Learning how to make your own DIY toner can make a world of a difference for your skin.
This is especially true if you have acne-prone skin and/or a blotchy complexion.
With Hazel is an awesome natural skin care remedy to take care of problem skin. The astringent has been around for a long time, and the uses for it are seemingly endless.
Witch Hazel is most famous for helping to tighten up large pores and improve the look and texture of your skin, helping to maintain your skin’s natural PH balance.
Related: 11 DIY Face Scrubs for Amazing Skin
Its also a champion in reducing redness, healing of scars, and helping to keep pores unclogged and free of bacteria to prevent future breakouts in acne prone skin.
You might be wondering why it has such a peculiar name, and its because of where it comes from.
Side Note: Already know how awesome Witch Hazel is? Skip below for the ultimate DIY Witch Hazel facial toner recipe!
What is witch hazel?
The Witch Hazel plant originates in North America and has been used for thousands of years as a skin care remedy to reduce redness, sores, and inflammation among lots of other things.
The tannins and antioxidant properties found in the plant are extracted and added to many skin care products you probably already buy.
Knowing this, it can be pretty easy to see why creating your own DIY Witch Hazel toner is a must for any type of skin tone! ?
Now, this begs the question: Which Witch Hazel is best to create your own toner?
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The best witch hazel on the market
Hands down one of the best toners on the market is the Thayers Witch Hazel Toner. It’s been used by members of my family for seemingly ages and hasn’t been changed since.
The Witch Hazel ingredients in each bottle make it a nice and soothing natural option for many skin types.
It includes aloe vera extract, cucumber, and even grapefruit seed extract— which are all miraculous ingredients that work wonders for your skin.
How to create your own DIY toner
To create your own Witch Hazel Toner you’ll need a few ingredients to help make it as soothing and refreshing to your type of skin as possible.
[ingredients title=”Here’s What You’ll Need:”]- Small spray bottle
- ¼ cup filtered water
- ½ cup of Thayer’s Witch Hazel Toner
- A few drops of your favorite essential oil
- 1 Tsp. Of Vitamin E Oil
- 1 ½ Tsp. of Aloe Vera Gel
These are approximate measurements for each ingredient that you can adjust to your liking.
The filtered water makes sure there are absolutely no extra chemicals that are unneeded on your skin and makes for a nice clean base for your toner.
Adding Vitamin E to your toner makes sure your skin gets as much nourishment as possible. Vitamin E is known for helping scars heal better, being an antioxidant in many beauty products, and helping to soften the look and feel of your skin. Best results are seen when you use it daily.
And to top it all off, the aloe vera gel works as a nice cooling agent that soothes and softens the skin. The hormone Gibberellin contained in the aloe vera plant helps stimulate the growth of brand new cells. This, along with a few drops of your favorite essential oils and witch hazel become an absolute haven of nourishment for all your skin needs.
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Everyone’s skin is different, which means your toner can be personalized to fit your own skin needs.
For example, if you tend to have oily skin then you might want to add a little less of the Vitamin E oil or a little more Aloe.
Essential oils for your toner
There are all kinds of essential oils out there, each with their own strengths and uses.
They are absolutely great for any type of skin and can help add the nutrients and moisture your skin craves daily.
My personal favorites are rose water and tea tree oil. They leave my skin feeling baby soft and bright.
Here’s an overview of the most popular ones that you can try for yourself in your DIY facial toner:
Take Note: These essential oils come in pure, very concentrated amounts so it’s ALWAYS best practice to dilute them with either alcohol or filtered water before directly applying them to your skin (especially for the first time).
Perfect for: Scar reduction and mature skin
Carrot Seed Oil is a great disinfectant and has antioxidant properties perfect for maturing skin. It also helps with scar smoothing and reduction. It’s also great for helping to fight infections.
Perfect for: dry skin issues, aging skin, reducing scars
Patchouli Oils have been used in oriental medicines for a long time. It’s great for treating skin and hair problems such as eczema and dandruff. It also has helpful scar reducing properties.
Perfect for: Dry skin
Rose oil is especially great for dry skin because of its moisturizing properties. It is often used to treat various dry skin conditions and as an anti-inflammatory agent.
Perfect for: Acne and dry skin
Frankincense is a great essential oil for almost all skin types and helps with a variety of skin conditions including dry skin, blemishes, fine lines, and wrinkles. It’s a nice, well rounded essential oil for all your skin needs.
Helichrysum Italicum Essential Oil
Perfect for: skin rejuvenation, anti-inflammatory
This essential oil is often found in lots of anti-aging products because of its powerful properties that fight aging spots. It has antimicrobial, antiallergenic, and antioxidant properties.
Perfect for: Acne-prone skin, acne scars, blemishes, aromatherapy
Ylang Ylang is often used as the to go for reducing stress and promoting relaxation because of the stimulating effects of its aroma. It’s also known as a great oil for scalp and hair health.
Perfect for: Acne and blemishes
Tea Tree oil is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial which makes it a great oil for treating many different conditions including acne, dermatitis, and even athlete’s foot. It’s also a great option for aromatherapy.
Perfect for: Dry skin, acne, scar reduction
Lavender oil has a lot of uses as well that can include aromatherapy (because of its rich smell), pain relieving, and can even help with blood circulation. Lavender is an all around great oil that can be used for many things around your house, including your skin.
Perfect for: Anti-aging, fine lines and wrinkles
Rosehip Oil contains Vitamins A and C and encourages cell production which makes it a perfect candidate to create a toner for maturing skin.
