Vitamin C & Witch Hazel Facial Toner Recipe

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

It can be hard 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 between dry and oily at the same time.

My confused skin was challenging to care for, as I needed something that would help even out my skin’s oil production.

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

• Skin is naturally acidic, but many skincare products are more on the alkaline side. A quality toner can help restore natural skin 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 from makeup from penetrating skin.

Natural Facial Toner Ingredients: Vitamin C and Witch Hazel

I chose the ingredients for 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 skincare. Many use it successfully as a natural remedy for hemorrhoids, burns, and other skin irritation.

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

Vitamin C Benefits

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

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

Tips for Homemade Facial Toner Success

This recipe makes a small amount of facial toner, and this is important. Though you could easily double the recipe, it wouldn’t be as effective.

Vitamin C breaks down over time. I prefer to make about as much as I need for a week at a time and keep it in the fridge to have a cooling toner to use after washing my face.

You do not need to keep this refrigerated, but it slightly extends its shelf life. Either way, keep out of sunlight and away from heat.

Or, Make Vitamin C Serum Instead!

If you have really dry skin or don’t want to use witch hazel, you can use food-grade glycerin in place of the witch hazel. This will produce a serum instead of a toner. Either one should be made in small batches and often because vitamin C oxidizes so quickly.

Ever made your own witch hazel toner? Try it and let me know what you think!