{"id":20758,"date":"2020-07-06T14:48:06","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T18:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/?p=20758"},"modified":"2025-03-16T14:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T18:22:18","slug":"adventures-in-making-skincare-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/adventures-in-making-skincare-products\/","title":{"rendered":"adventures in making skincare products"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been experimenting with making my own skincare products using natural ingredients, and I thought you might be interested to hear about it… <\/p>\n

\"handmade
\nI’ll tell you all about these later in this post!<\/em><\/p>\n

Hand cream and nail oil are secret weapons in my business – it’s only because of them that my hands (hopefully!) never look objectionable, even in close-up tutorial photos.<\/p>\n

\"crochet
\nNot a hangnail in sight!<\/em><\/p>\n

How I Got Started<\/h2>\n

My journey to make my own lotions and potions began with a quest to protect my face from the harsh cold of the Canadian winter. After developing eczema while living in South Africa (where it never gets very cold), I discovered I had a whole new set of skin problems to contend with when I came home.\u00a0I needed to find a way to protect my now-sensitive face, which had become extremely intolerant of the cold.<\/p>\n

I bought and\u00a0tried lots of creams that\u00a0I’d been recommended, with results ranging from ineffective, to eczema-triggering, to disastrous\u00a0(e.g. covering my face in Aquaphor without realising that it\u00a0contained lanolin until my eyes swelled up and the allergic reaction began…)<\/p>\n

So I decided to take\u00a0the plainest moisturising\u00a0cream that didn’t give me any symptoms, and supercharge it\u00a0by adding extra skin-friendly oils to rebuild and protect my skin’s moisture barrier. And it worked! My skin is much happier these days \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

But this wasn’t just useful… it was fun!<\/strong> I realised I could probably mix my creams and oils in different ways, with a few extras, to make different skincare products for myself.<\/p>\n

Choosing Oils<\/h2>\n

There are lots of 100% pure oils<\/strong> derived from plants that have beneficial properties for the skin: grapeseed, sweet almond, jojoba, rosehip, argan, marula, and many more. To figure out which I should try, I looked at the ingredients of products I already liked, then did some googling and borrowed books from the library to find out which oils sounded like they’d be most helpful for my needs. <\/p>\n

And then there are essential oils<\/strong>: highly concentrated plant extracts that must be diluted before use. They are used for aromatherapy and may have other health benefits. There’s a passionate community of essential oil advocates and I briefly got sucked into that – the potential benefits of certain oils made them sound very appealing. After I bought a few bottles and tried them, I realised that I don’t do well with most scents – giving myself a headache was not what I intended! Now I only use the essential oils that have a scent that makes me feel happy and calm (more on that below). <\/p>\n

Once I’d sorted out what to try, I bought some of my supplies from a local health food shop, and some online. <\/p>\n

\"handmade
\nSupplies: ingredients and empty containers<\/em><\/p>\n

I did some more research to figure out roughly how much of each oil I should be using (here’s a very rough starting point: up to 10% of regular oils and 1% of essential oils), and then started experimenting with adjusting the proportions until I got a result I liked. <\/p>\n

Combining the Ingredients<\/h2>\n

If my end product will be an oil, I use droppers to add the different component oils into the container and then close the container and shake it to mix them together. <\/p>\n

It’s a little more difficult when making a cream or lotion. First I measure or weigh out all my ingredients into a bowl and mix them together with a little spoon:<\/p>\n

\"handmade<\/p>\n

In these photos I’m making my pink grapefruit hand cream, and yes, it looks pretty unappealing at first! But after a good mixing it looks smooth and creamy:<\/p>\n

\"handmade<\/p>\n

I’ve discovered that you have to mix and mix to get the oils to emulsify properly with a cream or lotion – even if it looks well-mixed, the oils can begin to separate out after a few days or weeks. Now, I stir for an extra minute or two after it looks like its fully mixed.<\/p>\n

Then it’s just a matter of decanting into a container and it’s ready to use and enjoy! <\/p>\n

\"handmade<\/p>\n

(All my containers are reusable: I wash them out when they’re empty and refill them, so I can be a bit more environmentally friendly.) <\/p>\n

My ‘Products’<\/h2>\n

(I’m calling them products, but these aren’t intended for sale – they’re just for my own use.) These are my favourite skincare products that I’ve made so far:<\/p>\n

\"handmade
\nL-R: headache oil, hand cream, nail oil<\/em><\/p>\n

I made a spearmint headache oil<\/strong> in a glass rollerball bottle, with a sweet almond oil base. I massage it onto the sides of my forehead when I get a tension headache and it helps. Spearmint essential oil has a sweeter and more uplifting scent than peppermint, it’s gentler on the skin, and I find it very relaxing. And doesn’t the yellow oil look pretty in my blue\/clear glass bottle?! <\/p>\n

I came up with a really rich moisturizing hand cream<\/strong> enriched with jojoba, rosehip and pink grapefruit oils, which completely stops my hands from getting dry or rough (even with all the hand washing we have to do these days!) I find the sweet citrus scent of the pink grapefruit to be a great mood-lifter and very relaxing.<\/p>\n

I replaced my favourite (and pricey) nail oil<\/strong> with my homemade version – sweet almond and jojoba oils and vitamin E in a container with a built-in brush applicator keep my cuticles looking good for all those close-up tutorial photos. It doesn’t have the almond fragrance of my favourite brand, but that’s just an artificial fragrance anyway, so I’m happy to live without the scent. I get the same results as the brand name for a fraction of the price, so I can use my nail oil as often as I want without feeling guilty! <\/p>\n

Verdict<\/h2>\n

As any crafter knows, it’s always a special feeling to be able to use things you’ve made yourself. <\/p>\n

I know this may seem like a small thing, but using my own customized creams and oils with my favourite uplifting natural scents gives me a little happiness boost every time I wash my hands or prepare my cuticles for taking photos, or comforts and relaxes me when I have a headache or eczema symptoms. <\/p>\n

Try It Yourself<\/h2>\n

If you want to try dabbling, it can be as simple as adding a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil to a jar of lotion and then stirring it well until it’s all mixed in. For example, I add a few drops of spearmint essential oil to my tub of foot cream and it adds an extra zing to the unfragranced moisturizer.<\/p>\n

Or, if you want to try just one moisturising oil, I’d recommend jojoba oil<\/a>. Its molecules are close in size to the natural oils produced by the body, so it absorbs very easily, making it a highly effective moisturiser. You can mix it with other ingredients like I do, or use it by itself as a moisturiser (it’s safe to use anywhere on your face and body) or cuticle oil. It’s light and gentle – despite the name, it’s actually a liquid wax, not an oil – and, as it absorbs so well, it won’t leave you feeling greasy or looking shiny. It’s stable, and a little goes a long way, so one bottle will last for ages – my first bottle is still going strong after 18 months! <\/p>\n

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Do you make your own skincare products? What are your favourite ingredients? Or are you tempted to try something for the first time now? Tell me about it! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been experimenting with making my own skincare products using natural ingredients, and I thought you might be interested to hear about it… I’ll tell you all about these later in this post! Hand cream and nail oil are secret weapons in my business – it’s only because of them that my hands (hopefully!) never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-crafts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20758"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24377,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20758\/revisions\/24377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetjune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}