Homemade beauty products

Linsy · 02-27-2011, 10:11 PM

Right now I actually have an oatmeal mask on. Halfway through putting it on I started cracking up that I was smearing food all over my face, LOL.

What do you like to use from around your kitchen? I've heard of egg white masks, people putting oil in their hair etc. I've tried exfoliating with dissolved aspirin and it worked great. I might make a homemade sugar scrub soon...my Tree Hut brazilian nut sugar scrub is about to run out and maybe if I add some sugar and other ingredients in there it'll soak up the brazilian nut smell that I like so much.

pattypaw · 02-27-2011, 10:54 PM

i've done the egg white mask and also a sugar, honey and olive oil scrub!

mandalinn82 · 02-27-2011, 11:05 PM

I make a lot of my own bath products, but using bases, fragrance oils, etc. I make my own soap bars, bubble baths, lotions, body scrubs, fizzy bath bombs, and solid perfumes.

spixiet · 02-27-2011, 11:14 PM

I do face masks with greek yogurt, raw honey, or a mix of the two

Yogurt is also incredibly soothing for a sunburn. I'll smooth it on burned shoulders, cheeks, and nose (my standard "hot spots"), leave for 15-30 mins and gently wipe off with a cool washcloth. I've heard mixing tumeric with honey or yogurt does good things for the skin, but I haven't tested it personally.

I use olive oil to shave my legs, and I use it as a moisturizer. I get the light, extra virgin olive oil. The "light" doesn't refer to low fat, it just has less of an olive scent/flavor. In the shower, water still running, I rub small amounts of the oil on arms, legs, torso...any excess is wiped off when I dry off. If you feel greasy after drying off, you're using too much~

Not kitcheny...but toilet seat covers make great oil blotters for your face -

I've used baking soda to "wash" my hair, rinsed with apple cider vinegar - nice shiny hair. I've also added honey to cheap VO5 conditioners and had good results.

I've used lemon juice to fade acne scars with moderate results - make sure to rinse it off after a couple minutes or your skin with not be happy...

A quick, light, brush of cornstarch over your face powder can help keep oiliness at bay longer. Also works well as a dry "shampoo." I tap a bit through layers of my bangs at night if I know I wont be showering in the morning to absorb excess oil - baby powder works well too.

Linsy · 02-27-2011, 11:29 PM

Ooh, I love all of those ideas.

I actually JUST got my tea tree oil in the mail and I'm excited about experimenting with it. It's such a great oil. My toenails have always grown weird. They're not yellow or anything, but I read that it could possibly be fungus. I'm going to try applying tea tree oil a few times a day and clipping them short and see if they grow in normally. It doesn't hurt to try.

Mandalinn, do you have any good resources for instructions on making your own soaps?

CanadianCutie · 02-28-2011, 08:21 PM

I've made my own scrubs, sugar or salt (not near eyes with salt), and oil. I've also made my own bath bombs. I have a friend who loves baths, so she gets to sample them.

timkerbelle · 03-01-2011, 10:44 AM

I make a sugar scrub, and I use oils for my skin and hair.
I will echo Linsi's request Mandalinn - if you have resources or recipes to share that would be wonderful! I would love to make more things myself.

mandalinn82 · 03-01-2011, 12:08 PM

Linsy - The basic components of a bar of soap are:

Soap base (the actual soap part. This can be homemade, if you want to tinker with lye and etc, but you can buy them so that you just melt them down. You can buy bases on eBay, or from craft supply stores, in a variety of types. My favorite bases are shea butter or goats milk bases. You can also buy liquid bases to make bubble baths, shower gels, lotions, etc...those are even simpler than bar soap, because you just add your color, fragrance, and additives, mix, and use)

Soap mold (you pour your melted soap in, it sets up in the shape of the mold. You can go very basic with a long, square box that you cut into individual bars, or buy intricate molds. You only need this to make bars of soap or bath fizzies, not the more liquid soaps).

Color and fragrance (self explanatory. I love using micas for colorant, because they're got that little bit of shimmer and don't tend to irritate skin the way a dye might. I get my fragrances from Wellington Fragrance - they're both pretty inexpensive and really high quality).

Add-ins (as desired, you can mix just about anything into your soap base...powdered colloidal oatmeal, finely ground pumice, dried flower petals, apricot kernel meal to make a scrub, etc).

