When I was in my early teens I was obsessed with natural remedies for health and particularly for beauty products.
I was brought up in a family that was very into organic products, and eating natural foods (yep, I was that kid with the smelly celery soup in a flask and a carrot slice for my packed lunch when everyone else had white-bread cheese sandwiches and a packet of crisps - hard actually at the time but I'm so grateful for it now).
My sisters and I were taken as often to homeopathic doctors and to the reflexologist as we were the GP, and I was always (especially as a complete bookworm) reading my parents' cookbooks and books on herbalism and natural health.
And of course, I started making all sorts of lotions and potions .... and after a very long break (although I've always maintained an interest in organic products and natural health) I've started making some things again.
Recently I made an Argentinian cake recipe shared with me by my friend Marcela - and one of the ingredients was oats.
After making it - and it was good, here's the recipe - I had tons of oats left over. I don't like oats or porridge but didn't want to throw them away (HATE food waste!) and suddenly remembered one of my favourite teenage beauty treatments - making the simplest ever bath milk with oats.
You just need some little muslin bags - like those ones you use to make bouquet garni (or my tom yum noodles!) - that are easy to find and buy online.
You scoop in a handful or two of oats and then let the hot water run over the bag - or pop the bag straight into the bath of course.
The oats release the most beautiful milky substance that's great for keeping your skin soft ... I even squeeze the bag out more once in the bath and use it as a quick exfoliator by rubbing the bag over my skin.
I also usually add a few drops of a favourite pure essential oil - lavender or wild orange usually.
And that's it. Super simple, super cheap - and very good.
Also on my bathroom shelf are Epsom Salts which I use in a morning 'detox shower' and my home-made body scrub made with sugar.
There's just something that to me feels so good about using natural ingredients and making something easy yourself that's also really lovely to use.
