Aztec Healing Clay

I don't like when things are on my face - I never use a towel to wipe my face, I don't like when people touch my face and it's why I'm so lazy when it comes to masks. I hate sticky masks, I hate messy masks, I just don't like masks.

But there's one mask I make the exception for (actually, two but we'll get to that another day) and it's the Aztec Healing Clay. This mask got a lot of hype a few years back and I never really understood why. The fact that I could only find it online really bothered me and so I just never tried it. Then on a particularly bad skin day, I bit the bullet and ordered two jars of this stuff. I can't remember where I ordered it from but it only cost around $8 per jar and so I only ordered two to make the free shipping minimum.


This is a natural one ingredient product (pure bentonite clay) which I've been very into lately. I've used this mask weekly for months and it surprises me every time. It's a clay mask and perfect for any skin type though I wouldn't do it weekly if my skin were on the drier side. It's drying but not too drying and it just gives your skin a fresh glow. It's great for when you have an event that evening as your skin looks so much brighter though this only lasts for a day or so. I haven't found another mask that's as great as this and, for the price, I doubt anyone can.

What's your favourite face mask - natural or not? Leave any recommendations in the comments below or tweet me @SundayWardrobe!

Rose-Tinted Toner

Lately, I've been reaching for natural skincare - the kind our grandmothers always talked about but we never really cared to try. I love flashy packaging and I think my main reason for trying any product is how it's presented but it was time to change that. The struggle of balancing finances with beauty and the environment has led me to reach for a toner that has consistently been recommended by South Asian women.

The other day I heard someone talking about a coconut oil infused hair mask and I realized that I (and so many others) was making a silly mistake. Why spend money on slathering your hair with chemicals that contain trace amounts of coconut oil when you can just use coconut oil as the hair mask? It's also a South Asian recommendation and I've written a post about it here.

But I've been making the same silly mistake with other products - buying expensive products that are enriched with rose and rose water when my family always has a bottle of rose water in the house. So my toner at choice is the very inexpensive rose water! It's great for reducing redness, cleansing and hydrating the skin. I use it in the mornings after I wash my face, wiping it all over with a quarter of a cotton ball (that's all you need - let's save the environment kids!) and letting it dry on my skin before going in with my moisturizer. The scent bothered me at first (despite not being overpowering) but it disappears after a few minutes and you're left with hydrated skin. I do find it's helped with the texture of my skin as well as breakouts and it's now a cheap, must-have in my beauty regimen. It can also (supposedly) be used as a makeup remover but I find that you need to rub it in quite a bit if you want your pesky mascara to come off. Other benefits can be found here if you're interested.

I buy my rosewater from South Asian grocery stores (serious SA love in this post!) and I haven't checked elsewhere but it's not a hard ingredient to find. If not at your local grocery store, check Arab/SA stores around you as they're a staple there!

What's your favourite toner - natural or not? Any natural skincare products you've found that make a difference on your skin? Comment below or tweet me @SundayWardrobe!

Natural Beauty: Coconut Oil

I don't know if you've seen my haiku for Argan Oil but I'm a girl who seriously loves her oils.

I have curly hair that is very, very dry and that I love to straighten. Since I've started straightening my hair, I've noticed that it's thinned out a lot, it's become incredibly dry and frizzy and it breaks off so easily. I've tried so many products: keratin sprays, deep conditioners, heat protectors, expensive shampoos but none of them worked well or at all. Desperate, I asked my mom what she thought I should do and she told me what they use back home (Sri Lanka) - Coconut Oil.

My grandma has been using coconut oil on her hair since she was young and her hair is thicker than mine (she's more than 50 years older than me). While she, and many others from her generation, leaves it in her hair all day and everyday, I decided to do what works for me: to use it as a deep conditioner. This is now becoming very popular though it's something my grandmother has been practicing for decades and I can see the results.

I massage coconut oil onto my scalp and rub it all over my ends and leave it in for as long as I can - sometimes it's overnight but a lot of the time it's for an hour or so. I then wash it out and wash my hair as I normally would - with shampoo and conditioner. It is a deep conditioner so I would recommend that those with finer hair skip conditioner altogether to avoid getting too greasy. Ideally I would use coconut oil each time I wash my hair but it ends up being that I use this treatment maybe twice a month.

I've definitely noticed a difference - though my hair is still dry, it's not as dry as it once was. It's less prone to breakage and seems to grow much faster. It's also thicker though I'm not sure if it's just falling out less or growing more. I find when I stop using it, my hair thins out quickly which is a sure indication of just how harsh hot tools are on your hair. It's one of, if not the, best deep conditioning treatments I've ever tried. It's a huge bonus that it's all natural and isn't hard on the environment (no chemicals, no tiny plastic packaging).

Have you used a coconut oil hair mask before? Have you noticed a difference? Leave any recommendations for hair oils in the comments below or tweet me @SundayWardrobe!