All natural Cosmetics

Today, I had the opportunity to play with some ideas I've had floating around.  My husband had gotten a nasty rash (sun poisoning. Ew.) on his legs.  He had been doing the hydrocortisone things, but he really needed more moisture.  In my continuing efforts to limit the amount of chemical garbage we use, I decided to make him some cream to use.

First, I found a website that described how to make home made non-petroleum jelly.

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/04/make-your-own-petroleum-free-jelly.html

It is a great (and simple!) recipe, using only beeswax and olive oil.
(her recipe? 1/2 c. olive oil and 1/8 c. (or 3 tbs) shredded beeswax, melted on low heat (or double boiler).

When she made it she could fill a half cup jelly jar.

Well, I didn't think I needed that much of it to start with, and my daughter had been curious about lip balm, so I thought, I should be able to do this.

So, after the beeswax was melted, I poured half into a 1/4 c. jelly jar. I added about 10 drops of tea tree oil. (It has great antiseptic properties, as well as moisture absorption. This being said, I want to make it clear the tea tree oil bottle specifically stated 'Do not apply to broken or irritated skin.')


I put this in the fridge for about a half hour, and this is what it looked like:

(this had been stirred.  It really does feel like petroleum jelly.) (My husband didn't have any problems with it, and it really seemed to help with the moisture in his skin!) Possible future experiments might include chamomile, lavender, or aloe... (or some of that powdered cucumber I have!)

The second half of the batch was still in the pan, and I added an extra teaspoon (ish) of shredded beeswax.  I poured this in a second 1/4 c. jelly jar, and added about 6 drops of peppermint oil. (oil, not extract...not sure what extract would do, but don't think it would be a good thing.)

After a half hour in the fridge, this is what came  out:

You can see it is much more solid, and it feels wonderful on your lips!  The girls are already wondering what would happen if they added some cocoa powder to the mix. (I'm thinking I might be better off adding cocoa butter, but that's an experiment for another day!)