Do you want your skin to be glowing, clear with minimal effort? Do you want a solution to clogged pores and minor flakiness in only 30 minutes a week?

Well you can! But wait, there’s...no more. Don’t panic - I’m not about to get all infomercial on you, or try to sell you something you don’t need for 7 easy payments of $49.95.

This article is actually about mud. Remember mud masks from your teenage years? Or mud masques as the companies that make them like to say.

You slapped them on and your face got all taut, and you think they kind of worked, but since your pimples weren’t miraculously ALL GONE when you washed your face, you eventually just stopped using them?

And by now you’ve moved on to more sophisticated ways of keeping your pores clean and your skin taut? Like peels, and enzymes and micro-dermabrasion and all that jazz. Well, that’s great. Except...it’s also not.

Let me explain. It’s great you’re using all those other lovelies for your skin (provided you’re not overdoing it.) But you should never overlook the beauty benefits of using a just-plain-mud-mask once or twice a week - no matter your skin type, how well you cleanse, or how religiously you exfoliate.

Mud masks suck gunk like dead skin cells, old makeup and the like out of your pores gently, but throughly. They’re not a harsh exfoliator, but will still get rid of old cells from the surface of your skin too and reveal a brighter, cleaner complexion.

They’re usually even ok for sensitive skin types (as always with sensi-skin, spot test first). Plus they’re cheap. The one I’ve used forever is made by skinfood and costs about $12 at the supermarket.

They also make a great spot treatment for blemishes - just dab some on the spot and leave for a few hours, or overnight, and wash off gently. Mud masks are also super handy for scaring the heck out of your boyfriend - but that’s a post for another time.

- Kate Montgomery

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