Flashback to Last Year:

I never thought I would be able to happily go to work everyday wearing NO MAKE-UP. I’m not a huge make-up fan, so my aim was to be confident and comfortable in my own skin, without having to wake up early to do my face (who doesn’t want more sleep, right?).   

Losing Confidence

Last year for a good 7 months I started to get acne on my cheeks, I started to really lose confidence as the days went on, feeling like I needed to layer my skin with heaps of foundation. For all of those who think makeup can fix anything and everything, I believe that’s not true at all. Well at least not for me, I definitely don’t have the MUA (Makeup artist) skill level to do that.

I’ve never really had bad acne growing up as a teenager, so this was quite distressing to go through as a woman in my early 20’s. Unsure what had caused this, I grew tired of testing different skincare products to then see no progress.

The Old Indian Remedy

I don’t usually believe in Indian old wives tales and homemade remedies, I used to hear people mention Haldi (turmeric) being good for your skin. My friends at University used to drink it every morning, watching their reactions after forcing down the concoction, put me off joining the craze. I thought the faces they made when they drink alcohol was bad enough… this was worse.

But when my loved ones started to comment on my bad acne, I decided to give the haldi mask a shot. What was there to lose right? At least this this seemed easier than drinking it. 

The Recipe

• 2 tablespoons of flour. You can use regular flour, rice flour or ground oats if your skin is dry. I used wholewheat flour.
•  1 teaspoon turmeric.
•  3 tablespoons milk.
•  A few drops of honey.

The Outcome

After washing the mask off, my skin still looked the same. I didn’t mention this to my work colleagues and on the 3rd, 4th day they were saying how my skin looked a lot clearer. I wasn’t expecting any changes, I was still going through the same daily protocol with my skin care, that Haldi mask was only a one off. It was only when my colleagues pointed it out to me…I then realised they were right.

My face had in fact cleared up slightly; it was less red and looked a lot less inflamed. This was progress. I decided to do it weekly, it only took a few weeks, and my face was completely clean and spot free. IT WAS A MIRACLE! All this time nothing was working; I was drinking gallons of water, buying spot creams, even going to the extreme of wiping my smart phone with anti bac wipes, and changing my pillow sheets regularly. But now I had finally found the cure for myself and I just wish I had tried this sooner.

Reached The No Make-Up Goal

It’s been a whole year now and I haven’t touched my face with turmeric since. I have been maintaining my skin using the ‘Garnier SkinActive – Pure Active Intense cream’ and have completely stopped wearing makeup to work (I’ve finally reached my no-makeup goal).

My skin has never looked so good, and when I do choose to wear makeup, BB cream (same Garnier branded) works perfectly fine for me.

Tips and Tricks: 

• Use the back of the spoon as an applicator (soft paint brush or foundation brush will be a good idea too).
• Use wipes to remove the mask (washing it off with water initially can cause a mess – trust me turmeric can really stain!)
• Truly check you have cleaned the mask completely as it can be hard to notice little accidental splurges, behind your ear for example.

This has been difficult for me to share as this really brought down my confidence. I hope this can give someone the motivation and advice to try something new and not give up hope, especially when their confidence is low. The haldi mask is honestly my go to advice for anyone suffering with bad acne, I’ve never felt so happy in my own bare skin.

I even got British Bindi’s Kiran doing it with me, we kept busy whilst the face mask was working its magic:

Thanks for reading, We would love to know your tips and stories around skincare too, after all sharing is caring.