Post #3: DIY Face Creams and Hand Lotion

This week I chose to focus on all-natural lotions made with… yep! You guessed it, essential oils. Previously starting out I made a sleep blend, headache blend, and sheet spray to dip my toes in the water.  These three things were simple to make and a great way to learn how to use your oils. I’ll go over my process when I discuss how to add the oils to your lotion.

 Ingredients:     

Sleep Blend (10ml roll-on bottle)

·      5 drops Frankincense essential oil

·      5 drops Lavender essential oils

·      4 drops Stress Away essential oils

·      Fill rest of bottle with Jojoba oil

The process I use when handling my oils is to first layout all the oils you’ll need in a row on a paper towel. Then I place a pipette next to each. After this you’re ready to start using your oils. Carefully I open one oil at a time; then you have to remove the plastic dropper on each before you can use your pipette to extract the oil. Once you’re done with one oil, place the plastic dropper back in the bottle, and replace the lid tightly.

            Headache Blend (10ml roll-on bottle)

·      2 drops Lavender essential oil

·      2 drops Frankincense essential oils

·      2 drops Panaway essential oil

·      2 drops Peppermint essential oil

·      Fill rest of bottle with Jojoba oil

Sheet Spray (3oz glass spray bottle)

·      10 drops Lavender essential oil

·      10 Ylang Ylang essential oil

·      Fill the rest of the bottle 3/4^th of the way up with distilled water

Feeling more comfortable using my oils I chose to start replacing some of my beauty and skincare products.  This week I made hand and face cream (day and night) with all natural ingredients. To make the face cream I chose to use:

•    ¼ shea butter and ¼ cup coconut oil they both are amazing moisturizers, skin protectors, and can help heal damaged skin. 

•   I bought my raw, organic and unrefined shea butter and coconut oil at our Natural Grocers here in town.

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• 10 drops Frankincense essential oil for its anti-wrinkle effects. It’s also a good anti-inflammatory and antiseptic.

•    7 drops Lavender essential oil to help with acne troubles but also because like Frankincense it has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties that can fight the bacteria that can cause acne and inflammation. 

• 1 tsp. Jojoba oil to help nourish the skin.

•      For the Night Creams I added 5 drops Lemon essential oil because it’s a natural alternative to restore a healthy glow to dull skin. Applied topically Lemon serves as an anti-oxidant, astringent, and detoxifier.

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To make my face creams I made my own double boiler by using a glass Pyrex measuring cup in a pan filled half way with water. In the double boiler I melted ¾ cup shea butter and ¾ cup coconut oil.

I tripled the recipe because I wanted to make myself a day and night cream and my mom a night cream. Raw shea butter and coconut oil come solid, once it all melts to an oil I removed it from the heat and let it cool for about 30 minutes.

Then I separated the oil into 1 cup for the night creams and ½ cup for the day cream. After doing so I dropped in and stirred my Frankincense, Lavender, Jojoba, and Lemon oil (lemon only for night creams) into the already melted shea butter and coconut oil.

After adding you oils you want to wait for you mixes to partially solidify. I put mine in the freezer for 20 minutes to speed up the process. Once it was partially solidified I took my hand mixer and whipped the lotions until they reached a butter like consistency.

                       

I then transferred the lotions to 4oz jars. Once I put my lotions into the jars I put rubbing alcohol on cotton balls and cleaned the outsides of the jars (they’ll be oily).

After my jars dried and were clean I took the labels I got from Hobby Lobby and wrote the name of the product on them.

My whipped lotion was super simple. All I had to do is take 4 tablespoons coconut oil and whip it with your hand mixer while it’s in its solid state until the texture is smooth. Then I added 6 drops Lavender and 6 drops Frankincense. Mix together one more time and that’s it!

Post #2: Beginner's Guide to Essential Oils

                                                                                           

My journey with essential began with Torey. She’s a work friend but I’m proud to say I feel like an additional daughter to her.  Torey’s been my guide to everything essential oils. I chose to purchase my starter kit from Young Living not only because of the amazing things I’ve heard but because I was very interested in starting my journey to a healthy, chemical free life.

At first diving into essential oils I was a little skeptical and very over whelmed. There’s so much to learn. First things first, what are EOs?  Young Living’s essential oils are extracted from plants whose seeds have been verified for their EO potential by Young Living experts, partnering with University experts. The plants are then grown on farms across the globe that are dedicated to best growing and harvesting methods. Young Living’s then distills the oils by gently steam extracting the most effective oils, as well as cold pressing and resin tapping select oils. Their distillation process is important because it determines their therapeutic value. All of Young Living’s oil is tested to guarantee they contain optimal levels of natural bioactive compounds.

It’s important to use 100% pure and natural, therapeutic grade oils. Additives and adulteration can be harmful to the body and greatly reduces the effectiveness of the oil.

Now that we’ve gone over how EOs come about, how do they work? Essential oils can be used in three ways, topically, internally, and aromatically.

• Applying EOs topically allows for the active chemicals to be absorbed into the skin. The same way pharmaceuticals such as therapy cream works.

• When ingesting essential oils you need to be sure you’re using the highest quality oil to ensure its safety. Young Living’s seed to seal guarantee allows them to confidently choose to ingest their EO’s.

• The final way is inhaling essential oils. Doing so directly influences the control center of the brain, the hypothalamus. This sends instructions through our body concerning sleep patterns, mood, behavior, appetite, and the release of certain hormones. Not only do they interact with the Olfactory System but also the Limbic System. When odor molecules travel through the nose and affect the brain through a variety of receptor cites, one being the Limbic System commonly referred to as the “emotional brain”. The Limbic System is directly connected to parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels, and hormone balance. This helps explain why smells often trigger emotions.

For my next post I’m excited to start sharing my simple recipes for replacing products in my every day routine with all natural chemical free substitutes.