WHY I MAKE HOMEMADE SKINCARE

I have shared a few homemade skincare recipes over the last few months, and I will be sharing more in the future. I wanted to take a moment and share why I am passionate about making homemade skincare products when you can. Everyone comes to the from scratch lifestyle for different reasons. Sometimes it’s due to allergies, others because of the chemicals, sometimes it’s just because people are curious and want to make it from scratch. The thing is, our whys my all be different, but we are all searching for the same information, which is why you found this blog post.

Where It All Started

When I started down our health journey and really started cooking from scratch, I started reading labels. I started reading even more labels when my daughter developed a gluten sensitivity. Once I started reading the food labels, I started reading labels on everything. I was amazed at what I was putting on my body and what I was buying for my daughter and husband. Half of the ingredients I can’t pronounce correctly, and they aren’t very transparent to what they are or their side effects.

As I started following certain influencers in the gardening and homesteading genre, I started joining their groups on Facebook. I learned about new YouTubers and honestly a thousand new rabbit holes were presented for me to explore. These people were passionate about gardening because it was healthier and tasted better. Some were equally as passionate about what they used for medicine, skincare, cleaning products and so much more. It brought up a lot of questions in my mind.

Our families focus to live with intention, in every area possible. That means I did not jump down all the rabbit holes at once. I slowly learned and became comfortable with one new skill after another. Food was priority in our home due to the health stuff we were battling. As the opportunity arose, I would switch out one cleaning product or one skincare product and let that become a habit for a family. Once it was second nature then I would learn something new. Skincare has been one of the hardest to take slowly and worth through with intention.

Intentionally Choosing Homemade Skincare

Did you know that your skin is your largest organ? I did when I was younger and then quickly filled that spot in my brain with other information. As I learned what I was lathering on my body, it hit me. I am so careful about what I eat, yet I am filling my largest organ with chemical after chemical. What was I doing? This is why it was so hard to take this slow. I also needed my family to be on board and willing to go through the experimental phase with me. Homemade skincare has an interesting trial and error period. Everyone has their favorite scents, favorite textured lip products, skin conditions and so much more. So, I did a lot of research taking my families preferences into consideration and started down this journey.

I started with couple of easy wins, sugar and salt scrubs. Those were cheap if I needed to just toss them, but in all honesty, it is so hard to do them wrong. If it is too rough add more moisture, if it is too wet add more salt or sugar. I then made an amazing lip scrub! This was a game changer in getting my daughter involved. We love our lip scrub recipe and will choose it over a store bought one any day.

The next thing I started playing with was soap. I did the melt and pour soaps for a while, which was fun, but I have stopped making those now. We transitioned to foaming hand soap and we all love that recipe so much that I see us using it in the bathrooms from here on out. I do plan to learn cold processed soap making in the next year or so and adding that into our routine.

Lotion was probably one of the things I put off learning for a while. I was addicted to bath and body works and kept talking myself out of giving it up. Then I learned about the parfums and other ingredients that cause a whole slew of problems, especially for women. It was time! I am so thankful that I made the switch because I am in love with the whipped body butter that I make now. It is the perfect blend for our family, my husband even loves it. I also have lotion bars when whipped body butter is not what we need or want.

Where To Start

We have officially switched out our lip balm, lip scrub, foaming hand soap, whipped body butter, face scrub, foaming body wash and lotion bars, scalp oil, calendula salve and our lavender calendula salve. This year we are working on Shampoo and Hair Rinse, Deodorant and Sun Block. Cold processed soap will be either at the end of the year or early next year. These areas are where we started, your starting point may be different.

Start with making a list of all of the skincare products that you need, and all of the ones that you want. Write down how much you spend on them in a year. Once you have that information, it will be easier to prioritize where you want to start. The next thing I would do is start easy, pick a couple that don’t have a lot of ingredients, the process is simpler, that you feel confident you will succeed. This will help you not give up.

Watch for sales on the supplies that you will need and stock up while they are on sale. If you have your priority list and when you plan on learning those skills, along with the recipes you want to try, that will create your shopping list for you. My other tip is to start with small batches until you know you love the product, then do bulk batches and that will save you so much time.

My Favorite Homemade Skincare Supplies

How good your homemade skincare is will depend on how good your ingredients are. I suggest taking the following items as a starting point, but to do your own research and find the best price near you. Below I am listing some of my common supplies that I use and where I get them. Some of these links maybe affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps you find the products you will need and supports our family in getting the supplies we need as well.