Egg on my face.

As you know by now, I am a self-proclaimed chicken farmer.  With four laying hens, we are awash with eggs in the spring.  Now, our ladies are entering the spring of their second year.  Hens never lay as much in their later years as they do in their first year and in their first year, our hens laid an average of five eggs a day.  Some of the girls lay more than one egg a day, depending on her mood, I guess.  Last spring, which was our first spring of eggs, I believe there was one time when we had something like 100 eggs in our fridge.  In case you want to do the math, that is like 8 cartons of eggs (assuming we were using the dozen-egg cartons).  That's a lot of eggs.  More eggs then we could eat.  So we gave eggs away.  We gave eggs to our neighbors, coworkers, friends.  I gave eggs to the pest control guy (although he was desperate to give pecans away, so I can't say I gave him eggs without receiving something in return). I was desperate to give eggs away.

On a sidenote, our eggs are rather expensive to lay.  The hens themselves didn't cost very much (probably $50 for all five, including shipping) and the coop and run were built using supplies we mostly had in our house (and it was built by my wonderful Eugene).  What is expensive is the food.  We decided to feed our girls only organic layer food.  It costs about $35 for 50 pounds.  This may not sound like much, but regular old chicken food is about  $7 for 50 pounds.  Now, we have had to feed the girls the non-organic food on occasion.  The store where I get the organic food, Farmer D Organics, has limited hours so when we run out of food and are not prepared with a fresh bag, the store is often closed.  In a pinch, I've purchased chicken feed from Ace hardware.  Once, when we were going out of town, I had to buy birdseed and squirrel food from Kroger.  Chickens will eat almost anything, and since the squirrels always eat the chicken food, I figured we would be ok.  In any event, I've kept all most of the chickens alive and the occasional non-organic food hasn't caused anyone to suffer.  On the whole, though, the organic food makes for some delicious eggs and I believe it is completely worth the price.  As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out.  What our girls eat goes directly into their eggs, which go directly into our bellies, so I want to make sure they eat right.  The eggs are creamier, deliciouser (I know it's not a word but you see where I'm going) and more orangy than any store-bought egg. 

After that sidenote, I now get to the point of this blog.  With so many eggs, I've decided that maybe I can do something with the eggs that doesn't involve eating them!  I found so many great homemade beauty products made from eggs!  You can make a simple face mask with eggs!  I tried it! I looked AWESOME stupid, but it worked!  The hairstyle I chose before taking the picture is not necessary or part of the mask.  You can actually "do" your hair if you are so inclined.

Eggs Mask!
Mix together 1 raw egg and 1 tablespoon of honey. Spread on your face and use tissue paper to cover. Let sit for 15-20 minutes and finally rinse off with tepid water.
There are other beauty products with eggs that I've yet to try...maybe tonight will be the night, as I've got like 40 eggs to use right now.  There are only so many quiche's a girl can eat.

Egg Mask (for oily skin)
Mix together 1 egg white and 1 tablespoon of oatmeal. Spread on face and neck, let sit for 15-20 minutes and rinse well with tepid water. This mask is especially good for removing blackheads.

Egg Mask (for normal skin)

Mix together 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of fresh sour cream. Sour cream is rich in lactic acid and helps soften and remove surface impurities and dead skin cells, leaving your skin soft and smooth. Spread on face and neck, let sit for 15-20 minutes and rinse well with tepid water.

Instructions for Doing an Egg Hair Treatment
Follow these simple instructions to use your every own egg treatment at home:

1. Wash your hair properly like you normally would do. Shampoo your hair so that it will remove any excess oil and will prepare the hair for the egg.
2. Take a bowl, and crack an egg in it. If you have long hair, use two eggs. Use a fork to scramble the eggs.
3. Now, apply the beaten egg mixture to your hair. Make sure you apply it all through the length of your hair. Once you are done applying the egg mixture to your hair, leave it on for about an hour.
4. The most important step is to wash the egg off your hair. It is necessary that you wash your hair with cold water. If you rinse your hair with warm water, you will not be able to get rid of the egg from your hair.
5. Shampoo your hair and wrap your hair with a towel for about a minute, so that the excess water is absorbed.
6. Leave your hair to dry naturally.
7. For beautiful, thick hair repeat the egg hair treatment at least once in every 15 days.

If anyone braves the smell of raw eggs (it's not that bad, I promise!!), let me know how if your bravery pays off??!!