Easy Homemade Hand Cream Recipe

From http://www.untrainedhousewife.com/a-very-easy-homemade-hand-cream-recipe

Ingredients:

Basically you’ll need equal amounts of sweet almond oil (or another quality base oil), cocoa butter and beeswax. If the cream feels too hard and you would like a slightly softer cream, add a little more almond oil. Start with small amounts and if you’re happy with the result, increase the amounts to make larger batches.

• 1/3 cup sweet almond oil (or another quality base oil, see below)
• 1/3 cup cocoa butter
• 1/3 cup beeswax (shred it to small pieces first)
• + essential oils (see the list below)

You’ll also need small jars or containers for your hand cream; dark glass containers are ideal for any product that contains essential oils.

Alternatives to Sweet Almond Oil:

• olive oil makes a rich, nourishing cream
• calendula oil is good for sensitive skin; try half calendula and half almond oil

Essential Oils to Add:

Add 1-3 drops of essential oil for each 5 ml (tablespoonful) of the base product. Even a few drops of your chosen essential oil will give your hand cream a nice scent. If you want exact measurements, check out this article for measuring essential oils and base oils.

• Lavender is a great oil for hand creams and foot creams; it is healing, antiseptic, good for sensitive skin and dry skin; it helps the growth of new healthy skin cells, and it soothes burns including sun burns.
• Benzoin is one of the best oils for dry and cracked skin, and is often included in foot creams.
• Lemon oil is especially good for the cuticles.
• If you’re making a cream for really dry, cracked skin, Myrrh essential oil is antiseptic and anti-inflammatory; it is also helpful for fungal infections such as athlete’s foot.

You could just use Lavender essential oil alone; it makes a great hand cream for all skin types!

How To Make the Hand Cream

Use the double boiler method. I simply place the ingredients in a bowl and the bowl in a pan that is half full of water (check out this article for photos of the double boiler method). I place the pan on the stove on low heat.

First, place the beeswax and the cocoa butter in the bowl. Melt them over a low heat; when the mixture has melted, add the almond oil (or the base oil of your choice), keep the pan on the stove and stir well.

Then remove the pan from the stove and add the essential oil(s). Stir well again, and pour into containers.

Let the cream cool for a few hours or overnight. You can place it in the fridge after a while. You can also store your creams in the fridge.

I’ve even used this cream as a lip balm recipe (choosing essential oils that I’d like to have in a lip balm, such as Mandarin or Orange or even Peppermint, and using less essential oil than for a hand cream because the lips are more sensitive than the hands). If you’re using this recipe to make foot cream, try a few drops of Peppermint essential oil, or a mix of Peppermint and Lavender.