A really easy project (assuming you can track down powdered citric acid...you can find it at health food stores, but it's cheaper to buy it in bulk from Amazon/eBay/soap making supplier) is a scented bath bomb. It's just 2 parts baking soda to one part citric acid. Add your fragrance and any color you're using, mix really well, then, while stirring, start spraying on witch hazel from a bottle. Spray and stir until the mixture just barely holds together when you press it in your hands. At that stage, quickly pack it into some kind of mold (anything around bath bomb size will work, really...I've used silicone muffin tins, and it works fine), immediately unmold, and allow to set for 24 hours. The tighter you pack the mixture, the longer your bomb will fizz. You just have to be careful not to add too much witch hazel - you'll start the fizzing reaction and the bombs will "grow" out of their molds.

I just like messing around and experimenting. I made myself a foot scrub by combining a shower gel base with ground pumice, scented it with rosemary and peppermint essential oils, and use it all the time on my feet. And I made a blend that I use in both bubble baths and fizzies that is awesome for both colds and sore muscles - lavender, rosemary, and mint.

Here's a great resource if you're interested:

http://www.teachsoap.com/

Linsy · 03-01-2011, 11:40 PM

That sounds fantastic, thank you! I love the idea of making my soaps so I know exactly what is in them and how they'll react to my skin.

ringmaster · 03-02-2011, 01:57 AM

the chocolate soap on the front page looks yummy =p

I've be been wanting to make my own shampoo bars but I'm not sure with working with the lye... plus it costs a bit up front to get all the ingredients.

With just things in the kitchen, you can use eggs as shampoo and a protein treatment for your hair. coconut and olive oil as deep oil treatments. vinegar mixed with a cup or 2 of water for a hair rinse.

ashmarie019 · 03-06-2011, 11:30 AM

Try 2 parts brown sugar to 1 part olive oil and one capsule vitamin E. BEST sugar scrub ever.

I also like pure aloe vera gel as a facial mask. Its moisturizing and great for sensitive or irritated skin.

Our Lady Bonbon · 03-07-2011, 09:58 AM

I like to make a hair rinse out of a homemade herbal tea... I just take sage, thyme and rosemary (fresh in the summer, dried in the winter), crunch it up in a coffee filter, secure the top with a rubber band and then boil it in 2-3 cups of water until it's a strong green color. Then, I let it cool and rinse my hair with it after a shampoo. It helps make it shiny, smooth and cleans out any buildup.
For a face mask, I like honey mixed with some finely-ground pecans, ground aspirin and a little bit of egg white. It's kind of gooey, but it does double duty as a mask and a scrub. The honey has antibacterial properties, the pecans are a natural exfolient (sp?), the aspirin helps with my acne, and the egg white tightens the skin.
I really need to try that brown sugar scrub!! It sounds delightful. Normally, I just use my left over coffee grounds and some honey to exfoliate when my skin gets really dry.

Horo · 03-08-2011, 10:20 PM

Not really home-made per se, but the only things I'll use to moisturize my skin are coconut oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, or 100% pure aloe vera gel.

I also use coconut oil and olive oil on my hair, and the aloe vera as a styling product.

A moisturizing treatment I use for my hair is a mixture of several parts silicone-free conditioner to a few equal, smaller parts of molasses and aloe vera.

Oh, I recently made a sort of body butter for my skin- 2 parts cocoa butter(melted), 1 part coconut oil(dissolves in the warm melted cocoa butter), several drops of vitamin E oil and a bit of lavender EO for scent. It was quite nice, though didn't keep for very long.

Apple cider vinegar is also an integral part of my beauty routine, made into a rinse for my hair or used as an acne treatment. Tea tree oil, too, for that matter.

marianne78 · 03-09-2011, 07:46 AM

I use olive oil to moisturize my scalp and deal with my dandruff. I heat a couple of spoonfuls in the microwave then apply it to my scalp and hair. My hair always feels soft and smooth after I shampoo the oil off. It also helped with my hair fall problem.

bleujean · 03-15-2011, 10:15 PM

I make a hair mask out of an egg yolk or two, 1/4 cup olive oil, and about 1/4 cup mayonnaise. I put the whole thing on my hair, wrap my head in saran wrap, and do yard work and chores for an hour or two so that it permeates. Head smells like a marinade but my hair has never looked better.

Long ago, in high school, I mixed up a double batch of the mask, then had to leave unexpectedly so I put it in the fridge. My sister thought that it was batter so she made a crepe out of it. Even better, she made two and left one for me so I ate it not knowing that it was a concoction of basically pure fat. We were soooo grossed out.

That said it was absolutely delicious! Secret ingredients to all crepes should be 1/2 cup of mayonnaise...!!