Recipe for facial toner with vitamin C and witch hazel

Finding a natural skincare routine can be difficult. It often leads to weird things like washing your face with olive oil or making a yogurt mask.

It can be difficult to find natural alternatives to some of your favorite conventional products, but this recipe is one that made the switch easy!

How to Make a DIY Natural Witch Hazel Toner Recipe

I never really understood the purpose of a facial toner until I had kids and occasionally had skin that was a mix of dry and oily at the same time.

My confused skin was difficult to take care of as I needed something to help balance my skin’s oil production.

I found that a toner vastly improved my skin tone almost immediately and realized there were several reasons for this:

• Skin is naturally acidic, but many skin care products are more alkaline. A quality toner can help restore your skin’s natural pH.
• Facial toners can also help shrink pores and balance oil production.
• When used under makeup, toners can provide a protective barrier on the skin to prevent impurities in makeup from penetrating the skin.

Natural ingredients of the facial toner: vitamin C and witch hazel

I chose the ingredients of this toner carefully.

Witch hazel benefits

Witch hazel, an extract from the leaves and bark of the Hamamelis virginiana shrub, has a long history of use, especially in skin care. Many use it successfully as a natural remedy for hemorrhoids, burns, and other skin irritations.

It is naturally anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial, making it excellent for helping reduce the appearance of acne, redness, and skin irritation. It helps retain moisture, making it a good choice for oily and dry skin, and is high in tannins that reduce the appearance of fine lines.

Benefits of vitamin C

Vitamin C helps tighten the skin and maintain its natural pH. Many high-end skin products (which cost hundreds of times more than this homemade toner) use vitamin C (often synthetic) for this purpose. Vitamin C is also important internally, but topical vitamin C provides many more benefits for the skin.

IMPORTANT: Vitamin C is an acid, and while your skin likes a slightly acidic environment, too much too quickly can create irritation, especially if you have sensitive skin. You can add up to 3 times more vitamin C than I include in this recipe, but start slowly and work to find the perfect balance for your skin. Over time, you can add a little more vitamin C, but don’t exceed 1.5 tsp.

Tips for successful homemade facial toner

This recipe produces a small amount of facial toner, and this is important. Although you could easily double the recipe, it would not be as effective.

Vitamin C breaks down over time. I prefer to do whatever I need to do for a week at a time and store it in the fridge for a refreshing toner to use after washing my face.

You don’t need to keep this refrigerated, but a little extends its useful life. Either way, keep it away from sunlight and heat.

Or, make vitamin C serum instead!

If you have very dry skin or don’t want to use witch hazel, you can use food grade glycerin instead of witch hazel. This will produce a serum instead of a tonic. Either one must be prepared in small batches and often because vitamin C oxidizes very quickly.

Have you ever made your own witch hazel tonic? Give it a try and let me know what you think!