Beauty Tales from the Kitchen: Passionfruit

I picked up these lovely guys to use in a photoshoot for some beauty products I bought, rather than waste them I though I would share some DIY beauty products and some healthy yet delicious facts!

Passionfruit is one of my favourite fruits! It's so sweet and tangy, it's the ultimate tropical fruit that tastes amazing in drinks, deserts and on it's own! The best thing about passionfruit is it's full of vitamins and nutrients that not only improve our health, but can be used in our beauty routines too.

At 97 calories, this makes a tasty and healthy snack. It's also packed with vitamin A (it contains about 13 Carotenoids that help with vitamin A absorption), which is essential for maintaining good vision, and can help to promote healthy cell growth. It's also a great source of Vitamin C which is a well known antioxidant that protects us from free radicals that can cause spots and other cell damage (including cancer)!

Would you apply this to your face? What about your hair?

Because of the vitamins, passionfruit can help to brighten and repair the skin, I used this as a cleanser by mixing it with a teaspoon of olive oil, and then massaging the mixture into the skin. It felt lovely and smelt delicious! My skin felt seriously clean yet hydrated after using it, it's very refreshing and is also anti-bacterial so it can help clear acne. I left the seeds in my mix, although they didn't do much covered in the pulp, if you want an exfoliating effect, you can try blending the mixture first.

I also read that passionfruit can also help prevent hair loss, so I thought why not apply directly to the scalp as a treatment? The vitamin C can help repair/prevent damage to the hair follicles, and is also involved in collagen production that keeps hair strong and helps stop breakages. I made the mistake of applying the pulp, seeds included, directly to my scalp before a shower (what was i thinking)? I'm still picking things out my hair now! On the upside my hair hair had a lovely shine to it when it dried, even my mum complimented it. If your planning to try this, I would recommend using passionfruit juice as it would be far less messy. It would be interesting to see if there would be any long term improvement?

So passionfruit is not going to become part of my beauty routine, in comparison to your average cleanser it works out quite expensive and is way to messy to use on a daily basis. However, if your having a pamper party or looking for something creative to do thats all natural, why not give this a go?

Have you got any DIY beauty products made with passionfruit? Whats your favourite passion fruit recipes? Passionfruit Cheeses cake anyone?