Natural Body Care Products

In this week's natural living class we made chap stick, a lotion bar, and deodorant. So exciting! To make these body care products you will need:

1. Coconut oil
2. Shea butter
3. Mango butter
4. Beeswax (best to use pre-shredded)
5. Vitamin E
6. Arrow root starch
7. Baking Soda
8. Essential Oils

Here are the recipes we used:

Chapstick

1/2 tsp. beeswax

1 tsp. shea butter

1 tsp. mango butter

10 drops essential oils of your choice

Lotion Bar

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 Tbsp. shea butter

1 Tbsp. beeswax

1 capsule Vitamin E (400 IU)

20 drops essential oils of your choice

Deodorant

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 Tbsp. shea butter

1 Tbsp. mango butter

2 Tbsp. beeswax

1 capsule Vitamin E (400 IU)

2 Tbsp. arrow root starch

2 Tbsp. baking soda

30 drops essential oils of your choice

We started by melting the beeswax, shea butter, and mango butter for the chap stick in a double boiler on the stove. Once the ingredients were melted we added our essential oils and poured the chap stick into containers. I wear contacts and have TONS of extra contact cases so I re-purposed some into chap stick holders. For this recipe I used 5 drops of lavender and 5 drops of orange, both are great for your skin.

Please note that it is important to not let your essential oils get too hot or they may start to loose some of their healing properties. You should add the oil once you have taken the jar out of the double boiler.

Next we made lotion bars melting the coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax in the double boiler. Once those ingredients were melted we added Vitamin E and essential oils. I used 10 drops of pan away and 10 drops of peppermint to make a "pain relief bar."

The deodorant was very similar. We melted the coconut oil, shea butter, mango butter, and beeswax in the double boiler. Then we added the Vitamin E, arrow root starch, baking soda, and essential oils. I used 10 drops of Mel A (tea tree oil), 10 drops of lemon, and 10 drops of peppermint. This combination will be antiseptic, bactericide, anti-fungal, and refreshing.

We poured both the lotion bars and deodorant into muffin wrappers but a recycled deodorant stick would also work very well.

If you are planning to use the same melting jar for each recipe it is important to save the deodorant for last. You don't want any left over baking soda (a salt) drying up your lips or skin!

I have really liked all of these products and would definitely make them again. The deodorant is AMAZING and I think I will quickly be making a permanent home for it in my bathroom cabinet.

For last week's natural living class on makeup click here.