For some Christmas gifts the last few years, I've made homemade lip balm and sugar scrub to give to various people.
The lip balm I've found to be somewhat addicting and extremely moisturizing. Bottom line....it works.
A lot of lip balms and lipsticks out there sold in stores contain petroleum.
I've adopted a good rule of thumb over the years in regards to what I put on my body as well. If you can't drink it or eat it (as in, not die from it....who would enjoy eating lip balm??), it's probably not safe.
A good resource to look up the toxicity level in the products that you use on your body is the Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database. You can look up virtually any product that is out there for hair, face, body, and baby. You will be amazed at the things you learn about common products you use every single day.
Did you know that your body absorbs 60% of what you put on your skin? That is a crazy number. If you put a clove of garlic between your toes, you would taste the garlic in your mouth in just a few short minutes.
The recipe I used for the lip balm was surprisingly found on Martha Stewart's website. I liked all of the ingredients that were used so I decided to give it a go.
Homemade Lip Balm:
3 teaspoons of grated unbleached beeswax (ordered mine from Majestic Mountain Sage)
5 teaspoons of carrier oil (sunflower, avocado, jojoba) I used avocado oil...has a longer shelf life and doesn't go rancid easily (see link below for a carrier oil resource)
6 drops of essential oil (I was going for "minty" so I used peppermint oil from Young Living)
1 teaspoon of honey
Melt the beeswax and carrier oil in the top of a double boiler. This is basically a metal bowl sitting on top of a saucepan with water boiling in the saucepan underneath the bowl. Stir really good so that the two combine. Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients. Pour the balm into your container to cool. It will solidify back again once its cooled. I also purchased my containers from Majestic Mountain Sage.
For a good article that explains carrier oils and their shelf life along with storage, CLICK HERE.
The sugar scrub is also wonderful!
Cane sugar naturally contains glycolic acid which is a natural alphy hyrdroxy acid that exfoliates the skin.
Farmer Jason uses this stuff on his hands and it cleans all the dirt out the nooks and crannies leaving his skin smoother....not smooth, just smoother because he has really rough hands. I love em' though.
I adapted my recipe from this one and added a few things I knew that were good to moisturize and heal the skin.
Sugar Scrub- pictured above
50 % turbinado sugar or sugar in the raw (love the bigger sugar granules)
50 % vegetable glycerin (this can be bought at a pharmacy, I didn't have this so I used avocado oil)
small amount of aloe vera gel
7 drops of lavender essential oil
7 drops of neroli essential oil (rejuvenates the skin and has calming effects)
Mix everything together in a bowl, and put in a jar. How simple is that???? Really!
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