Random writings from a southpaw.

Exzema EO Blend

Used this blend in the pourable lotion yesterday. DH gave the scent a two thumbs up too! It has a clean/fresh scent with a lingering hint of patchouli and I think, lavender. I’ve made another batch of the blend and will let it mature in the bottle to see if/how the scent changes.
As the title suggests, I chose the individual oils for their exzema soothing properties.

  • 35 drops Lavender EO
  • 15 drops Bergamot EO
  • 10 drops Juniperberry EO
  • 10 drops Patchouli

Pourable Lotion

The inspiration for this recipe comes from a wonderful and wise herbalist friend. It is the first pourable/pumpable lotion I’ve ever made. With the high water content though, it will be prone to mold. I added a couple of drops of GSE to see if that helps.

In microwave, I heated 1 cup distilled water along with a pinch of borax. (I set mine on hight power for one minute) Then I stirred to dissolve the borax. I added the following to the water/borax:

  • 1 T. glycerine
  • 1 T. honey
  • 1 T. castor
  • 2 T. stearic acid
  • 4 T. emulsifying wax
  • 1/2 c. oil (I used olive)

One more minute in the microwave melted the waxes for me.

I used my stand mixer to whip until creamy and cool. ;) It looked quite runny until it was completely cooled.

Easiest Facial Moisturizer

Ingredients:
1 part Oil of choice
2 parts Aloe Vera Gel
Essential Oils (optional)
Grapefruit Seed Extract (optional)

Directions:
Whisk together until you get a translucent white gel. Add essential oils and grapefruit seed extract, if you wish. It absorbs completely and quickly.

Lavender and Lanolin Cream

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. grated beeswax
2 Tbsp. lanolin
1/2 cup almond oil
2 Tbsp. lavender infusion
2 Tbsp. witch hazel
1/8 tsp. borax powder
8 drops lavender Essential Oil

Directions:
Combine the beeswax, and oil in an ovenproof dish and heat until the wax is melted. The best way to do this is in a water bath. Place the dish containing the wax and oil in a pan with 1 to 2 inches of water. Once the wax is melted, remove from heat and add the lanolin. Allow the lanolin to melt and mix well. Combine the water, witch hazel, and borax and heat until just boiling. Slowly pour the water solution into the oil mixture while whisking briskly. Add essential oil, stirring well and then quickly glop into your container. This is a very, very thick cream! You will need a wide mouth jar.

Basic Salt Scrub

Ingredients:
1 cup Salt
1/2 cup Oil
1/2 cup liquid Soap
2 tsp Glycerine
1 tsp Fragrance or Essential Oil
1 tsp dried bits (like mint leaves, etc)

Directions:
Mix together your oil, liquid soap, glycerine and scent. Then add your salt and dried bits (completely optional) and mix well. This is not a soupy mixture, but rather like damp sand. Of course if you prefer soupy, add more oil and soap.

Notes: Kosher salt doesn’t work for me here. Its not scrubby enough. Don’t use baking soda in this! I thought I could just use my basic bath salt recipe (equal parts epsom, salt and baking soda) and add the oil/soap mixture. NO! I don’t know what kinda weird chemistry happened, but it was too weird and would not wash off.

Dr Bonner’s liquid castille is what i use for the soap, but I think you could also use liquid hand soap or replace with oil.

Basic Lotion

Ingredients:
1/8 tsp borax powder
1/4 cup distilled water
1/2 cup oil (or mixture of oils)
1 tbsp beeswax

Directions:
Combine beeswax and oils and heat until wax is melted. Add borax to water and heat. Slowly pour water into beeswax/oil mixture and beat until emulsified.The best thing about this recipe is that it is infinitely modifiable. The ‘oil’ can be all one type or your favorite mixture. The water can be an infusion or just plain water. The result is rather thick so a wide mouth jar is best for storage.

Peanut Soap

Ingredients:
27 oz Peanut Oil
6 oz Coconut Oil
6 oz Palm Oil
2 oz Castor Oil
5 oz Olive Oil
6.8 oz Lye
16 oz distilled water

Directions:
I used a crock pot for this recipe. You could also do a cold-process method. The 5oz of Olive oil is added after the cooking is done.Its a very bubbly soap. Lather’s better than anything I’ve ever made and is only a little drying. Its the first time I’ve used peanut oil so I’m guessing that’s it. I only used it because I had it and was very low on olive oil at the time.

Lavender Soap

Ingredients:
Wheatgerm 0.5 oz
Cocoa Butter 8 oz
Coconut 4 oz
Castor 2 oz
Palm 6 oz
Shea Butter 4 oz
Almond, Sweet 3.1 oz
Sesame Seed 1.4 oz
Flaxseed 3 oz
Lye 4.1 oz
Water 10.6 oz

Directions:
I use hot process usually. But cold process would work. After the cook, I added 1 ounce of almond oil to cool soap. After it cooled to 125 degrees, added 1 oz of lavender EO (flashpoint is 160)

Sage and Honey Syrup

Ingredients:
2oz of dried sage
3 cups distilled h20
Honey
5 drops habanero tinc or a pinch of cayenne
1 Lemon (zested & juiced)

Directions:
1. bring the water to a boil and simmer sage and lemon zest in it until the liquid is reduced by about half.
2. strain out sage leaves and add enough honey to bring the strained liquid to 2 cups (about 1/2 cup honey). Mix well.
3. add juice from one lemon and habanero tinc
Store in refrigerator.

Comfrey Clove Salve

Ingredients:
Beeswax (grated) 1 oz. Clove infused Olive Oil - ½ cup Comfrey Root Tincture - ¼ cup

Directions:
Melt beeswax and add clove oil and comfrey tinctures. Mix rapidly, using a wooden spoon, until there are no lumps and the mixture takes on a smooth creamy appearance. Set the mixture aside until it has cooled completely. Stir the cooled mixture again to remove any remaining lumps. Add a few drops of Clove EO for extra punch if you wish mixing well afterwards and glop into wide mouth containers.