My Toner Experiment

[maddiehope]

So I finally got around to making my homemade toner.
Here's what I did:
I threw in some chamomile flowers, lavendar, licorice root, green tea, and a little bit of tea tree oil. I covered all in bottled water and brought it to a boil and let it boil for about ten minutes.

At that point, I realized that it may be too concentrated, so I added more water and boiled it another two or three mintues.

I strained it through a strainer and a paper towel, squeezing the excess water out of the raw ingredients. Again, I felt it might be too concentrated, so I added still more water. This made about a cup and a half of toner. It came out a dirty brown color, and my apartment STILL smells like tea tree oil (I suggest making sure your kitchen is well-ventilated if you want to use the tea tree oil), but I think it may have been worth it. I transferred the toner into three small plastic bottles and added just a little bit of witch hazel (because of my very oily skin) and stuck them in the fridge.

I tried it out last night after it had cooled off some. I must say, I think I've hit upon something here. My skin was less red within two minutes of putting it on. It was still red, but the irritation was clearly diminished and not nearly as red as it had been. Then before I went to bed, I wiped my face down with some witch hazel, then my anti-redness toner, then I slathered on some 100% aloe gel. Let me tell you something, friends. When I woke up this morning, all that remained of the redness was my cheeks, and they weren't nearly as bad as they had been.

But after I took my shower (washing with the Aveeno Ultra Calming) and slathered on the Ultra Calming SPF 30, my skin was red again. Tomorrow I'm going to try to use the toner as well as the moisturizer (maybe after some witch hazel to avoid the grease slick I fear will result), and I'll let y'all know how that goes.

[CrabbyCathy]

Hi!

Do you think the Aveeno products caused the irritation?

The toner sounds interesting! Maybe next time you could add the drops of tea tree oil after you are done boiling/steeping the tea? Since it is an essential oil.

Now I want to go make some. I think I have all the ingredients. Except the witch hazel, which my skin doesn't like.

Do keep us updated

[Aurelia]

Hi Maddie,

Congratulations on being so enterprising!

After reading that comment about wiping your face down with witch hazel, I was just wondering how you get on with witch hazel generally. Witch hazel features prominently on most lists of ingredients best avoided by rosaceans, but there certainly are some people who can use it without any apparent damage. "Apparent" because sometimes a reaction to a topical that causes irritation won't show up immediately and delayed or cumulative irritation might be harder to pin down.

Kind regards,

Aurelia

[CrabbyCathy]

My skin said NO to the toner (mine was minus the tea tree and the witch hazel). Oh well!

[maddiehope]

My skin said NO to the toner (mine was minus the tea tree and the witch hazel). Oh well!

:( I'm sorry Cathy.

As to the question about witch hazel:

I've been using witch hazel as a toner for years. It's never caused me any problems, but it really doesn't do much for the redness. I use it mainly as a cleanser between showers and to cut the oil on my face in the middle of the day. I only use the commercial cleanser in the mornings when I take a shower. Always witch hazel (and now my toner and aloe gel) before bed.

And Cathy, I think you may be right about the Aveeno stuff. I had that thought this morning actually. My face is fine (now that I'm using this before-bed regimen) until I take my shower and use the cleanser and moisturizer.

I'm thinking of switching to something like Cetaphil and maybe I'll still use the SPF 30 for a moisturizer. If that doesn't work, well, I don't know. Because I NEED that SPF and the moisture through the day. I'm still not all the way there, but a little closer.

[maddiehope]

Another note:

I did notice something last night.

I have two bottles of the toner with a little bit of witch hazel and one bottle of just the toner (no witch hazel).

I don't know if it was the time of day or if it had something to do with the toner, but I used the toner sans witch hazel yesterday afternoon, and it didn't seem to cut the redness as quickly.

Then I used the toner with witch hazel before bed, and again, the red went away in about two minutes. Not sure which variable it is, but I'm going to try to use the afternoon swipe of toner with witch hazel and see if it makes a difference. It could be the time of day (it's already getting into the 80s during the day here, then going down into the 40s at night - could be the temp).

[CrabbyCathy]

80 degrees--ick!

Hmm, depending on if your skin likes the Cetaphil, they do make a lotion with SPF. I haven't tried it myself.