When in doubt... Make it Yourself!

      Being a woman I tend to spend way to much money on things to make me more beautiful, smell better, ext.....   Well make-up isn't something I really want to spend time on making, but lotions, chap stick, the basic essentials has become a new part of my recipe book.  Our skin is used and abused on a daily basis, especially if you are like me and spend a lot of time outside or with your hands in soapy water cleaning things.   Basically by the end of the day I feel a little like I have alligator skin, and as much as I love lotion, it is something I spend way too much money on.  Chap stick, body spray, detangler also fit into the list of "I like to have but need to spend less money on" ;) I have been scoring the Internet looking for ways to make some of these items on my own, and for the price of raw organic materials I would save tons of money.  It is taking a little of trail and error on my part to find the recipes I like, or ones that aren't too complex for a busy mom of three who doesn't need to add more mess to piles that others leave for her......  So far I have been able to find recipes for chap stick and detangler that I really like, and I also came up with a recipe to put on chapped little faces do to colds or cold weather. 


Hair Detangler

• 1 1/4 cup  Distilled Water
• 1/4 cup   Dried Marshmallow Root
• 1 Tbsp  Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp   Olive Oil or Jojoba Oil
•  few drops of essential oil to make it the scent of your choice (Optional)

1. Combine marshmallow root and water in a small sauce pot and simmer over medium low heat for 15-30 minutes to allow mucilage to release.  The longer you let in simmer the thicker the mixture will be.
2. Remove pot from heat and allow mixture to cool
3. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, cheese cloth, nylon, or teal towel.  Squeeze the strainer in order to extract all the goodness of the herb.  Reserve the liquid and compost the herbs.
4. Add vinegar and oils to the marshmallow root infused water.
5. Pour into a spray bottle, shake well prior to use.

I can't remember where I found this recipe, but when I do I will give credit where credit is due.  I had to add a little more distilled water once I put it in the spray bottle and I didn't have any essential oils to add a scent to it, but so far my daughter and I love it.  We both have semi-coarse hair so we battle tangles on a daily basis, and the apple cider vinegar isn't overpowering at all.  We really kinda like the scent of the apple cider vinegar.

The next recipe is for a something that is very similar to Gerber's Grins and Giggles Moisturizing Stick.  Living outside of a small town and 70 miles from the nearest city I have a hard time finding this stuff in the store.  The one stick I do have I bought in a Toys R Us store in Sioux Falls, SD, and I wasn't about to drive there every time I needed a new stick.  We have mostly done without it, but while trying to find a chap stick recipe that I liked or come up with my own, I accidentally made something that worked great on my chapped skin from constantly blowing my nose while fighting a recent cold.  When I figured it out I was thrilled, my poor kids' noses and cheeks are so chapped and sore in the winter and this will help with that immensely.

Chapped Face Stick

• 1oz stick of Beeswax
• 6-8 drops Glycerin
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1/4 tsp Vitamin E Oil
• 7-10 empty chap stick tubes .15oz size

1. Melt beeswax, glycerin, and coconut oil in a glass measuring cup.  I usually do this with the double boiler method in a small pot of boiling water over my stove top, but you can do this at 30 sec intervals in the microwave. Do this until all components are completely melted.
2. Add vitamin E oil, if you add it during heating it will loose some of its beneficial properties.
3. Fill chap stick tubes with liquid and allow to set for a few hours.  They don't take long to set I just like to leave them alone for awhile so they are cooled all the way through.
4. Once set they can be applied like chap stick onto chapped skin.

Chap stick

• 1 1/2 tsp. Beeswax (.25oz) basically a fourth of a 1oz bar.
• 1 3/4 tsp. + 1/8 tsp. Coconut Oil
• 1 1/8 tsp. Cocoa Butter (raw not the kind you buy in the lotion section at the store)
• 3 tsp. Sweet Almond Oil
• 3 Capsules Vitamin E, oil squeezed out (I don't have the capsules so I used about 1/8 tsp)
• essential oils for scents, or flavored oils (both optional, I didn't use either)

1. Melt every thing in a small jar set in a pan of boiling water (don't melt over direct heat, it could burn or the wax could catch on fire!) Stir frequently.
2. When melted (don't cook too long! use as soon as melted to avoid grainy-ness), add fragrance (essential oils work well like lemon or peppermint- start with a few drops and work up from there you can always add more, or you can order flavors from places on the Internet.
3. Next fill the tubes completely to the very top. It contracts when cooled and form a little dip but you don't want to re-fill this, the layers might not adhere to each other and the top layer could slip off. It's also best not to re-melt the lip balm, it will get grainy.
4.  Let sit without moving until completely set up.

This recipe has a similar consistency to Burt's Bees when applied, that is why I like it.  Plus it is made with natural ingredients, I did it myself, and the cocoa butter makes it smell really good ;)