Perfect for: moisturizing, nutrients
Hemp Seed Oil is famous for being super packed with a long list of powerful nutrients that can help nourish the body from the inside out. It helps maintain the immune system and promote brain health as well as being helpful for dry itching skin.
Perfect for: relieving greasy skin, acne
Like many of the other oils on this list, Jojoba oil has tons of benefits and uses for the skin and body. It contains Vitamin B, Vitamin E complex and helps fight fungi and infections. It’s also mild enough to serve as a great makeup remover.
Witch hazel for acne-prone skin
It comes as no surprise that Witch Hazel has been constantly known as the best toner for acne.
Acne has been a personal problem for many including myself, and it’s not always easy to treat. Thankfully there are remedies, including essential oils and homemade Witch Hazel toners, that can potentially work wonders for clearing up skin problems.
Witch Hazel has been known as the best toner for blackheads and a great toner for dry skin (especially if you choose an alcohol-free option).
Thayer’s has a Rose Water Witch Hazel Toner that can soothe acne scars in the process of healing and helps them fade. To add, Witch Hazel pads can be a great way to help the skin unwind at night and helps reduce blackheads.
One of the reasons Witch Hazel works for oily skin is because it’s an astringent which helps tighten pores while getting rid of pore-clogging bacteria that can cause more acne in the future.
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You can use your DIY Witch Hazel Toner as an added step in your day/night skincare routine after washing your face with a mild face wash that won’t permanently damage your epidermis.
Whether you use a misting spray or like to take a cotton pad to work all the areas on your face is completely up to you.
Side Note: A personal favorite and one that I ALWAYS recommend to all my friends is the Cerave Daily Face Wash for combination skin. It is super cleansing to the skin and makes sure to add nutrients and vitamins to your skin instead of stripping it of moisture. It’s the perfect face wash for sensitive skin that is prone to redness.
10 other uses for witch hazel
Surprise, surprise! Witch Hazel is NOT only good as a skin toner, it also has tons of other uses you might not have known about. Let’s look at each one:
Clear cold sores: Help your cold sores heal faster by dabbing them with a little witch hazel several times a day.
Soothe sunburns: Fill a spray bottle with some witch hazel and some bonus aloe vera gel for the ultimate sunburn soothing spray.
Use as deodorant: Deodorize your pits by swabbing them with a good amount of witch hazel before applying your regular deodorant (especially helpful during sticky hot summer days).
Soothe your irritated gums: Have irritated gums? Take a swig of witch hazel and swish it around (just make sure not to swallow!) to help reduce redness and irritation.
Diaper rash: Soothe a diaper rash with the witch hazels astringent properties.
Witch Hazel for hair: Help out your itchy dry scalp by rubbing in some witch hazel with essential oil.
Depuff your eyes: Dip some cotton balls in witch hazel and use them around the eye area to depuff after a bad night’s rest.
Stop bleeding: stop bleeding in cuts and minor lacerations faster by using some witch hazel and applying pressure.
Cleaning spray: Mixing some pure witch hazel with vinegar and lemon and/or baking powder can make it a powerful cleaning agent.
Great for shaving: If you suffer from razor burns and ingrown hairs after shaving try to splash your legs with some ‘witch hazel aftershave’ for good measure.
After learning to make your own personalized DIY Witch Hazel Toner you are well on your way to better, smoother, less blotchy, refreshed skin.
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I’ve had lasting and pretty amazing results with my own Witch Hazel toner and I always make it a point to use it in the morning and at night.
Especially after a greasy summer day out when your skin needs that extra R & R before bed. Most importantly its helped with my acne scars, which can take many months to fade away on their own if they aren’t treated.
Have you tried Witch Hazel in your daily beauty routine? Leave us an update on how it’s worked for you so far. ?
Thayers has one with rose petal and glycerin, and another with lavender and aloe. Both are alcohol-free and excellent by themselves, lightly moisturizing and nice-smelling. I use the rose one straight as a toner, and I also keep it in a small spray bottle with the addition of 5 drops of geranium essential oil per ounce, as a face mist. Like you said, you could add any oil of your choice for scent or benefits.
Tea tree oil is tried and true for acne but I personally find the smell nasty-medicinal; there are other essential oils with similar (if slightly less pronounced) benefits, which smell a lot better. Lemongrass and lavender are some. Rosemary is nice too and is actually scientifically proven to damage the P. acnes bacterium. All three of those oils have smells that go well with each other, so if I were making an anti-acne toner, that would be my essential oil bouquet of choice.
Helichrysum is anecdotally recommended for acne but you may or may not like the… interesting smell. I would avoid mint, camphor, and citrus oils as they can be irritating.
I’m sorry, your recipe for a DIY Witch Hazel Toner is: buy a Witch Hazel Toner. then add stuff.
How would one go about making a Witch Hazel toner utilising an ingredient: pure organic alcohol-free witch hazel extract?
This is awesome! I wanted to try making my own toner but I’m a little bit scared as I may not use the correct amount of ingredients and may harm my skin.
I love toners! It makes me feel satisfied that my face has no dirt at all. I also love DIYs because I get to know what are the ingredients present in what I’m going to use.
Hi Karen, if it helps you can omit the water and only use witch hazel as the base. This way you don’t have to worry about preserving it.
Hi. I see this is a water based recipe. For all I have read, I think your toner recipe needs a perservative. Please confirm.
Thanks