Friday 29 February 2008

Hand balm

Hermione hasn't felt too well today. Coughs and sneezes. We were to go to a science workshop organised by a local home educating mum but we had to cancel.

So, we decided to put our confinement to good use and make an organic and cruelty free hand balm. Hermione was familiar with the concept of organics and the problems of chemicals in our personal care products but she hadn't realised that many products are tested on animals. She knows now.

We took some coconut oil, cacao butter and essential oils. We melted roughly equal amounts of cacao butter and coconut oil in a bowl over hot water. Added a couple of drops of lavender, geranium and roman chamomile oils, stirred well and decanted it into a glass jar.







Within an hour or so the potion had re solidified. Not so hard as the cacao butter in it's original room temperature form, but firmer than the coconut oil. It smells divine!

I'm going to hunt out my aromatherapy books and check some other oils for potential irritant problems. All being well I quite fancy making a minty foot balm and possibly a chesty cough rub.

Hermione is now desperate to tell everyone that personal care products are often tested on animals and is wondering why on earth shops sell stuff like that. Ah, the age of innocence.

4 comments:

Wobblymoo said...

Good on you Hermione, sounds divine, lime body scrub is lovely for an early morning shower, sugar, lime and oil. I think I once read figures that we absorb 65 % of what we put on our skin.

Claire said...

Lime body scrub sounds great. I could do with something to give me a bit of zing in the mornings.

I've read about skin absorption too. I guess it makes complete sense when you think about it.

I'd like to go a lot more natural with household cleaning products and make some of our own but last time I tried that I broke my mums washing machine - confusion about whether the gloop should go in the drawer or the drum :-(

Lynn said...

Thanks for that, I will have a go at making it and would be very interested to hear of any other recipes you do.

I also like the sound of the lime body scrub from wobblymoo.Would that be lime essential oil or olive oil or similar?

I have made some changes to the products we use but there is a lot more I could do and now feels a good time to start.

Claire said...

'Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living' by A Berthold-Bond has lots of recipes for natural skin care and cleaning products. That is where I got this idea from.