Category Archives: Home Made Beauty

Making your own beauty products is, for the most part, less expensive than store bought and better for your skin. I make my own shampoo and face wash as well as lotion and sunscreen.

For the shampoo, I use coconut milk, castile soap, castor oil and a little bit of olive oil for conditioning.

Recipe:
Castile Soap ($30 for 64 oz) 1/3 cup
Coconut Milk (1.79 for 12 oz) ¼ cup
Olive 1tsp (soft cost)
10-20 drops essential (optional, I used peppermint oil for the tingly feeling.) ($12, for 5ml)

Mix all ingredients in an empty shampoo or soap bottle. I used an old baby wash bottle. Shake and label.

Not only is it healthier for your scalp and hair, but it is less expensive than regular shampoo and you don’t need to use as much. I use about a tablespoon to wash my hair. It comes out to being about $2* for 16 oz. whereas store-bought is anywhere from $3.50 (12 oz Suave) to $11 (10 oz Redken) or more depending on your brand. It’s easy to make, costs less and lasts longer!

*Disclaimer: In figuring the cost for the homemade, I did not include the olive oil as as I consider it a “soft” cost as I already buy it for cooking and only use about 1 tsp in the recipe.

And now for the facewash.

I use equal parts olive oil and castor oil. So, for a 16 oz bottle you would use

Now, I know what everyone is thinking…oil on your face? How in the world will that work? Aren’t we trying to avoid oily skin?

The secret here is the castor oil. It gets in those clogged pores and pulls out all the gunk and bad oil, getting rid of acne and drying your skin out. Now you are thinking “Wait, now we are drying out our skin? This makes no sense.”

That is where the olive oil comes into play. Olive oil is a natural moisturizer and skin hydrator. For years and years people have been using it to soften skin. Trust me, if you start using this you will be deluged with compliments on how awesome, soft and glowing your skin looks.

Still don’t believe me? Try it for a week…I dare you. 🙂

We are trying to save money and be healthier at the same time. I have found SO many pages on Pinterest with how to create your own beauty and cleaning products so here are the few I have made so far, with recipes:

Shampoo – turned out great, does a much better job than the store-bought and I have discovered that I do not actually have dandruff, just severely dry scalp!

Minty Shampoo:
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup liquid castile soap (I used the peppermint Dr. Bronners)
1 tsp vitamin E oil
1-2 TB olive oil (for conditioning purposes, omit if you do not have a dry scalp problem) out with the bonus that it saves over half the cost of store-bought.

Body scrubs – I cannot believe how great the scrubs are, nor how easy they are to make.

Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub:
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
1 1/4 cup Sugar
3 Tbsp Lime or Lemon Juice {fresh is best!}

Put all into a bowl and stir. Transfer to glass jar or container of choice.

Dawn Sugar Scrub
Fill a container 3/4 with sugar. Top with dishwashing liquid. I used the pink Dawn with Olay and it works just like Mary Kay’s satin hands. Smells heavenly too.

Lotion – still getting used to this one…the lotions I have made are not creamy as name-brands, but they seem to work even better.

Whipped Coconut Body “Butter”
Coconut Oil, you decide on the amount
A few drops of your favorite essential oil. I used lavendar.

Whip in blender until creamy. Transfer to glass jar or container of choice. That’s it, really.

Deoderent – Messy at first until I put it in an empty store bought deoderant container. I have gone for a few days without having to reapply.

Deodorant
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 TB coconut oil, melted

Mix all ingredients and pour into an empty deodorant dispenser after the mixture has cooled slightly.
Face wash – Admittedly I was very skeptical about this one but I will now never go back to any of the store-bought face washes I have used in the past.

Face Wash “The Oil Method”
Fill one 8 ounce squeeze bottle with equal parts olive oil and castor oil as well as a teaspoon of vitamin E oil. Scrub into face each evening and stand in a steamy shower or place a very hot dishcloth over your face until well steamed. You will not have to put moisturizer on after the shower, nor the next morning.

We are saving money in several ways by making our own beauty products. All of the ingredients listed above are soft costs because we have them in our pantry already. Also, we are paying a much lower tax rate on these items because they are considered food items. It’s easy and very affordable.