DIY ORGANIC CACTUS BEAUTY SERUM - QUICK AND EASY
Posted by Cindy Cunningham on
Super Easy DIY Organic Nopal Beauty Serum
Fra Fra's Naturals is all about organic, all natural beauty so when I ran across these beautiful cactus leaves at the fruit market I just had to buy them.
Most people don't know that cactus (Nopal) has many health and beauty benefits. It is full of Vitamin E, has 17 amino acids and has antioxidants that can prevent sun damage.
Studies show that using cactus pulp on your skin will reduce the appearance of acne scars, reduce breakouts, and improve your skins complexion. It also has many benefits for your hair that I will share in a later blog. The best thing about this serum is the price! Less than $2. Can you beat it? I think not!!!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
1 Cactus leaf
2 - 3 cups Filtered Water
- 1 Cactus leaf
- 1 tbsp jojoba oil
- 6 drops frankincense essential oil
Cactus can be found in many fruit and farmers market, health food stores and occasionally even major food chains. Randazzo's, my local fruit market, sells them for $1.29 a piece. The leafs I purchased still had the prickly splines but some places have Cactus leafs available without the splines. If you purchase the de-splined Cactus leaf for this recipe you can skin this next step.
THE PREP
The first thing you want to do is cut off the spines. Lay the cactus down with the splines facing out. Then take your knife, almost completely horizontal to the cactus and start shaving off the spines. Do this for the front and back for the nopal. You do not have to worry about the ones one the outer edge of the Nopal, those are removed in the next step.Once you have all the spines from the front and back of the cactus removed, you then want to cut off all of the outer edge of the cactus leaf. This is the easiest way to remove the splines from that area. Now you want to give our cactus a quick rinsing to remove any splines that may be sticking to the leaf and to remove any dirt and debris.
After you have sufficiently cleaned your Cactus leaf and are 100% sure you have removed all the splines, slice it in half. Kind of like butterflying a chicken breast, but cut it completely through. Then lay the two pieces on top of each other and dice it in to 1-2 inch pieces. You need a shallow dish to soak your nopal in. Place the nopal in a single layer, with the inside of the leaf facing down. Then add water. Just enough water to barely cover it the nopal. Then place it in the fridge to soak over night. Once your Cactus has been soaking over night you will see how much it has soaked up the water. The cactus will now have globs of gel coming off of it.
TO USE:
Now take all the pieces of cactus and all the liquid filled with globby goodness and put it into a blender. I used my Nutri-Bullet for this. Blend it up completely, where there are no chunks in it. It will look like and have the texture of a smoothie.
f you find you are having small pulp like cactus left in your mix, you can simply run the serum through a cheese cloth to collect all the remnants. Mix one tbsp of blended cactus pulp, one tbsp of jojoba oil and 6 drops of frankincense oil and add to jar or bottle.
Place a small amount into your palms and rub all over a freshly cleaned face. Leave on for 15-20 minutes and then rinse off.