Olive Oil Ripe Banana Facial Mask Creation
By Elizabeth Chatellier, MA, RDN | 0 Comments | Posted 08/01/2014
My friend Erika was my partner-in-crime in middle school. She and I would get together almost every weekend and hang.
As adolescents, we were just starting to get into “beauty” products- reading Cosmo, Seventeen magazine and the like- for tips.
One night out of our many sleepovers, while reading our mags at the dining room table, Erika’s mom was cooking up another one of her fabulous homemade meals and listening in on the conversation we were having about our skin problems. I suffered from severe eczema during puberty; Erika from oily skin.
She grabbed a bunch of ripe bananas off the counter and handed them to us. “Here,” she said. “I was going to make banana bread out of these, but mash ‘em up and put ‘em on your face instead. Why not?”
Of course, we burst out laughing and called her crazy!
But, for fun, we did. We added a little olive oil that she was cooking with too- our own fantastic olive oil ripe banana facial mask creation.
Little did we know that our fun experiment has some really awesome health properties.
Olive oil is rich in antioxidants, and even when applied topically, may help protect against skin cancer. It also has anti-bacterial effects, and can help relieve skin conditions such as eczema and soothe a sunburn.
Bananas are high in Vitamin E (an antioxidant), can moisturize dry skin, get rid of oily skin and fight against wrinkles. Amazing!
Thanks Erika’s mom for encouraging us to play with our food! And to Erika, thanks for creating this special memory (and recipe for fun) with me and for being a life-long friend.