Lip Balm

It's winter time, the air is dry and cold, and my lips are always chapped. I am buying so many different chapsticks, some work while some are not so great. I carry them around with me every where I go and have one in each pocket, in my living room, bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen... I always have to have my chapstick like I'm addicted to it. So I thought that it should be fairly easy to make your own and sure enough, it is!

After taking an online class at the Aromahead Institute, I made my own lip balm today. It is so wonderful! It leaves my lips feeling moisturized, nurtured, and soft. I made two different "flavors" - one with Orange Essential Oil and another one with Honey Ginger Essential Oil. The ingredient list is very short and includes only beeswax, jojoba oil, shea butter, and coconut oil. Last I added the essential oils.

Go to my website to check out the recipe.

Have a smoochy winter

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The Safe Shopper's Bible

This is an early post for this week but I know my week will end up to be very busy and I wanted to leave you with some food-for-thought.
Just recently I stumbled across The Safe Shopper's Bible - A Consumer's Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics, and Food by David Steinman & Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. This book is a true eye opener and worth the few dollars that it costs (I bought mine on half.com for $ 5.00). Even though it was published in 1995, this book offers valuable information when it comes to living naturally. The chapters range from household products (cleaning products, paint and related products, pesticides, pet supplies, auto products, art and craft supplies) to cosmetics (eye and face makeup, hair care, dental and oral hygiene, feminine hygiene, nail products, and skin products) to foods and beverages. Interestingly, when I looked under the "Skin Lotion" section, the less common and lesser known brands are the ones mostly recommended compared to well known brands such as Almay, Chanel, Clarins, Clinique, Estee Lauder, Jergens, or even Lubriderm and Oil of Olay. What these well-known brands have in common is that they use fragrances and preservatives some of which can be very harmful. Manufacturers do not have to label them as harmful as often only traces of a specific ingredient can be found. However, used on a daily basis over a prolonged period of time, even the most minimal trace adds up and can be harmful.
Some years ago I had bought a moisturizing facial cream because "advertisers told me" (you know, commercials on TV can be oh so persuasive) that I needed it for anti-aging prevention. I did not think twice, did not read the label, paid $ 40.00 for a tiny jar (and that was cheap!), went home, and used the cream only to frantically wash it off a little while later because my eyes were itching and getting puffy. How upsetting is it to spend so much money on a cream only to be allergic to it?! Synthetic fragrances and preservatives are very often the cause of allergies so if you are like me and experience or suffer from an allergy and have no idea where it is coming from, take a look at what you put on your skin. Stop using your cosmetic products for a while and see if your allergy gets better. Read the labels, research the products online, become an educated consumer. A very good reference site is Skin Deep. Better yet, make your own products! You always know what you put in your own product. You can use different ingredients depending on your need, skin type, or mood if you like fragranced products. Instead of using synthetic fragrances, essential oils are the safest substitute. Some essential oils are photosensitive (e.g. bergamot and any citrus oils) and also can cause an allergic reaction. As it is with any product, test a drop of essential oil on the inside of your forearm.

Be well and live well!

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Making Soap

Today I unveiled my first self-made soap and I must say I am pleasantly surprised. The entire process was so much easier than what I had imagined especially after reading book after book, articles and internet sites including watching videos on youtube about the cold-process soap making. What initially scared me was handling the lye as every book, article, and internet site warned of the danger that can be involved. However, prepared not only with a ton of knowledge but also with an outfit similar to a deep-sea diver, I felt daring enough to start the experiment. I put on my googles, gloves, had on a long sleeve shirt and an apron in case I spill some lye, and had my kitchen prepped so that all areas that were exposed and even remotely exposed to the soap-making process were covered with paper and towels. I felt safe and got to work.
First I measured the lye, then the distilled water, and next, I poured the lye into the water. Since the lye-water heated up to over 200 degrees, it took several hours to let it cool down to almost 80 degrees. I instantly realized that making soap from scratch includes a lot of patience because I had to wait almost 5 hours until the lye cooled down to the desired temperature. Next time, I will prepare the lye the day before so that I eliminate the waiting period. A note on safety though, if you have children or pets, keep the lye-water mixture out of reach and clearly label the content!!!
After the lye cooled down, it was time to heat up the oils until it reached the same temperature as the lye. Finally both lye and oils had the same temperature and I could begin combining both with a stick blender. Instead of mixing the soap mixture by hand, I had seen on youtube that a stick blender works just as well if not even better. So I poured the lye into the oil mixture and started mixing until tracing began. Initially I had no idea what tracing looks like. Sure I read all about it but then seeing and experiencing it for myself was yet another matter. I think I mixed a bit too long, I had to make sure about the tracing, so in the end, the mixture looked somewhat like vanilla pudding. I quickly mixed my essential oils into the soap and poured the mixture into the prepared soapbox. I scraped off the sides off the pot... ooopss, too late. I later read that one should not do that... oh well... Then I covered the box, covered it with a blanket, and left it alone for 48 hours.
After 2 days of waiting, I put on my "diving outfit" again and headed back into the kitchen to check on the soap. The googles and gloves are a safety precaution because the lye in the soap is still reactive after 48 hours. So I took the soap out of the box and my initial thought was, "hm, looks like a huge bar of cheese" but it smelled wonderfully due to the essential oils. I cut off the top layer, the layer that was from the scraped out sides of the pot. I am still a bit unsure why one should not scrape the sides of the pot but I can imagine that it must have something to do with the lye and that there may be too many traces that have not mixed with the oil. After the top layer was gone, I cut the soap in bars and tiny pieces that I want to give out as samples. After that, I put the bars and pieces into a brown paper bag to dry for about 4 weeks. The paper bag served as my "dry and dark place." That meant 4 weeks of waiting to find out if the soap is usable or not.
So today was the day I used the soap for the first time and like I said, I am pleasantly surprised. The coconut oil in the soap contributes to a fine and foamy lather. Since 5% of the oils were not saponified - meaning the alkali base (lye) combines with the fats or oils - the soap is creamy and while cleansing still gives enough moisture to the skin so that the skin does not feel dry and stripped of its protective layer of sebum. Watch out friends and family, you know what you are getting for the next occasion :-)

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Lavender & Honey Body Cream

I just made a new batch of Lavender & Honey Body Cream. Love it!!! The cream came out smooth and leaves your skin moisturized and silky soft with no oily residue.

Here are the ingredients:

Fats
5 g Hempseed Oil
20 g Apricot Oil
16 g Almond Oil
14 g Borage Seed Oil
3 g Vitamin E

Liquids
25 ml Lavender Florasol
95 ml Water

Thickeners/Emulsifiers
12 g Emulsifying Wax
3 g Beeswax
1/8 tsp Stearic Acid
1/8 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Borax

In a water bath, I heated the fats and the liquids in separate pyrex containers until the waxes were melted. The borax was added to the liquids. After the waxes were melted, I mixed (with a hand mixer) in the Xanthan Gum until it dissolved. Then, I poured the liquids slowly into the fats while mixing both together on slow speed with the hand mixer. I continued to mix for approximately 8 minutes. Last, I mixed in the essential oils and filled the cream into sterilized jars and containers.

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