I have been making my own skin creams for over 10 years, and I’ll never go back to store bought! My skin is now accustomed to these fresh, nourishing creams, and I love being able to infuse my garden flowers like calendula and lavender right into my skin care. Also, I avoid all the unwanted chemicals and preservatives in commercial products – read more on why even “organic” products at the store may not be what you think there are.
I wanted to share my most basic recipe for DIY skin cream. It’s what I use most often for body cream at home, and what I give to friends when they ask me for a skin cream that doesn’t irritate their skin, or something for their babies to help with rashes. Once you get the technique down, its easy and it makes a lovely, clean product that feels great on the skin, and you can embellish with precious oils like rosehip seed or argan, add butters like cacao or shea, make medicinal cream for eczema, or even create your own herbal sunscreen with zinc oxide.
This simple recipe is designed to have a shelf life of at least a month if you keep it out of the sun and heat.
Simple Body Cream
Ingredients:
8 oz distilled water (by volume)
.6 oz unrefined beeswax (by weight)
8 oz organic oil (by volume). Use something like almond or sunflower for a lighter cream, or olive oil for a heavier cream. You can also use an herbal-infused oil to add therapeutic qualities.
Step 1: Blend the beeswax and oil
Weight out the beeswax (or buy it in .6 oz quantity). To melt it, I recommend using a sauce pan or double boiler that is dedicated to just melting wax. If you don’t have one, you can put a quart-sized mason jar into a saucepan with water and melt the wax in the jar that way (but monitor it closely so it doesn’t tip or boil too hard). When the wax is melted, add the oil, and take it off the heat when it is all melted together. Pour the oil and beeswax immediately into a quart size mason jar (if you didn’t already use one) and let it cool to room temperature
Step 2: Add the water to emulsify
When the beeswax/oil is roughly the same temperature as the distilled water (checking by touch is okay, it doesn’t have to be precise), and measure out the water. Put your immersion blender into the jar, and begin blending the oil/beeswax on high. If you have a helper, have them hold the mason jar, while you slowly pour the water into the jar as you blend. If you don’t have help, just put in a small amount of water a time (1 – 2 ounces) and then blend it until the water is no longer visible. Continue blending until all the water has been poured in – take it slow with the water, and avoid having too much of it puddle up on top as you blend. After all the water is blended in, use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the jar, taking care to scrape off any of the oil/beeswax that might still be unblended. Do a final blend until the entire cream is uniform and fluffy. Pour into smaller jars as desired, and let it sit to stiffen.
Add a few drops (1 – 4 drops per ounce of cream) of essential oil if desired. Keep the cream in a sealed jar, out of direct sun and exposure to high heat. Enjoy this fresh cream on your skin – it is a perishable product, so use it up within a month or so.
That’s it! Give it a try and see what you think! Do you have a favorite cream recipe that you love? Let me know!
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