The Sinister Scribe

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup flaxseed
• 1/4 cup lavender buds

Process the oats in a blender until powdery (2 minutes in my VitaMix). Add flaxseed and process for another minute. Add lavender buds and process for another thirty seconds.

To use: moisten a palm-full with warm water until you have a paste. Gently rub over face and rinse with tepid water. Follow with cold water, aloe gel and lotion.
Notes: This has been great for my eczema. I’ve been using it for several months. The flaxseed keeps it from becoming a gooey mess when warm water is added. It also adds just enough scrubby-ness but not so much that it aggravates any eczema patches. The lavender makes it smell really nice too.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.