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So my mother discovered the Farmer’s Almanac a few years ago (or possibly re-discovered, I’ve never asked — I just assumed that city kids didn’t read the Farmer’s Almanac), and this year has a page-a-day calendar version. Despite living many states away from my mother, I always know what page-a-day she has because she mails me the ones she thinks I’ll find interesting. So I thought I’d share this one with you all, even though it won’t work for Denise (I am somewhat sure that flax seed allergies aren’t incredibly common, but if you have one, don’t make this).
To treat a nagging cough:
Boil 3T whole flax seed in 1 pint water
Strain
Stir in 3T sugar [I’d use honey]
Add juice of two lemons
Cool the mixture
Sip as needed
This sounds to me as though it would work well.
My own make at home cough syrup is a little different. A lot of the time, I just swig a spoonful of honey. If I’m feeling fancy or have a real cough, I will dissolve a few tablespoons of honey in a bit of boiling water, add a half shot of whiskey or brandy and a spare pinch of cayenne. There are no real measurements, as I’ve never made this while not sick. This works pretty well for me.
Here’s hoping you don’t need either recipe, but if you do, they’re here for you.
Guess what? The clay facial mask I liked contains coconut too. (To see a list of coconut derivatives, go here, thanks to Becky at the Allergic to Coconut? blog). See how repetitive this whole coconut being in my products thing is? So I scoured the internet to look for DIY remedies for acne, and came up with a list of ingredients. Me being me, I decided to put all of them in the same mask, if one thing is good, why not superpower it with all of them? Luckily, the only thing I needed after ordering the stuff to make lotions and the shampoo was French Green Clay which I got from Majestic Mountain Sage (no affiliation other than being a satisfied customer).
Denise’s Acne Clay Facial Mask
First of all, I found that this made a bit more than I needed (half again as much), so depending on the area you want to cover and how thickly you want to cover, you might want to adjust the quantities.
Crush aspirin tablets in your mixing bowl. I used a pestle to my mortar and pestle, but you can use a metal spoon. Add salt and lemon juice to container. Let salt and aspirin dissolve in lemon juice. Then add honey, apricot kernel oil, and tea tree oil, and mix thoroughly. Then add French Green Clay and distilled water and mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
Smooth mixture on face and let dry until you can touch the mask without any coming off on your finger (10 to 15 minutes). Wash off with warm water and a facecloth. I’d have taken a picture with it on my face, but I thought I’d spare us all that kind of shock. Try it and let me know what you think, I liked it very much.
Guess what? Most lip balms contain either coconut or palm too. (To see a list of coconut derivatives, go here, thanks to Becky at the Allergic to Coconut? blog). Luckily, once have all the stuff to make the lotions, you pretty much have everything you need to make lip balm except the coloring and/or flavoring (which you can leave out if you want) and the containers.
I had previously ordered everything I needed from Majestic Mountain Sage (no affiliation other than being a satisfied customer), but I did want containers and coloring and flavoring. The recipe that I modified also comes from their website. I also suggest getting some plastic pipettes, it makes your life a lot easier. I ordered the small pipettes and the 20ml lip balm containers.
Denise’s Version of Make Your Own Lip Balm
First of all, you can add any oil soluable lip balm colors or any of the flavor oils you want. I chose to mix equal parts of the red and blue colors, and I used the Blackberry Pomegranate flavor oil.
20 grams of beeswax
25 grams of shea butter
15 grams of cocoa butter
40 grams of avocado oil
3 ml of Blackberry Pomegranate Flavor oil (I used a plastic pipette to measure this out)
A drop or two of the Red oil soluable lip balm color
A drop or two of the Blue oil soluable lip balm color
7 – 20ml lip balm containers or other containers to hold completed lip balm
Using a kitchen scale, weigh all ingredients, except the lip balm color and the flavor oil, and place in a double boiler, over medium heat. Heat until all items are melted. Don’t heat over direct heat, and MMS cautions that oils and wax get hot very quickly and the temperature can climb higher than you suspect. Once everything is melted, remove the double boiler from the heat and add the flavor oil, mixing well. Then take a toothpick or a bamboo skewer, and dip the tip about a third of an inch into the red lip balm color and then stir it into the lip balm, mixing well. Repeat with the blue lip balm color. Add tiny bits more until you get the color you want.
Use a plastic pipette to put the mixture into the lip balm containers. According to MMS, it’s best to always use a plastic transfer pipette, as glass droppers are cooler than the oil mixture and it will quickly solidify inside the dropper. Let the containers cool and then screw on the caps.
Since most lotions contain coconut derivatives (to see a list of coconut derivatives, go here, thanks to Becky at the Allergic to Coconut? blog), and the one that I found that didn’t have any, had two ingredients that turned out to be forms of pesticide, I decided I needed to make my own if I was getting off the coconut bandwagon.
I used a recipe from FIMBY, but modified it to make myself a body lotion and then modified it again to make a facial moisturizer.
Denise’s Body Lotion
First of all, you can sub out any essential oil scent you want. I tend to use citrus and vanilla type scents because anything floral makes me sneeze. (Yes, I have a whole host of respiratory allergies too, aren’t I lucky?) The reason I use this as body lotion is that cocoa butter is comedogenic so I’m not putting it on my face.
