Seven whitening Mask is a mask recipes originated in Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). It is believed that the mask recipe was originally created inside the Emperor’s palace and was kept as a beauty secret from common folks for the sole use of emperor’s wives and daughters. The recipe was eventually leaked and spread into the general population. The effectiveness of the mask was praised over thousands of years of use and is now one of the most popular beauty recipes in China.
Here is the recipe: mix the fine powder of equal amount of these ingredients together: Largehead Atractylodes Rh(白术), Angelica Root (白芷), Bletilla striata (白芨), Ampelopsis Radix (白蔹), white peony root (白芍), Poria cocos(Schw.) Wolf. (白茯苓), and pearl powder. You should be able to find these all these ingredients online. There are a lot of websites selling Chinese herbal powders. You can also copy-paste the Chinese characters into your search engine.
Add a few drops of honey into the mixture. Add water and stir in one direction to provide a soft paste. I would add a little egg white or gelatin in to help the paste to adhere to the skin. Spread over the clean damp face. Wait until dry. Rinse off with warm water and end with a splash of old water. Pat dry. The mask is excellent in improving skin tone, removing dark spots and scar, clearing pimples, and rejuvenating the skin.
Thanks for reading.
Dr. Connie Wan
In a teacup, add a tablespoon of honey. Then add hot water to dilute the honey so it’s easily spreadable. Open upon a chamomile tea bag and pore the chamomile grinds into the diluted honey. Let the chamomile soak up the liquid and soften. Then, add a little more hot water to make a spreadable paste. If you have normal or oily skin, squeeze into the paste a few drops of lemon juice. Mix well to provide a mask paste. Spread a thick layer of the mask paste over your face, draw a tub of hot water, and enjoy a hot bath while wait for the mask to dry. If you want, throw in a bag of green tea or chamomile into the bath water. Well, that’s my routine. You can certainly skip the hot bath part — I wouldn’t recommend it though.
Honey is anti-bacterial and good for acne. Even if you don’t have acne, this recipe provides a great moisturizing mask. Chamomile has been found to lighten skin tone, reduce skin inflammation, and relieve eye fatigue and dark circles. The mask is effective in relieving stress on your skin.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Holiday is over and business traveling starts again. If you are like me, you may be back on the road. Taking care of your skin is especially important during travel as you are constantly stressed. Here is a facial toner you are try during the travel.
Dissolving an effervescent Vitamin C tablet in a cup of water, add half a tablespoon of honey, and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice. Mix well and use as an on-the-road facial cleaner and toner. Vitamin C boosts collagen production, removes blemishes and is a potent antioxidant; lemon juice clears and rejuvenates the skin; and honey sooths the skin and is anti-inflammatory preventing potential stress-induced acne flare up.
I often carry a small bottle of this toner (less than 3 ounces, so I could pass TSA’s scrutiny) in my purse with a few cotton pads. The air in airplanes is usually very dry. For long distance flight, I use the toner both as a cleaner and a moisturizing toner.
There are a few more formulas using wines and beers, which are abundant on the road. I will provide those in future posts.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Mix pearl powder with the powder of Baizhi, Baifulin, Baiji, and Bailian. – all Chinese herbs that are easily attainable in Chinese grocery stores. Add a little glycerin or honey, water, and egg white into the mixture to make a consistent soft paste. Spread the paste over your freshly cleaned face, wait until dry, washing off or towel off with warm water with a splash with cold water at end. Pat dry. The mask is good at removing pimple, whitening skin, improve skin tone, and removing dark spots.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Mix together the powder of Angelica (Baizhi), Baiji, Almond and Japanese yam. Prepare the ginsend water as described in the previous post. Mix the ginseng water with the powder mix to make a spreadable paste. Spread the paste over your clean face. Wait until dry. Wash off with warm water and end with a splash of cold water. Pat dry. The mask is very effective in removing wrinkles and clarifying the skin.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Stew ginseng whole herb in water at low heat for two hours. Let the mixture cool down. Decant the solution to provide ginseng water. Let it cool down. To make a ginseng skin toner, mix 4 parts of ginseng water, 4 parts of rose water, with 1 part of distilled vodka and 1 part of glycerol. Shake the mixture well. Use the toner after face wash and before applying the moisturizer. The toner is moisturizing and anti-aging.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Puffiness of the face is caused by accumulation of fluids on the face. The condition makes your face to appear more rounded and inflamed. There are varieties of causes for puffy face. Some drugs can lead to water retention in the body and cause puffiness, such as steroids, aspirin, birth control pills, antidepressants, blood pressure mediations and hormone replace therapy. Certain medical conditions can also cause face puffiness, such as allergies, sinusitis, conjunctivitis, certain hormonal imbalance, diabetes, dehydration, high blood pressure and obesity.
