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Potions and such
Jun. 16th, 2007 11:05 pmWell, it's been a good sort of day, even though I didn't manage to re-login to chat *grumbles*. It just sits there, with blankness all around, refusing to let me in. :-(
Anyway, was talking to friends last night and detected some interest in moisturizing potions. Ever since I was pregnant with Little Man, some ten years ago, I've been making a lot of commercially available products myself. It was at that time I became an avid label reader, and after some research, at first painfully by trudging to libraries and bookstores, then much less painfully by doing internet searches and finding the right books, I decided that any ingredient I have trouble pronouncing or any ingredients list containing more than about five items was not for my benefit. So I headed off to make my own moisturizer, soap, night cream. Cheese as well, but that doesn't belong in this post.
I'm currently waiting for my virgin coconut oil delivery, but I promised, in the meantime, to post some recipes I use, so here you go:
My choices of skin cleansers are: rose water, orange blossom (neroli) water. You can find either quite reasonably priced in Indian grocery stores.
All measures in weight, not volume; the links go to where I buy ingredients.
Moisturizing Potion
10 parts extra virgin coconut oil
1 part (two parts in summer) organic/wild beeswax (my sources vary here, some of them local without internet, but there are plenty available on the net who meet the criteria of organic or wild)
1/2 drop per ounce of essential oil of your liking. Safe bets for sensitive skin are: rose, jasmine, lavender, vanilla, tangerine/mandarin, geranium, as long as you ensure they're essential oils and NOT fragrance oils. Safe bets for not so sensitive skin include petitgrain, grapefruit, lemon, lime, vetiver, cedarwood, bergamot, rosewood. I like the citrussy ones particularly for arms and legs as they deter any insects. Insects hate citrus smells, and those essential oils act as wonderful insect repellants while working their magic on your skin.
Night Keep Young Potion
As above, but replace two parts of the extra virgin coconut oil with two parts of extra virgin olive oil. The olive oil is much heavier and oilier than coconut and will do its magic overnight when you're not worried about your skin looking oily.
I won't go into soap making right now, but I will say this much: Find soap, not "cleansing bars". If it says soap on the label, it is soap, ie. made with lye and lard or oils. If it says cleaning bar, it contains a lot of crap that will damage your skin. And if it damages your skin, which is your biggest organ, then it will damage you. You really want to avoid that kind of damage.
Anyway, was talking to friends last night and detected some interest in moisturizing potions. Ever since I was pregnant with Little Man, some ten years ago, I've been making a lot of commercially available products myself. It was at that time I became an avid label reader, and after some research, at first painfully by trudging to libraries and bookstores, then much less painfully by doing internet searches and finding the right books, I decided that any ingredient I have trouble pronouncing or any ingredients list containing more than about five items was not for my benefit. So I headed off to make my own moisturizer, soap, night cream. Cheese as well, but that doesn't belong in this post.
I'm currently waiting for my virgin coconut oil delivery, but I promised, in the meantime, to post some recipes I use, so here you go:
My choices of skin cleansers are: rose water, orange blossom (neroli) water. You can find either quite reasonably priced in Indian grocery stores.
All measures in weight, not volume; the links go to where I buy ingredients.
Moisturizing Potion
10 parts extra virgin coconut oil
1 part (two parts in summer) organic/wild beeswax (my sources vary here, some of them local without internet, but there are plenty available on the net who meet the criteria of organic or wild)
1/2 drop per ounce of essential oil of your liking. Safe bets for sensitive skin are: rose, jasmine, lavender, vanilla, tangerine/mandarin, geranium, as long as you ensure they're essential oils and NOT fragrance oils. Safe bets for not so sensitive skin include petitgrain, grapefruit, lemon, lime, vetiver, cedarwood, bergamot, rosewood. I like the citrussy ones particularly for arms and legs as they deter any insects. Insects hate citrus smells, and those essential oils act as wonderful insect repellants while working their magic on your skin.
Night Keep Young Potion
As above, but replace two parts of the extra virgin coconut oil with two parts of extra virgin olive oil. The olive oil is much heavier and oilier than coconut and will do its magic overnight when you're not worried about your skin looking oily.
I won't go into soap making right now, but I will say this much: Find soap, not "cleansing bars". If it says soap on the label, it is soap, ie. made with lye and lard or oils. If it says cleaning bar, it contains a lot of crap that will damage your skin. And if it damages your skin, which is your biggest organ, then it will damage you. You really want to avoid that kind of damage.