1 1/2 ounces cocoa butter
1 ounce avocado oil
1 ounce apricot kernel oil
1/2 ounce extra virgin olive oil
1/2 ounce beeswax
4 ounces distilled water
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
30 drops grapefruit seed extract
10 drops grapefruit essential oil
Weigh out the oils and beeswax, and place in a double boiler. Melt the wax and oils over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the mixture is fully melted, remove from the stove and add the water and baking soda. Mix with hand blender or mixer until creamy & thick. Stir in grapefruit seed extract and essential oil.
Facial Lotion
Denise’s Facial Lotion
I don’t put any essential oil in this because I don’t want any scents on my face, although you could probably use tea tree essential oil with good result. Shea butter is non-comedogenic, so I subbed that out for the cocoa butter. A little of this goes a long, long way, so don’t put a lot on or you’ll be using a tissue to wipe it off.
1 1/2 ounces shea butter
1 ounce avocado oil
1 ounce apricot kernel oil
1/2 ounce extra virgin olive oil
1/2 ounce beeswax
4 ounces distilled water
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
30 drops grapefruit seed extract
Weigh out the oils and beeswax, and place in a double boiler. Melt the wax and oils over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the mixture is fully melted, remove from the stove and add the water and baking soda. Mix with hand blender or mixer until creamy & thick. Stir in grapefruit seed extract.
Gently Used, Halloween Themed Lotion Bar
I also tried making lotion bars from Smockityfrocks.com, which are wonderful especially on your heels and feet. I don’t think I’ll be having any problems with dry or cracked heels this winter. I did modify the recipe slightly, by adding a little Eucalyptus Citriodora (Lemon Eucalyptus) essential oil, and by only doing a quarter of the recipe (which still makes 3 lotion bars by the way). You could sub out the Eucalyptus Citriodora for any other essential oil that you would prefer as well.
Modified Lotion Bars (1/4 Recipe with Essential Oil)
1/4 cup of Shea Butter
1/4 cup of beeswax
1/4 cup of Avocado Oil
1/4 teaspoon of Vitamin E Oil
5 drops of Eucalyptus Citriodora (Lemon Eucalyptus) essential oil
Measure out shea butter and beeswax and place in a double boiler over medium heat to melt the shea butter and beeswax. Once the shea butter and beeswax have melted, Stir in the avocado oil, vitamin E oil, and essential oil. Pour into some molds (Yes, it was around Halloween when I bought my molds), tins, or lotion bar tubes. Allow to cool.
The best thing about all of the lotion and lotion bar recipes is that they take about 15 minutes to make. I made each of these recipes well over a month ago and I still have tons left. You may wish to put some of the lotions in the refrigerator. Some of the water separated out of mine after two weeks but it still works wonders compared to commercial lotions.
Also, I ordered most of the materials to make the lotions from Majestic Mountain Sage. Their prices are extremely reasonable, but their shipping is less so, so if you order from them, make the order worth the shipping. (No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.)
So here’s the thing. Being allergic to coconut is a b*tch, once you realize that coconut is in just about every cleaning product on the market. To get a list of coconut derivatives, go here, thanks to Becky at the Allergic to Coconut? blog. Due to some issues with breaking out much more than I should be at freaking *40*, I decided I wanted to try cutting out any coconut derivatives that touch my skin.
First, most soap and shampoos contain at least one of the coconut derivatives on the list, if not five to ten of them. Most lotions, face masks, acne treatments, etc., etc., etc., contain at least one of the coconut derivatives as well. When I decided to go looking at my beauty and personal hygiene products, guess what? Every single one had coconut in them, except one lotion, and when I looked up the ingredients I didn’t recognize on that label, it turned out to be two forms of pesticide. Yippy fricking skippy.
The first thing I did was to try to find a recipe for shampoo, because I was breaking out in my hair, which hadn’t ever been a problem before. I posted this information earlier in one of our Fabulous Friday Finds, but I’ve made some modifications.
I found this recipe for making your own shampoo, which calls for castile soap. Just be aware that even some castile soaps, like Dr. Bonner, have coconut in them. I found a recipe for making castile soap from Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap. Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap does not have any coconut in it. I made the shampoo with some modifications and found it too drying on my hair, so I added olive oil, but found it could be a bit waxy. This time I think I have it the way I like it. I’ve been using it as a body wash as well.
Denise’s Version of DIY Shampoo
1 Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap – 8 oz bar, grated (I grated it in my food processor, dumped it out, put the blade in, put it back in the food processor and pulverized it some more. Doesn’t take as long to dissolve in the water this way. Make sure you clean your food processor really well afterwards.)
5 cups of distilled water
3 Tablespoons of grapeseed oil
2 Tablespoons of castor oil
10-15 drops of tea tree essential oil
Grate Kiss My Face Soap. Place in a glass or plastic container with 5 cups of distilled water. Stir well, cover, and leave overnight. The next day, check to see if the soap bits have completely dissolved. If not, stir again and let sit. When the soap has completely dissolved, add, the grapeseed oil, the castor oil and the tea tree oil, and mix together. I used a whisk, I found it incorporated the oil better. This makes about 48 oz of shampoo. I put half in a pump bottle (Yes, it’s a store-brand hand sanitizer bottle, reduce, reuse, recycle, remember?) in the shower and half in the fridge until I run out. Or you could just make half the recipe 🙂
You can use the shampoo as body wash and facial wash as well, but stay tuned for further posts on facial cleansing options.
