Skip to main content

Budget Squeeze: Making Your Own Face Products

Since living on a "sustainable community" in Oregon I have had a very strict rule on body products and their usual "fillers" and preservatives; I use organic and natural products, from toothpaste to shampoo, and I don't budge on it. Thankfully now those products easier to find and even makeup can be found au-naturale, but it wasn't always so. Even still, those products are usually more expensive than non-natural products depending on brand name, and now is the time to consider shrinking your budget while you can. A great way to do this is to make your own face scrub and toner.

I had this idea last February and hosted a "Girls Night" where we actually made it together, making it even more fun, and I still have "leftovers!" I'm going to break this Idea into two posts, so first, while that Valentines bouquet is just starting to wither, let's make the toner.

I got this recipe from The Woman's Book of Healing Herbs (Harrar and O'Donnell) and adore it. Herbalist Shatoiya de la Tour from Dry Creek Herb Farm is quoted as saying "Whenever I meet an older woman with beautiful skin, I ask her what she uses... [and most] often the answer is simply apple-cider vinegar."

I've now been using this toner for a year and my skin feels tighter and my small monthly acne breakout has completely disappeared!

INGREDIENTS FOR FACIAL TONER:
NOW:
8oz Dried or 16 oz Fresh Herbs and Flowers
16oz Apple Cider Vinegar
16 oz jar with tight lid

LATER:
Distilled Filtered Water
Witch Hazel
12 oz Plastic Cosmetics Bottles

This is a two-part recipe where the toner "steeps" for 3 to 6 weeks, so combine all of the "NOW" list into one jar, close tightly, date it, and set in a dark cabinet that you come to often so you can shake it occasionally.

Tips for Part 1:
  • Fresh roses are only good if they smell - some factory (more inexpensive) flowers simply don't smell. Roses are the best.
  • Flowers and Herbs great for the face: Comfrey (tightening and cleansing), Calendula (soothing and antibacterial), Chamomile (repairing), Lavender (the original shampoo, from Latin lavre meaning to wash), Rosemary (tightening), but there are plenty more.
  • Label the ingredients on the bottle
  • Make the toner on a new moon and let steep until next new moon for best intentions
  • Take dried or fresh herbs from your own garden, or as mentioned, use some of the flower petals from your bouquets.
  • You can open up tea bags such as Green Tea and Chamomile for herbs.
After the Toner has steeped for a moon cycle (-ish), pour the bottle through a strainer to remove the herbs and flowers. Set this aside as your "mother batch," it will last up to 2-2 years. The mother batch might develop what's called a "mother layer" on the vinegar that is a coating that can be removed but doesn't affect the quality of the toner.

Then dilute:
1 tsp Witch Hazel
1/4 cup of Mother Batch Vinegar
2 cups Distilled Filtered Water

Apply after washing with a cotton ball or pad or store in misting bottle for spritzing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gluten Free for Psoriasis

Recently I've been putting my researching brain cells to work on studying the Gluten Free way of life. Since the age of 14 I have had psoriasis, and recently it's been showing signs of progression to psoriatic arthritis, a progression that occurs in about 20-40% of the cases (studies are still incomplete, although the reverse is 80% of PA patients have had psoriasis, so the two are definitely linked). I've been tested for allergies in the 1980s (none), and I'm a pretty natural consumer as well, so I don't use body products with harmful ingredients like parabens or sulfates. Herbal and homeopathic remedies and dead sea salts have all helped reduce my inflammations, but have never eliminated the disorder completely. I was vegetarian for 7 years in the 1990s, and that never cleared up my psoriasis either. Because of its progression I've started researching the diet and how it relates to the disorder, and stumbled upon several articles and studies that now link...
18 comments
Read more

DIY Baby Sling

1st Disclaimer: This isn't my idea. But it's a great one for a baby gift in hard economic times nonetheless, that is if you've got the crafty DIY gene like I inherited from mom! The link above is to the initial pattern I found online for a baby sling from KarmaBaby, but I'm here to make that process a little more easy on you. I had to enlist SuperMom for translation, so I'll take the liberty in assuming you won't quite understand KarmaBaby's pattern either... Let's get crackin'! You'll need: two yards of fabric of a slightly stretchy/giving cotton blend (she suggests 90% cotton/10% lycra, but my all-cotton worked fine). sewing machine and thread, this pattern's so easy a hand-held sewer will work, but don't translate that to "sew this by hand", that won't be quick or easy. Handhelds are just that, a small version of a sewing machine you hold in your hand. measuring tape sharp scissors 2nd Disclaimer: My images are with wh...
2 comments
Read more

My switch to all natural Henna - Part 3

I am not exaggerating when I say I have been loving the switch to all natural Henna, and I have eagerly awaiting the next round with Teresa - the trooper that she is for going through this with me! Since October's posts [in case you missed Part 2 or Part 1 ], purchase, and treatment, I have had tons of comments on the color and health of my hair... Henna has - no question - improved the overall body and hydration of the hair strands and health of my scalp as well as giving it a more natural color tone than I've had since I started coloring it red 4 years ago. After the first dye, I went back to the girls at Mountain Hair Studio here in Steamboat and had them give me a once-over. While it didn't totally blend the full length of my hair (Teresa cut off about 3-4" of the dead ends, but the bottom 5-6" of my sternum-length hair still had darker, merlot colored ends), there were no "hot roots," and the tone looked more natural, continuing to settle f...
Post a Comment
Read more