Tag Archives: Skin Care

I’ve been making my own deodorant for awhile now but I found it was irritating my skin. After some reading, I decided the baking soda is the likely culprit so this week I made a version using bentonite clay as the deodorizer instead of baking soda. It’s a little crumbly so next time I need to reduce the amount of clay in my recipe but the sting is entirely gone.

I’ve had chocolate lip balm on my to-do list for awhile now and didn’t waste any time this morning getting to it. I made a couple tiny tweaks using plain sugar instead of confectioner’s sugar (none in the house) and vanilla extract instead of vanilla oil as I don’t have that available today either. I also have an itchy scalp with the big freeze that arrived this week so I’m testing out a scalp moisturizer that you put on before bed and wash out in the morning. I melted together some coconut oil with a little jojoba oil and then stirred in a smidge of peppermint oil. I rub that into my scalp at night and wash it out in the morning.

With the onset of colder weather, my scalp was getting very itchy so I thought maybe some conditioner would help. This recipe was an epic fail in that it left me looking like a 50′s greaser. The peppermint essential oil I’d mixed in did stop the itch dead in its tracks but the conditioner was summarily disposed of and I’m on the search for and alternative way to stop itchy scalp. The itch has not returned but I’m thinking an occasional pre-treatment with peppermint EO mixed with a carrier oil before I wash my hair will do the trick.

I’m building up quite an assortment of essential and fragrance oils. I decided it was high time I alphabetized them both to make things easier to find and to prevent ordering something I already have.

While I really love this dry skin lotion, I have the same problem as I’ve had with every other recipe I’ve tried that contains beeswax. As soon as the weather turns a bit cool, the beeswax forms clumps so that the lotion won’t flow freely out of the pump or squeeze tube. I warmed it gently and transferred it to a wide mouth jar and refilled the bottle with a lanolin based recipe I’ve been anxious to try. Itchy dry skin doesn’t have a chance this year!

I’ve always had dry skin, even when I lived in Louisiana. As I get older, my skin is getting drier and drier and I’m continually searching for a better moisturizer. This week I tried out this recipe which immediately banished the alligator skin. Because it has water in it, it probably should have a preservative so once this is all gone I may try it again without the rosewater. That will probably give more of a cream than a lotion. I also tried out this foot cream recipe. While it hasn’t had immediate miraculous results, I think a day or two is a bit too early to judge it’s effectiveness so we’ll see what happens given time.

I had a rather frantic week last week getting new computer and new car sorted while also trying to get ready for dye weekend. One of the things on my todo list was making deodorant because folks I’d given samples too wanted more and some who hadn’t tried it wanted to do so. I was also out myself so I really had to get it done. Most everyone wanted the probiotic version so I made a giant batch of that and was pleased to learn that it cools just as quickly as the small batch. In future, I do want to replace the cornstarch with arrowroot powder as folks who have problems with thrush might have problems with the cornstarch. I’ve ordered some so that I can use it for the next round.