I realize that a lot of people already think of me as a crazy cat lady, but after this, I think those on the fence might be fully convinced. Bear with me, though: A cat litter facial isn’t as crazy as it seems.

I generally do my best to avoid getting closer than a scooper away from litter, let alone touch it. So when this recipe for a cat litter mask arrived in my inbox, I did what any rational person would do: I immediately opened it and started thinking about what kind of nutcases would actually put litter on their faces.

And then I became one of those nutcases.

As it turns out, regular natural clay litter is made of the same kind of clay that is used in a lot of mud masks that you’d pay tons of money for. I’m always up for a nice spa treatment, so why not give it a shot? Here’s the recipe and how it went:

The Ingredients

• Unused regular, unscented clay cat litter (“natural” kind with sodium bentonite clay, not the clumping kind)
• Water (filtered, if you want to get all fancy)
• Your favorite scented essential oil (I’m a fan of lavender)
• A glass of wine (optional, but since you’re putting cat litter on your face, I figured you might like a drink to help you through)

Now, before we get into the facial, a little full disclosure: I generally would not do a clay mask at home alone with makeup on, but I refuse to make a mockery of myself doing a totally respectable thing like putting cat litter on my face without at least wearing some mascara. So that’s that. I’m not trying to fool anyone.

Anyhoo, now that I’ve told the world that I only have like three eyelashes and they’re clear and about a quarter of a centimeter long ÔǪ on to the mask!

Put about three tablespoons of the kitty litter into a small bowl, make sure your cats are clear that this is NOT for them, and add some water. I had no idea how much water to add, so I was stingy at first and realized that what was in my bowl basically looked like what ends up in the litter box ÔÇô- a little wet section.

(At this point, I had some wine. I suggest you do the same.)

Add a little more water than you first thought and stir it with a spoon. You should add just enough water until the mixture becomes, well, like a typical mask consistency. It actually will!

Add a few drops of your lovely essential oil. I didn’t add any oil because I spent all my money on eye makeup and didn’t really find one at the store I liked. You can see what my mixture looked like below.

At this point, I started doubting my sanity and wondering whether I should finish my glass of wine before actually putting this on my face. But then I realized I might want some while I had it on, so I just took another couple of gulps.

Dig in and start applying the mixture to your face, as you would any other mask that wasn’t made of cat litter. At this point, the full ridiculous reality of what you’re doing will set in, if it hasn’t already.

The clay mask was still clumpy, and wasn’t really sticking to my face like others I’ve used (it’s actually kind of falling off in plops onto my bathroom counter) — and I was still wrestling with the fact that this is for pee, not pores. Also, I was wishing I had topped up my glass of wine before getting my hands so dirty.

Continue applying the mask until your face is covered, and sit and relax and try to pretend that you don’t have a face full of cat litter for 10 to 15 minutes. You can do a few things during this time: Go scoop the actual cat litter in your cat’s litter box, Facebook or tweet to tell your friends that you have cat litter on your face (it gets great responses, trust me), or lie on the floor and let your cats check it out and wonder what in the world their toilet is doing on your head.

Once 15 minutes had passed and it was time to remove the mask, I came across a dilemma I hadn’t thought of before: This is not flushable litter, which means I don’t want to just rinse it off in the sink like I normally would with a mask. So I found myself hunched over the kitchen garbage can, rubbing the clay off my face with a paper towel. What? This isn’t what you think of when you think “spa treatment”?

Once the chunkier parts were removed, I went back to the bathroom sink to rinse the remaining mask off with lukewarm water  and was genuinely surprised to find that my face felt smoother! Not sure if it was scraping the pebbles off my skin and into the trash can or the bonus exfoliation that did it, but I definitely noticed a difference.

That said, I think the whole thing could have been done a lot easier if I’d just bought a mask from the store like a normal person. Normal is just boring, though, isn’t it?

Editor’s Note: Thanks to our sister site, xojane.com, for the idea.

• See Also: Can You Use Kitty Litter for Oil Spills? Alternative Uses, Tips & Tricks