DIY All Natural Homemade Toner

I’ve touched on the beauty and skincare products I use, and my transition to all natural and mostly homemade products before here on the blog. Today I thought I would share a new toner I made at home using simple ingredients, all completely natural, and easily found in any grocery store.

 In spite of many claims that toner is bad for your skin, because it strips too many of the natural oils from your face and can not only throw off the balance, but ultimately dry your skin out and potentially make your acne, or other conditions, worse (<–a pretty good argument I admit), I am a toner junkie. I just don’t feel like my face is really clean (even though I wash it at least twice a day and exfoliate once a day) unless I use toner after I clean my face. 

Previously I used Neutrogena’s Alcohol-Free Toner. I love how clean my skin feels after using it, and I don’t feel dried out at all. However, as my personal mission has been to get back to nature both in my food and in my beauty products, I’ve been researching recipes for a DIY toner. I have been using just plain tea tree oil for about two months now while researching the right recipe, and will report it is a great one ingredient toner, does a great job of drying up any acne that does appear, and because it is actually an oil, it doesn’t dry your face out. However, for anyone who has used straight tea tree oil knows, the “fumes” can about knock you out and it can set your eyes on fire. 

This recipe was inspired by this one I saw on Pinterest. I obviously couldn’t leave out my beloved tea tree oil!

I also scaled down the amount to fit in my 3 oz. travel container so I can take with me when flying.

Yields 3 oz.

1. Pour all ingredients into container and shake to mix well.

2. After cleaning face, apply toner with cotton ball over skin.

3. Apply moisturizer.

*For sensitive skin increase the water to other ingredients ratio

I have used toner in a sort of squirt bottle before, it seems like that is usually what they come in. However, a while back I put some in a spray bottle to travel with and I like it SO much better. I use less overall and get better coverage on whatever cotton ball or swab I’m using.

When deciding what to include in this toner, my goal was to seek ingredients that were simple, easily found, and naturally known to be effective for calming the skin, preventing acne, and that wouldn’t dry me out. Here’s the facts behind the ingredients.