Another major reason for facial puffiness is the life style —too much sugary drinks, too much salty and/fatty food, long sleepless night, heavy drinking the night before can lead to a puffy face in the morning. Before you write off the puffiness on your face to too much fatty food, you should consult a doctor for persistent puffiness because it could be a sign for a serious health problem.
Lotus leaf is a common herb used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating facial puffiness. For a facial application, boil 3 teaspoons of dried and chopped lotus leaf with a small amount of water for a few minutes. Add to the boiled mixture 2 teaspoons of Coix seed powder to provide a soft spreadable paste. Sprinkle in a small amount of agar or gelatin powder to help with the paste consistency. Spread the paste onto your clean face. Wait until dry. Wash off with warm water and end with a splash of cold water. Pat dry. The mask whitens the skin, reduces the puffiness and firms the skin.
According to the “Compendium of Matera Medica,” lotus leaf is capable of reducing swelling, increase drainage of water, and reducing the inflammation. If you have persistent puffy face, drinking lotus tea also helps to alleviate the symptom.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Skin is the biggest organ in our body. It functions as a barrier protecting the body from harmful external environment factors such as mechanical damage, noxious substances, microorganism invasion, and radiation. In addition, the skin controls the water loss from the body and regulates body temperature.
Appearance of the skin is primarily determined by the skin surface texture, color, and physiologic properties such as elasticity and skin oil (sebum) production. The surface texture reflects the smoothness of the skin, wrinkle appearance, and pore size. Skin color reflects the evenness of skin tone and the coloration of the skin. Elasticity often relates the sagginess of the skin. Skin oil production directly relates to the moisture level of the skin.
Skin condition and functions are affected by both environmental factors and endogenous factors. Environmental factors include UV radiation, free radicals, toxic and allergic compounds, and mechanical damages. UV radiation and free radicals may cause collage breakdown leading to skin inflammation, skin sagging and wrinkle formation. Toxic and allergic compounds cause dermatitis, which often causes skin inflammation, scarring, and skin discoloration. Mechanical damage may cause scarring and collagen breakdown on the skin. Endogenous factors include genetic predisposition, immune and hormone status, and stress.
Studies have shown that skin function and appearance are dependent upon nutrition. To have healthy and beautiful skin, nutritional management is essential and in fact more important than what you put on the skin. In the future posts, we will discuss the effects of various nutrients on skin condition and provide tips on how to maintain a healthy and radiant skin.
Thanks for reading!
Dr. Connie Wan
Mix together ginseng powder (1g), pearl powder (2g), sandalwood powder (2g), with proper amount of coconut milk (1ml) and honey to make a spreadable paste. To make the paste more adhesive to the skin, sprinkle a small amount of alginate or collagen powder, microwave the mixture for 10 seconds and stir vigorously.
Spread the paste over your clean face. Wait until dry. Wash off with warm water and end with a splash of cold water. Pat dry.
This mask is especially effective in removing wrinkles, even skin tone and whitening the skin.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan
Mix together an equal amount of dry powder of angelica (Danggui), ginseng, Salvia miltiorrhiza (Dansheng), dwarf lilyturf tuber (Maidong), and Panax (Sanqi) to provide a herbal mix. All herbs are available in Chinese grocery stores. Angelica and ginseng are essential for the recipes. Other herbs are optional.
Mix an equal amount of honey, glycerol and water into a liquid mixture. You can replace the water with any flower water.
Add the liquid mixture into the herbal mix and blend together to provide a spreadable paste with soft consistency. If you have oily skin, add a small amount of egg white to the blend. If you have dry skin, add a small amount of whole milk.
Spread the paste over your clean face. Wait until dry. Wash off with warm water and end with a splash of cold water. Pat dry. The mask moisturizes the skin, decreases fine wrinkles, removes dark spots, and firms the skin.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Connie Wan