DIY: Make Homemade Hand Cream by Rev. Carol A. Ingle (Raven)

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

DIY: Make Homemade Hand Cream

 

It's harvest season, and your hands are chapped and sore from exposure to soil and sun. Contact with the soil is inevitable, no matter how careful you are about wearing gloves, but washing the soil from your hands (and washing all that garden produce) rinses away the skin’s natural protective oils, allowing it to dry out.

 

Homemade Hand Cream Recipes:

 

Makes 2 cups

 

To add fragrance, try a few drops of rose, jasmine, or lotus essential oil. Men may prefer the scent of sandalwood or mint.

 

• 1 cup fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 1/2 cups fresh comfrey leaves
• 3/4 cup fresh lavender or patchouli leaves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 16 ounces anhydrous lanolin
• Aloe vera gel, optional

 

1. With a mortar and pestle, bruise the herbs with a small amount of olive oil. In a nonreactive saucepan over low heat, melt the lanolin with the remaining olive oil. Remove the pan from the heat. Let the mixture cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then stir in the herbs and aloe vera gel. (Heat breaks down the allantoin in the comfrey, a substance that promotes new cell growth, and destroys the healing properties in aloe vera.)

 

2. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth and pour it immediately into heat-resistant jars. Thick blue, green, or brown glass jars protect the mixture from light and make attractive gifts. Store in the refrigerator.

 

3. Many of the ingredients in herbal skin creams have long histories of medicinal use. Until World War I, lavender was used as a wound disinfectant. Cleopatra is said to have used aloe vera gel to preserve her youth, and Alexander the Great used it to heal the wounds of his soldiers.

 

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Makes 1 1/8 cups

 

Here’s a sweetly scented skin cream that even children will use.

 

• 1 ounce vitamin E oil
• 4 ounces sweet almond oil
• 1 ounce beeswax
• 1 ounce jojoba oil
• 1 ounce coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon oil of calendula
• 1/8 teaspoon oil of chamomile
• 1/8 teaspoon oil of rose geranium

 

1. Combine the vitamin E and sweet almond oils in a nonreactive saucepan. Heat over low heat (do not boil). Gradually add the beeswax, stirring constantly. Add the jojoba oil, a little at a time, and stir until well blended. Slowly stir in the coconut oil.

 

2. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the calendula, chamomile, and rose geranium oils, stirring the mixture until it is smooth.

 

3. When the mixture has cooled, pour it into colored glass jars and seal them tightly. Keep refrigerated.

 

Herbal skin creams can go a long way toward healing and moisturizing those tiny cracks that dryness causes. The following recipes contain ingredients that soften and smooth, such as beeswax and lanolin. The first recipe uses fresh herbs while the second uses essential oils. Ingredients not growing in your garden or stored in your kitchen cupboard may be purchased at a pharmacy or health-food store.

 

Many of the ingredients have long histories of medicinal use. Boiled in water or wine, comfrey roots have been used to heal wounds, bruises, and broken bones. Until World War I, lavender was used as a wound disinfectant. Cleopatra is said to have used aloe vera gel to preserve her youth, and Alexander the Great used it to heal the wounds of his soldiers. Rosemary stimulates blood flow and was once burned to kill germs in French hospitals. Mint was often strewn in sickrooms for its fresh scent. Rose water has been used for centuries as an ingredient of gentle, cleansing eyewashes. Rose-scented geraniums were used throughout nineteenth-century Europe in ointments and poultices. Chamomile and calendula have been used to ease pain and swelling.

 

Some of the ingredients may cause dermatitis in susceptible individuals. To test for possible allergic reactions, place a small amount of the ingredient in question on the inside of your elbow and cover it with an adhesive bandage. After twenty-four hours, check for redness, swelling, or itching.