask of a potent blend of essential oils in a skin nourishing carrier oil at least once a week at night for a glowing healthy complexion! Our recommendation is the followings:
Apricot kernel Oil, avocado oil & soy bean oil together with Lemon essential oil, lavender essential oil, bergamot essential oil and sandalwood essential oil. Warm the oil just slightly and apply to face, neck and décolleté for around 15 minutes while you lie on the floor with your feet on a couch , bed or chair.

Try not to fall asleep – this is absolute magic for mind, skin and body