beauty and the kitchen.

I have a lot of my dad's features, which I've always loved. But if there's one thing I inherited from the Justesen line that I could do without, it's super-sensitive skin. I read that at 24, your skin is supposed to be in its prime, perfect and glowy and smooth. And if that's you, thank your lucky stars, but it ain't me. In fact, headlines in magazines always seem to say, "How to Get Perfect Skin, EXCEPT FOR YOU, ALEXA JUSTESEN." I'd made my peace that forever and for always, my skin would most likely resemble that of a 12 year old boy's. It's fine, guys. I'm okay.

BUT.

The Pinterest gods looked down on me one day and showed me how to correct my errors. Harsh chemicals? No. Oil-free products? No. What you want is the good stuff, the stuff sitting right in your kitchen cabinet. I was introduced to the oil cleansing method {OCM} and a few other tricks that promised to give my skin the age appropriateness it deserves.

And I never say this but let me just say it now: o.m.g. I've been doing the method for two weeks and my skin has never looked better. I'm not going to explain how to do the OCM here because there are other websites that can do it better than I can, but I'll tell you we've been trained wrong. My whole life I'm been taught that everything should be oil-free, right? Wrong. Unless they're artificial oils. But the real, all-natural stuff is good for you. This is because oil dissolves oil. So the good oil you put on your skin kills off the bad oil, but because it's oil, it also acts as a moisturizer. Awesome, right? {I always thought that if medicine interested me I'd want to be a dermatologist, so I find this stuff fascinating.}

In doing some research I found a few other cool products that are cheap, effective, and awesome {my three favorite words}. So I thought I'd impart my Pinteresting wisdom, and you too can change the way you've been taught about skincare, and then change your skin. Solidarity, sisters.

1. Coconut oil. My friend Jenni turned me onto this, and it's incredible. I use it in brownie mix or anything that requires vegetable oil because it's so good for you, and I think it makes boxed brownies taste better. You can use it on your skin, lips, eyes, hair, basically anywhere. I prefer using it as a hair mask once a week and sleeping on it. It's crazy soft the next day. I also use it in a homemade coconut oil/sugar body scrub. Yum.

2. Apple cider vinegar. This stuff smells AWFUL, like, really bad. Apparently it's really good for you when ingested, but I can't get myself to do that just yet so I use it for two things: a natural astringent for my face {dilute it with some water first}, and once a week I mix it with water and use it as a hair rinse. The protein in it acts as a conditioner and the astringent acts as a clarifier. Make sure you get the good stuff, my favorite brand is Bragg.

3. Extra-virgin olive oil. I use this as the carrier oil for my OCM mix. It's hydrating, doesn't sting your eyes when you take off your makeup, and I love the smell of it. Use it whenever you can when you cook.

4. Castor oil. This is the prima donna of oils. If you do the OCM, you'll want this to mix with your carrier oil. It absorbs bad oil, purifies, and moisturizes. It's also good for eyelashes, but more on that a little further down.

5. Tea tree oil. I mix a little bit of this with my OCM stuff because it's good if you have acne-prone skin. I also dab a bit on any problem areas twice a day, and I swear it's a miracle. And it smells good.

6. Liquid vitamin E. Okay, eyelashes. You know all those serums out there that are like $300 but promise to make your eyelashes grow? Don't buy into it. Mix this with equal parts castor oil and maybe some olive oil and gently apply to your eyelashes at night. They're known for strengthening and lengthening, and our eyelashes need to be conditioned. They carry a lot of weight on them every day!

So that's my system. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think. And if you have any other tips, share them please! Now go make yourself prettier than I know you already are.