Oats: Skin Solutions and Other Uses

by Emily Holt

Skin Solutions for Everyone:

Oats can make your insides and your outside healthy and happy. Inside these grains lie saponins, which act as natural cleansers when mixed with water. Not only do oats soothe dry and itchy skin, but the natural protein in them also helps lock in moisture. There’s a reason why oats are listed as ingredients in a number of lotions and skin creams—but luckily for us, there are less expensive ways to enjoy their skin-restoring properties.

Make colloidal oatmeal—that’s oats ground into powder—and put it in the foot part of an old pair of nylons or in a piece of cheesecloth. Immerse the bundle in hot bathwater and soak in the goodness for twenty to thirty minutes. This treat is especially good for sufferers of chicken pox, rashes, eczema, and itchy, dry skin. Oats are also applied to the skin for chicken pox, osteoarthritis, liver disorders, and added to foot baths for chronically cold or tired feet. Even if your skin’s not too sensitive, add milk and honey to an oat bath for an enhanced softening experience.

Oats are a great base for homemade facial masks. The other ingredients depend on skin type (for example, oily-skinned people shouldn’t go for egg yolks, and dry-skinned people should avoid egg whites), but simply mixing colloidal oatmeal with water so that it becomes a paste makes a good all-around mask. It scrubs pores clean and helps get rid of dead skin.

No time to jump in the shower? Supposedly, colloidal oats and baking powder make dry shampoo, which you can rub through your hair and shake out to make it appear less greasy.

Oats aren’t just beneficial for human complexions—dogs enjoy it, too! If your pup has itchy skin, mix water and colloidal oatmeal together and put it in a cloth bag, gently rubbing it on problem areas for a few minutes.

Treat acne:
Many people swear by oatmeal as a natural remedy to acne. One easy recipe is to cook up some of the stuff, let cool until lukewarm, then apply to the affected areas. Let stand for several minutes, then rinse.

Some people prefer to use oatmeal-based scrubs (see below). Others bathe with "colloidal oatmeal," which is made by mixing oatmeal that has been ground into a very fine powder in water.

Soothe dry or irritated skin:
People have been using oatmeal to promote healthy, beautiful skin for a long time. It can provide soothing relief from sunburn, poison ivy, or other irritations and is said to heal skin and open pores.
In fact, many moisturizers and beauty products on store shelves contain oatmeal for its benefits, sometimes ground up and sometimes in flake form.

It's also easy to make a home remedy to soothe your dog's itchy, dry skin. All it takes is oatmeal, an old sock, a washcloth, and some aluminum foil. Get the recipe from Small Dog's Paradise.

Oats are also highly absorptive, hypoallergenic, and help to soften skin. They have the best amino acid balance of all the cereal grains (amino acids work as water-binding agents in skin care products). Oats have also been clinically shown to help heal dry, itchy skin. Oat grains and straw appear in shampoos, dusting powders, moisturizers, and cleansing bars and that's just the start of a list!

Pamper yourself:

A soothing way to unwind at the end of a long day is to take a bath with oatmeal. Here's a simple recipe from AltUse: While running a lukewarm bath, add one cup of milk, two cups of uncooked oatmeal and a tablespoon of honey. Soak for 10 to 20 minutes, and your skin will be moisturized and rejuvenated. How relaxing!

Make your own scrub by grinding two tablespoons of oatmeal into a grainy consistency in a blender or food processor. Add one teaspoon baking soda and very small amounts of water until the mixture has the consistency of paste. Spread that on your cleansed and dry face. Leave on for 10 minutes and gently remove with cool water.
It also isn't difficult to make your own oatmeal soap (which makes nice gifts).

***Always be careful when using natural skin care products to note all ingredients and avoid any which you are allergic to (nuts, for example, are found in many recipes for facial scrubs). If any persistent stinging or redness occurs, thoroughly cleanse your face and rinse well with cool water.
***When choosing rolled oats (the breakfast cereal kind) for the following treatments, make sure to check the ingredients. There are plenty of popular brands available that are nothing but rolled oats, as they should be. Don't get the quick-cook or flavored versions. When the recipe calls for ground oats, use a clean coffee grinder or blender to grind the flakes to a fine powder. Mixed with cornstarch and/or arrowroot powder, this makes a very mild dusting powder for you or baby.


Oat and Brown Sugar Scrub:

2 Tbsp. ground oats
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. aloe vera
1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in a clean bowl until you have a smooth paste. Gently massage onto damp skin, and rinse off with warm water. You can triple the recipe for a fantastic smoothing body treatment.


