Dear LPG,

Not so long ago I made the decision to give up most of the makeup that used to take up at least 20 minutes of my time to apply each morning because I came to the conclusion that I am a lady of a certain age, but if you were to come to my front door on certain days of the week you would find it answered by a quite frightening sight no matter how level-headed you were.  However, once a week I continue to do something that I have done for years and that is to apply a face mask.  If the truth be told you would find yourself just standing at the doorstep because I would never answer it with a face in that state but, now that I have reached my 70^th decade, I am wondering just how much good the masks are doing.

I have been trundling off to the shops and investing in all manner of face masks over the years, but I recently took a look on you tube and discovered something that I personally have found quite interesting.   I have no doubt that people have been doing this for years but I have now worked out that one of the best face masks I could ever try is right in my kitchen. 

There is only one ingredient and I have found it works just as well as the ones from the shop, although I realise that different faces will react differently to different remedial concoctions.  While looking, I also found a few rules that perhaps I should have been taking into consideration during my years of masking up.  I have always made three of the classic face-masking mistakes that the internet advises against as I just dig my fingers in and slopped the stuff all over my face, sometimes find myself leaving them on for much longer than the 10 to 20 minutes that the packet suggests (it only takes one of the hour long phone calls that results when your best friend phones) and, as I said, I have a habit of going to the shop and getting different brands nearly every week.

I am not sure why I started using them but, since trying the egg white mask, using a brush to apply it and putting the timer on to make sure it comes off on time, I have found a difference although I often still ask myself why I still bother.

I suppose if your face is used to being smothered with some form of gunk at regular intervals, it feels as if giving up the habit is one more way of psychologically giving up yet another aspect of your life because you have decided that you are ‘too old’.  While if you have never tried it before, even though the difference is hardly noticeable to anyone else, it could make you feel a little better about yourself. 

And, either way, it can be a rather stress-busting, totally relaxing pastime and yet another excuse for a short period of complete facial (not to mention total mind and body) relaxation.  Just  (…don’t forget to set your alarm…)

BN, Dulwich

BN offers the recipe and instructions for the egg face mask…

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and the dos and don'ts of using a face mask as advised on the internet…

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