Do you feel like you have bags under your eyes? Do you often wake up with your eyes feeling puffy? Eye pads or under eye pads are designed to help reduce puffiness and get rid of dark circles. It helps restore skin elasticity and promote skin firmness, in turn reducing fine lines and wrinkles.
The reasons behind dark circles and puffiness are many. From genetics to pigmentation, aging, lack of sleep, skin sensitivity, allergies, lifestyle changes to water retention. Therefore, using cold eye pads will help reduce circles and puffiness as the cold will help restrict the blood vessels around the eyes, giving them a fresher look. Even though this may not be a permanent solution, it can be done from time to time in order to get the best benefits.
Here are some simple recipes to make your homemade DIY eye pads:
1. Turmeric and buttermilk eye pads:
Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce puffiness, while the yoghurt/curd in the buttermilk contains lactic acid that can help smoothen the skin, keep it hydrated and moisturized, while it also improves signs of ageing, stimulates collagen production and makes the skin rejuvenated and firmer.
To make: You’ll need 1 tbsp buttermilk and 1 tsp organic turmeric powder
2. Rose water and milk eye pads:
Rose water is well known for reducing dark circles as it helps rejuvenate the skin and has skin lightening properties and can help reduce dark circles over time. Milk, similar to yoghurt/curd contains lactic acid which can help reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
To make: You’ll need½ cup milk and 1 tbsp rose water
3. Cucumber and green tea eye pads:
Cucumber contains vitamin K that can help strengthen the blood vessels around the eyes and reduce dark circles. Green tea consists of caffeine and tannins. These ingredients can help reduce swelling and puffiness around the eyes (as tannins have anti-inflammatory properties) and in time, can eliminate dark circles as well.
To make: You’ll need½ cup cucumber pieces and ½ cup green tea (blended into a fine liquid in a blender)
4. Coffee and honey or aloe vera gel eye mask:
Coffee helps to constrict the blood vessels around the eyes while the honey or aloe vera gel acts as a natural humectant (hydrating and moisturizing agent) while it can help lighten skin tone when used for dark circles. READ MORE – ALOE COFFEE OVERNIGHT MASK TO BRIGHTEN SKIN
5. Coffee and potato juice eye pads:
The benefits of coffee are already mentioned above and while it is combined with potato juice it can hasten the process of dark circle reduction by stimulating collagen production and skin rejuvenation.
To make: You’ll need 2 tsp dark coffee and 1/4 cup of potato juice. Slice a potato and blend it with little water to and strain to extract the potato juice. Add in the eye pads into the coffee potato serum.
Here’s how you can make these DIY eye pads:
Method:
Into a mixing bowl, add in ingredients and mix it well until properly combined and then soak the dry cotton pads into this mixture for a few minutes. Then place them flat into a zip lock bag and freeze them for a few hours. Once they are cold, thaw them for a few minutes before using.
Tip: If you do not have a zip lock bag, you can place them in a container and freeze.
How to use these eye pads?
There are two ways you can use these pads. If you are using them specifically for dark circles, then you can place these pre-cooled halved eye pads below your eyes for 15 to 20 minutes while you can lie down with your eyes closed.
If you are using these eye pads for both dark circles and puffiness, you can use the entire cooled round cotton pad on your eyes and relax for 15 to 20 minutes with your eyes closed. READ MORE – CLEAR AND GLOWING SKIN TEA RECIPES
How often to use these eye pads?
These eye pads can be used as per personal requirement, but using it twice to thrice a week can help display better results.
Tip:
- If you do not have cotton dry eye pads you can make your own eye pads at home by using round cotton pads and cutting them into halves.
- If you have additional liquid mixture remaining, you can add in few more cotton pads until the mixture is over and store those for future use.
- If you do not have time to combine these ingredients, you can also use cooled tea bags for your eyes.