Making your own natural body care items are all the rage, as evidenced by the explosion homemade lotions and such on sites like Etsy (I love Etsy!). But, if you’re like me, it seems so hard and so time-consuming to make your own lotions, potions, and remedies. So imagine my delight when I discovered that you can make your own body lotion in twenty-five minutes or less with a formula that anyone can use. All you need is a canning jar, a few ingredients, and about 20 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
1 heavy jar (like a canning jar)
1 1/2 pint jar
1/2 cup organic sweet almond, organic sunflower, or organic olive oil
1/4 cup organic coconut oil
1/4 cup beeswax
1 tbsp organic shea butter
1 tsp vitamin E oil (will help preserve the lotion)
20 drops of either organic lavender oil, organic mint oil, or organic orange oil
DIRECTIONS
Add all of the ingredients to the heavy canning jar. Place your jar into a saucepan and add enough water to the pan so that the water level comes past the ingredients in the jar (don’t put any water inside the jar, just in the pan around the jar).
Place the lid on your ball jar loosely so some air can escape.
Heat the water on medium heat and allow the ingredients to melt inside the jar.
Heat the water and mixture for around 20 minutes.
Once the ingredients have melted, remove from heat and place the jar on a towel or other heat-proof surface.
Let the solution cool for five minutes and add any one essential oil of your choosing.
Gently stir the mixture for two minutes.
Pour the mixture into a separate jar (1/2 pint works well) for storage and your lotion will last for up to 6 months.
It’s honestly that easy. To make your lotion even more sustainable, you can buy the bulk of your ingredients at your local farmer’s market, or even better—grow the herbs that comprise the essential oil in your lotion in your garden or in your apartment. Mint is one of the easiest herbs to grow, all you need to is to buy an organic mint plant, water your mint plant with two ounces of water every other day and place the plant in a window and you’ll have a thriving mint plant. Voila, you now have your own handmade body lotion.
Photo courtesy of thetastyalternative.com
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Michael Forman is a native of Bronx, New York, and has lived in New York City for almost his entire life. He is the executive farm director of Pure Love Organic Farms, an organic, urban farm that he and three other friends created in 2012 from a former garbage dump site. Michael also works as the North American account manager for Totally Green in the sustainable technologies field.