MAKE YOUR OWN VEGAN SKIN CARE PRODUCTS.

Every winter many of us living in cold climates have to battle the snow, lots of tourists skiing, and dry skin. I have had to come up with a completely animal-free skin cream for my family that nourishes and soothes chapped dry skin.

In this article I will show you how to make a few simple, ordinarily costly products, including a rich allover body cream, under-eye wrinkle cream, a foot soothing cream, and a lotion. Such products frequently contain animal byproducts such as beeswax, urea, lanolin, and an assortment of animal proteins. Often, we are unaware of the animal products we put on our skin.

The products below are not only cruelty-free but affordable. These items make wonderful presents. Most supplies are readily available at health food stores, coops, and drug stores. Some may even find them at your local grocer or large whole foods market. I am able to find all of my ingredients at the local food co-op and I live in a town of 6,000 people. Most co-ops and health food stores will order what you need at no extra cost.

Make sure you buy the pure base ingredients. I also strongly suggest spending a little more on high quality and organic oils. These will assure that no unnecessary chemicals or pesticides are applied to your skin.

The first recipe is for a thick, modifiable body cream. As you grow more comfortable, you can add herbal infusions, extracts, and special blends of essential oils to make your cream the way you want. All of the products in this article use the base recipe.

SUPPLIES

Jars and storage containers. Wide mouthed containers are easier to fill. You can use jars like baby food jars or unique jars you can find at a craft or home decor shop. You want to be able to put your hand in the cream jar, or be able to scoop from it. For the lotion you can reuse squeezable plastic containers.

Food processor or blender.

Rubber spatula

Funnel for lotion variation

INGREDIENTS

I've categorized the ingredients into two separate groups, the oils and the waters. All lotions and creams are emulsifications of water and oil.

Oils

3/4 cup of one of the following:
      Apricot (a good light oil for oily skin)
      Almond (for a rich non-greasy or heavy oil)
      Olive (great for a rich, thick, wintertime cream)
      Soy (for a nice economical cream)
      (You can use a blend of the oils as long as 3/4 of a cup
      is the final measurement.)
1/3 cup Coconut Oil
2 Tablespoons Mango Butter or Kokum Butter
     (These are nut butters from the seeds of these plants.)
1/2 ounce Shea Butter, Candelilla Wax, or Carnauba Wax
    (Both waxes are plant source waxes. Shea butter comes from the
      seeds of the Karite tree.)

Waters

2/3 cup Distilled Water
      (You can also use floral water made from distilled water
      and flowers.)
1/2 cup Aloe Vera
      (Buy this; when the Aloe comes from a fresh plant source, the
      cream can become rancid.)
2 Vitamin E Caps or a (r) teaspoon Vitamin E Powder
      (Some vegan sources of Vitamin E are from SolaRay, Higher
      Nature Natural Vitamin E, and Pioneer vitamin companies.)
2-3 drops Essential Oil (optional)
      (An essential oil is fluid that is generally distilled from
      the leaves, stems, flowers, bark, roots, or other elements of
      a plant. Please use with caution; as a little goes a long
      way.)

BASIC CREAM

The next part can be a little tricky:

Heat the oils over low heat until the solid oils melt into the liquid oils. Also, warm the water (but not the entire water group). When the water and the oil cool to about the same temperature, add the water and the rest of the water group to your blender. Blend. Next, slowly add a small amount of the oil mixture and blend, then add a little more and blend. Do this until the whole mixture is blended. Once both are mixed, continue to blend for a bit, maybe a minute or so, until the mixture looks like white frosting. The mixture, which is now cream, will continue to thicken as it sets.

WHAT IF I MESS UP?

If you mess up and the mixture doesn't emulsify properly, you can do the following:

Pour off the water (you may have to scoop out a teaspoon of oil base to reveal the water).

Put the water in a separate container from the oil.

Warm both up again. When they cool to close to the same temperature, place the water into the blender and slowly add the oil again as you blend.

Or to make it even easier for yourself, you can shake vigorously before using.

Variation 1: Under-Eye Cream

Add 1 teaspoon carrot seed and 1 teaspoon borage oil to the oil group (both can be found at a health food store). Add the following essential oils to the water group, a drop or two of each: neroli oil and cypress oil. Add no more than five drops for the mixture. Continue to follow the Basic Cream directions.

Variation 2: Foot Cream

Add an additional Tablespoon of mango butter or shea butter to the oil group. Add to the water group 2 drops each of these essential oils: peppermint and lavender. Make the Foot Cream as you would the Basic Cream.

Variation 3: Body Lotion

How thick you want your lotion is a personal choice; so I am going to give basic suggestions that you can modify as time goes by. The basic variation is as follows: add 2 extra Tablespoons water to the water group and 1 additional Tablespoon of Aloe Vera. As time goes on and as you become more experienced, you can make it with more liquid oils and less hard oils, and more floral waters, teas, and herbal oil infusions. Some great essential oils to add would be lavender, rose, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, or jasmine. Essential oils can be found in herb shops, health food stores, or food co-ops. You can use cleaned lotion bottles or smaller shampoo bottles. Have a lotion-making party and make the lotion with friends. Give the prepared lotions as gifts. Make nice labels and wrap with raffia and ribbon and you have a finished, very special, and personalized gift. Following these recipes will give you plenty of lotion.

Editors' Note: Be very careful when working with hot ingredients. Pay attention to any allergies you may have. VRG has not tested these products, so use your own judgement.

Demetria Clark is a Certified Herbalist and owner of a vegan body care and herbal product line called Goddess Garden. Visit her website <www.demetria.com>.