Lemon & Milk Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) Homemade Face Mask

Cleopatra definitely knew what she was doing when she filled her tub with milk and bathed in it.

Milk is a natural source of alpha hydroxy acid (AHA), and AHAs are commonly used in skincare to reduce wrinkles or signs of aging, and improving overall skin texture and smoothness. How does it work? By exfoliating the outermost layer of the skin, leaving a blemish-free skin that’s smooth like a baby’s bottom.

Now, as much as I wanted heavenly smooth skin, reenacting what Cleopatra did seemed a bit extravagant and a waste of good milk. So, I scouted for something easier and of course, more practical. Stumbling upon this homemade face mask recipe, I was overjoyed to find that it consisted of just milk and lemon (another natural source of AHA), both of which I already had lying around. Ahhh, joy!

So, without further ado…

How To Make A Lemon & Milk AHA Homemade Face Mask

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon full cream milk
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 small slice of lemon

Steps:

1. Mix the lemon juice and the milk. Stir well.
2. Throw in the lemon slice. It will curdle slightly, but don’t worry — it’s supposed to look funny.
3. Leave it for 3-4 hours on a table somewhere, away from the cat and not in the fridge.
4. Apply it very carefully on a clean face, taking care to avoid the eyes.
5. Leave on for 15 minutes and rinse well.

(A word of caution — this face mask may cause photosensitivity, so avoid the sun after using this.)

Didn’t I say it was easy-peasy?

How Did It Go For Me?

I whipped this up right before going out for dinner. After leaving it for close to 4 hours, the consistency of the face mask was still quite liquid and it didn’t curdle as much as I thought it should have, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway.

Pouring the mixture into my hands, I patted my very liquid homemade face mask gently on my face. The lemon juice may sting your face slightly (it sure did for me!), so make sure it’s far away from your eyes!

Now, because I was such a greedy little thing and overestimated the size of my face by maybe fifty times (I pretty much quadrupled the recipe above), I had quite a lot leftover so I decided to use the rest of it for my arms and legs.

And the results?

My face was so insanely soft, I couldn’t stop touching it!

And while there wasn’t a noticeable brightening effect on my face, it was certainly obvious on my legs as I have some scarring on them from scratching mosquito bites (whoops, yes I know I’m not supposed to do that!). Those areas of my skin definitely lightened up from just fifteen minutes of this concoction. So, if you do have some parts of your face with uneven skin tone, this could work well for you.