Banana Bread Masque:

½ really ripe mashed banana - moisturizing
2 Tbsp. ground oats - soothing
milk or cream, add as necessary - softening
pinch nutmeg - antiseptic
2 Tbsp. whole wheat flour - antioxidant

Whip ingredients together, adding cream or oat flour as necessary to get a smooth, paste-like consistency. Spread on clean face and leave for 5-10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and pat dry.


Oat and Honey Milk Bath:

½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup powdered milk
2 Tbsp. honey

Place all ingredients in a small, natural fabric bag (muslin and cheesecloth are great choices). Hang the bag under the faucet as you fill the tub, so running water disperses the goodness throughout your bath.

Oatmeal/Almond Scrub :

Ingredients:
1 part ground oatmeal or ground almonds
3 to 5 drops of essential oil of choice if desired

Instructions:
Mix well with a fork. Use oatmeal for normal skin. Oatmeal is a soothing, softening cleanser, and makes an excellent nonalkaline soap substitute. If your skin is dry, use ground almonds for a good moisturizing cleanser.

Cranberry Sugar Oatmeal Scrub:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons (+ more if needed) oat powder or ground oatmeal

Instructions:
In a food processor, process all ingredients for 30 seconds. Apply to body with gentle circular motions. Makes enough for 1 body scrub.

Acne Mask:

-1/2 cup oatmeal, ground finely
-half an apple, ripe
-cut 2 inches off a cucumber
-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:
Blend well, it might be a little tough, so I advise you to cut the apple and cucumber before putting it in the blender. Apply fresh onto face, leave on for 20 minutes. Wash off with lukewarm water. This mask will help to reduce redness, oil and blackheads.

Dry Shampoo Made With Oatmeal:
Jamie Conrad

Dry shampoo is a time saver for people on the go. It can be complex and made of many ingredients or very simple and made of only one or two ingredients. Oatmeal is a popular ingredient in dry shampoo.

Function: The oatmeal powder in a dry shampoo binds to oil and dirt in the hair, and brushing the hair removes the oil and dirt along with the powder.
Benefits: Oatmeal dry shampoo is a way to freshen the hair when you do not have access to water, are ill or bedridden or do not have time for a shower.
Misconceptions: Dry shampoo is not a replacement for showering or traditional shampoo; it is used to freshen up between hair washes.
Make It Yourself: You can make your own dry shampoo at home. Grind 1 tbsp. plain oatmeal to a fine consistency in a coffee grinder, then pour the powder into a salt shaker and shake onto hair. Brush the powder through your hair and go--it's that simple.

Neutralize odors:
Few realize that oatmeal can help absorb odors. Try placing an open container of the stuff in your fridge. Some people use oatmeal to line ashtrays and claim the flakes help neutralize the smell of smoke.


Breaking the Mold with Crafts:
Sure, oatmeal’s tasty and oats are great for the skin, but did you know they encourage creativity, too? Combined with the right ingredients, they help form anything from bowls to bars of soap. The Disney Family Fun Web site has a recipe for modeling clay involving oats, water, flour, and food coloring. The clay stays moldable for hours if kept in the fridge, but will harden overnight.

Turn it into modeling clay:
You can also turn old oatmeal into a non-toxic crafting "clay" that delights kids and gets their creative energies flowing. The Play-Doh-like clay stays moist for hours, but hardens overnight, making it good for sculpting figurines, bowls, beads, and other goodies you can think of.
Use Disney Family Fun's simple recipe to combine one cup of instant or rolled oats with flour and a little water. You can also add food coloring for a rainbow of possibilities.

In fact, oatmeal can be used in an array of crafts that's limited only by your imagination. One parent suggests making an "oatmeal octopus." It's easy: pour some oatmeal in a sandwich bag, then add a tablespoon of powdered paint. Have your child shake it up. Then draw out patterns in glue on paper or cardboard (it needn't necessarily be of an octopus of course). Sprinkle on the colored oatmeal for a unique project.

Take little cloth bags and fill them with dried herbs, oats, and a small amount of shaved soap. Give them out as gifts to friends and tell them the soap bags are just like mini-sponges or washcloths. 

If the oat canister’s exhausted from previous oat adventures, repurpose it as a container for other goods, such as pasta, flour, nail polish, small toys, and so on. You can also decorate it with pretty paper and use it as a gift box. 

If all of this doesn’t propel you toward the closest grocery store, consider this: a 2005 study at Brigham Young University found that twenty-eight-year-old oats were not only edible, but still slightly palatable! Participants rated them as about average on a taste scale, and 75 percent of them said they’d be fine in an emergency. You’d be hard pressed to say that about most foods after almost thirty years of shelf time, but therein lies yet another magical quality of oats. Be they fuel for the day ahead, a hearty grain filler for a dinner dish, a soothing application for the skin, or a fun activity for kids, oats deserve a spot in all of our lives. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a bowl of blueberry–almond butter oatmeal that needs my attention.