My Sunday Evening Herbal Face Ritual: Five Steps to Radiant Skin
Sunday evenings on the farm have a rhythm of their own. The fields are quiet, the sheep are settled in the pasture, and I set aside an hour for one of my favorite practices: a five-step herbal face ritual that I have refined over years of working with herbs, clays, and the plants we grow right here on our land in Catawissa, Pennsylvania.
It is a slow practice, part skincare, part self-care, and part reconnection with the Earth. Every step uses ingredients I have tested on my own skin for years, and it is the natural herbal face mask ritual I come back to every single week.
Step One: The Clay Mask
The ritual begins with a clay mask. I mix four parts clay with one part herb powder and add just enough water to form a paste.
My go-to clay is kaolin. I consider it a miracle clay, and I say that as someone who also uses kaolin on our farm plants as the only input we apply to keep pests away. The same clay that protects our crops in the field is the clay I put on my face every Sunday evening.
Kaolin is superfine, gentle, and every time I use it I am genuinely surprised by how bright my skin looks afterward. It absorbs dirt, excess oil, and bacteria without overdrying. For herb powders, I rotate based on what my skin needs that week: hibiscus for brightness, chamomile for calming, rosemary for circulation. Hibiscus is probably my most-used powder of all.
Once the mask is on, I let it work. The clay dries and holds my facial muscles still, almost like those adhesive strips people use for wrinkle reduction. I use this time to be still and take some quiet time to myself. Sometimes I journal or meditate, and sometimes I roll or use fascia tools to do bodywork. I use this time to really let my nervous system decompress.
Step Two: Herbal Hydrosol
After removing the mask with warm water, I mist my face with a hydrosol. Hydrosols are the water byproduct of steam-distilling plants, gentle and hydrating and full of the plant's water-soluble benefits.
You can make a simple version at home on the stovetop: place herbs in the bottom of a pot with water, set a bowl face-up on a small rack inside, invert the lid, and let the steam condense and drip into the collection bowl. That liquid is your hydrosol.
My favorites are chamomile for calming irritation, rose for hydration and redness, and hibiscus for firming and brightness. The skin loves water, and this step gets the skin plumped with herbal water before we layer on the moisturizers.
Step Three: The Two-Layer Moisturizer
I use two moisturizers, and the order matters.
First, I apply a humectant moisturizer. Humectants attract water to the skin. They are typically aloe vera or glycerin-based, non-greasy, and absorb quickly, so this layer pulls moisture in.
Then I apply our herbal skin cream on top. We formulate this cream with grass-fed beef tallow and small amounts of organic jojoba oil and organic avocado oil, infused with whole herbs rather than essential oils. A slow infusion lets the fat-soluble parts of the plant pass into the oil, where essential oils only carry the scent.
The humectant draws water in and the herbal cream locks it there. When I wake up after this combination, the texture of my skin is noticeably smoother and softer.
Step Four: Face Yoga and Lymphatic Drainage
With oil on my skin so my fingers glide without pulling, I move through a short facial massage sequence focused on lymphatic drainage.
I place two fingers between my eyebrows and make small circles. Then I press gently along the brow line out to the temples, making circles at each stop. From the temples, I move to the spot just in front of the ear where it meets the jaw, circles there, then behind the ear, more circles. Finally, I trace down the sternocleidomastoid muscle along the side of the neck to the collarbone, guiding the lymph fluid down and out.
It takes about five minutes, and I can feel the fluid moving out from under my eyes. My face looks less puffy and more defined. I draw this from years of practicing Thai bodywork, where I use acupressure techniques on clients during sessions.
Step Five: Rest, Gratitude, and Regulating the Nervous System
The last step is a practice instead of a product.
I turn off screens, dim the lamps, and settle the mental and emotional layers of the day. Sometimes I journal. Sometimes I simply sit in the quiet of the farmhouse and write three things I am grateful for, and then I don't just write them, I feel that gratitude fill my whole body.
Gratitude is a high-vibrational state, and one of the best things you can do for your skin, your sleep, and your radiance. When you are genuinely at peace, your face holds less tension, your muscles release, and the rejuvenation that happens during sleep goes deeper.
A calm, regulated nervous system helps the body sleep better and repair better. When you feel peace, calm, ease, grace, that translates to glowing, beautiful skin. My entire routine supports radiantly beautiful and glowing skin from the inside out.
From Our Land
The kaolin clay that protects our herb plants in the field is the same clay I use in my mask. The chamomile in our herbal skin cream is grown and harvested here, the lavender comes from a neighboring farm in Catawissa, and both are infused by hand on our farm. To me it brings the grounding presence of the Earth into this self-care routine. If nature is the number one regulator of the nervous system, this is my way of supporting the body, mind, and spirit.
This ritual is adaptable. You can swap clays, rotate herb powders, choose different hydrosols, and adjust the face yoga sequence to what your skin needs in any given week, while keeping the same shape: cleanse, hydrate, nourish, move, rest.
If you want to try the cream I use in step three, you can find our herbal skin creams here.
From the farm
