Take care of your body and your face with this all-natural homemade skin cream.
All-natural beauty often starts in the kitchen and what you put on your body is as important as what you put in it so I’ve invited some friends to share their favorite healthy homemade beauty products with you over the next couple weeks to show you just how easy it is to make your own personal care products from scratch. Please welcome Winnie from Healthy Green Kitchen today with her recipe for homemade skin cream.
I’ve been making some of my own body care products for many years, but I didn’t try my hand at skin cream until recently. I guess I just figure it would be too difficult to make. Now that I know making your own skin cream is actually quite easy, I wish I hadn’t waiting so long!
Your skin is your body’s largest organ and readily absorbs what you put on it. For this reason, I believe it’s really important to use skin care products that contain only all-natural ingredients whenever possible. Given the amount of potentially toxic chemicals that are allowed to be present in commercial skin care items, it’s really nice to know there’s no funky stuff in here.
I cannot say enough good things about how this orange-scented skin cream recipe functions: it is incredibly hydrating and feels positively luxurious to smooth onto your skin. A little goes a long way, especially on the face.
Orange flower water (or rosewater) can be found at Middle Eastern shops or at natural foods stores, and I purchased the essential oil and the additional ingredients needed to make this cream at my natural foods store, too (look for the NOW brand). You can also buy the items online. I like to store homemade recipes like this in glass jars, but you could also use plastic containers designed for DIY skin care products, if you like (look for ones that are free of BPA- a chemical that’s been linked to hormonal disruption).
Be sure to cool the warmed oil mixture to room temperature or your cream may not emulsify properly when you blend it. If that does happen, just separate the water and oil mixtures and start over.
Adapted from Rosemary’s Perfect Cream, a recipe that appears in Rosemary Gladstar’s Family Herbal by Rosemary Gladstar.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup orange flower water (or rosewater or distilled water; avoid tap water because it may introduce bacteria into your cream, and that may cause it to develop mold)
- 2 drops tangerine essential oil (or rose essential oil or the essential oil of your choice)
- ½ teaspoon vitamin E oil- optional
- ¾ cup sweet almond oil (or apricot or grapeseed oil)
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (I used refined coconut oil, not virgin coconut oil, for this recipe)
- ¼ teaspoon liquid lanolin
- 1 ounce grated beeswax
Instructions
- Combine the water, drops of essential oil, and vitamin E oil (if using) in a liquid measuring cup. Set aside while you heat the other ingredients.
- Combine the sweet almond oil, the coconut oil, the liquid lanolin and the grated beeswax in a small pan. Set the pan over a double boiler and heat over low heat just until the oils and beeswax are melted.
- Transfer the oils to your blender and allow to cool to room temperature. You will know they are at room temperature when the mixture appears to solidify a bit, and is cream colored. If you choose to speed cooling of the oils in the refrigerator, make sure to check frequently so the mixture does not get too hard.
- When the oils have cooled, turn on your blender at its highest speed. Slowly pour the water mixture into the center of the whirling oils. (It’s very important to pour the water in a slow trickle because your goal is to create an emulsion.) When most of the water has been added, you will notice your cream starting to thicken. This is good! When the cream looks nice and thick and most or all of the water has been added, turn off the blender and mix in the rest of the water by hand with a spoon or a rubber spatula.
- Pour the cream into jar(s) for storage. Keep in a cool, dark location (the refrigerator is probably the best place for long-term storage). Enjoy your homemade skin cream!
More Homemade Beauty Products:
Winnie Abramson is a food writer, recipe developer, and photographer with a doctorate in naturopathic medicine. Her first book, One Simple Change, will be published by Chronicle Books in December, 2013. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her family and blogs at Healthy Green Kitchen.
You can also find Winnie on: Facebook |Twitter | Pinterest
Don’t miss the other homemade beauty recipes in the series:
Part 2: Chocolate Oatmeal Face Mask
Part 3: Lavender Lotion Bars
Part 4: Rosemary Avocado Coconut Oil Hair Mask
Sylvie Shirazi is the recipe developer and food photographer behind Gourmande in the Kitchen. For the last 10 years she’s been making eating more healthfully easy and accessible with gluten-free, grain-free, paleo and vegan recipes that are free from processed ingredients.
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