ALMOND OIL: why it's good for your skin - and when it's not

One of the earliest recipes for a skin mask that I remember hearing - from my fair mother, of course - was a tip she got from an acquaintance:

Take a spoon of almond oil, mix it with a squashed strawberry or two, and apply it on your (cleansed) skin. After 20 minutes or so, wash it off. (I like distilled water for the final rinse.)


Needless to say, DON'T DO THIS IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO STRAWBERRIES.

Strawberries have mild whitening properties (which also makes them very good for teeth brushing).

Unfortunately, they are also chock-full of pesticides, so try to get them organically grown. (And if you can't get organically grown strawberries, at least wash them with baking soda. That should remove some of the nasties.)

You can find all kinds of fun and frightful facts on this wonderful strawberry-fan site:

JAMM

But it's the almond oil what matters here.
Almond oil for skin care is a time-honoured classic. I am sure the matrons - and maidens - of ancient Rome used it; and among the many celebrities that are said to have used it for skin care is Marilyn Monroe (who really had good skin - unlike some today's unfortunate stars, like Cameron Diaz).

You can use it for makeup removal, or you can use it to protect your skin against the elements. It will soften your skin; and it is a wonderful agent for essential oils and other cosmetic ingredients. (More on that in the future.)

(IMPORTANT: Resist the temptation to buy "enhanced" almond oil, i.e. almond oil with additives, no matter how wonderful they are supposed to be. If you want additives, YOU can add them on your own - good, quality ones, suited to YOU.)


HOWEVER... almond oil gets rancid very, very fast.
Therefore, you should - if possible - buy it at a chemist's store, or if you are buying it in a store, at least unscrew the bottle top and smell it: oil that has gone "bad" has a very distinctive smell, I don't think you can miss it.

Always store almond oil in the REFRIGERATOR.
(Ice-cold almond oil has the added bonus of decompressing puffy eyelids.)

Did you know...?

You can use almond oil for salad dressing and in different other foods, sweet as well as salty, that require some sort of fat. (Just do NOT heat it!)
You can easily check its nutritional value by using the NutritionData search box at the bottom of the page.






And now, something completely different...

Vincent van Gogh: Almond blossom, Saint-Remy, probably late January or early February 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
(Van Gogh painted this beauty in honour of his newborn nephew who was also called Vincent and who later built the museum that now bears his - and his uncle's - name, to house the world's greatest collection of Van Gogh's works. See more here.)


And listen to this piece of prose that is in fact, anything BUT.
It's sheer poetry.


It’s a day to bathe in almond,
in the pond under magenta maple leaves and cathedral bells.


Taken from a fantastic "interview" (by Kate Braverman) that is a cornucopia of words, all with newly, freshly assigned meanings and associations.