I remember that, when I was a teen and in my twenties, the only kind of masks that I used were peel off masks. Back then, there were varieties of peel off masks on the market—you could easily pick up a tube at a supermarket or a drug store. About 10 years ago, peel off masks started to fall out of the favor while mud masks started gaining the market share and paper masks became more readily available.
Peel off mask works by forming a peelable film on skin when dried. In this film forming process, the film tightens and shrinks pulling the oil and dead surface skin cells with it. It is versatile and convenient: you put mask on and carry on with whatever you are doing while the mask dries; then, just peel it off—whola! You have a refreshed smooth face. In comparison, using mud mask is a time-consuming endeavor—it’s messy and washing off is never easy.
Peel off mask needs to stick to skin and form feel. The most common film forming agent used in peel off mask nowadays is polyvinyl alcohol. Polyvinyl alcohol is a synthetic polymer. The polymer has excellent film forming, emulsifying and adhesive properties. Therefore, the polymer doubles as a adhesive agent in the mask formulation. Polyvinyl alcohol is odorless and nontoxic. Because it’s extreme low toxicity, the polymer is often used in eye-drop formulations as a lubricant. In the mask formulation, the polymer is mixed with large ratio of water, which acts as a plasticiser, to provide a gel like texture.
Alginate is also used in some commercial mask formulations as the film forming agent. Alginate is an anionic polysaccharide distributed widely in the cell walls of brown algae. Most of the alignate on the market are extracts from sea weeds. Alginate absorbs water quickly; it is capable of absorbing 200-300 times its own weight in water. Alginate gels at the presence of divalent cation such as Calcium salt. Therefore, alginate is usually used in a two-step peel off mask formulation.
Gelatin is another film forming agent that can be used in a peel off mask. It is probably most often used film forming agent for home-made peel off mask. In my previous posts, you should be able to find some gelatin based recipes for making the mask. Gelatin you bought in supermarket usually is translucent and colorless. Gelatin is a hydrolysed form of collagen, and is classified as a foodstuff. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic manufacturing.
Using the film forming agent as a base, you can pretty much add anything into a peel off mask to suit your need. I make gelatin based mask when I have time. However, if I feel lazy, I often use commercial peel off mask mixed with ingredients that strike my fancy at the moment. Here are some ideas on how to make your semi-homemade peel off mask:
- If you have left over oatmeal, you can dilute the oatmeal with a little water and mix in equal amount of peel of mask to provide your own oatmeal enriched peel off mask;
- Need some brightening on your skin? Dissolve a Vitamin C tablet in a little water and mix in equal amount of peel off mask to provide a Vitamin C load mask;
- Have a little too much sun exposure? Mix equal amount of aloe Vera gel and peel off mask to provde a soothing mask; (Caution: if you have a sun burn, don’t use the peel off mask. I’ll teach you to make a soothing gel mask later. Or, look into my previous posts for ideas.)
- Other ingredients that you can mix with a peel off mask: diluted honey, herbal tea (green, chamomile, mint, peppermint), fruit juice, yogurt, fruit or begitable smoothies, and flower water (rose water, jasmine, sweet olive, orange flower, lavender). You can even use red wine in your mask.
You might have guessed by now—I love peel off mask. I hope that you will too.
Thanks for reading.
Connie
Comments
Post a Comment