Mar 10, 2012 By Joce Meehan sca Trail Town Outreach Corps 4 min read

Despite a mild winter in Southwestern Pa., dry skin is still a problem for many people. Unfortunately, I suffer from the ailment year-round and have come to realize that the only thing worse than dry skin is getting rid of it. I’ve applied, reapplied and tested all different types of brands only to find that my flakey foe has yet to disappear.

You see, like any average consumer who falls victim to commercials displaying extraordinarily happy people splashing water onto their face in slow motion, I usually remedy every situation with a bright product bought at the nearest store. However, my shopping impulse was halted after I stumbled upon the Skin Deep website and explored the “hazard level” of the creams I was using.

Not only was my ever-persistent problem failing to go away, but this site exposed me to the extra harm I was creating by applying chemically charged creams to my body’s biggest organ.

Terrified, I went to my roommate; a closet hypochondriac who spends most of her spare time Googling everything that may kill her. I’m not kidding, she’s even been advised by her doctor to stop going on WebMD.

She asked me if I ever read the ingredients in my moisturizer bottle. And as a conscious consumer, I (despite my short Skin Deep exploration) had not. She went on to show me that like most conventional moisturizers, mine was filled with loads of unpronounceable chemical preservatives… basically reinstating that I was walking a dangerous road.

After further digging, I found that some chemically induced lotions go as far to trick your skin into initially feeling moisturized, but they actually don’t perform a healing process. And it doesn’t stop at moisturizers. Even the shampoo and conditioner people use can contain toxins that strip away the body’s natural oils, and therefore cause scalps to over-produce oil in compensation.

My roommate recommended that we solve my dry skin woes by taking on a more safe, practical and green way to moisturize: we’d make our own.

Besides reducing plastic bottle build up, making our own homemade lotion with natural ingredients would be a lot safer. It would be a win-win.

Here’s an easy homemade lotion recipe courtesy of Louisa Shafia:

Yields: 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup filtered water

Cold brewed tea

Orange blossom (or rose) water

3/4 cup oil (olive, almond, unrefined coconut or avocado)

3 tablespoons grated beeswax

Optional: a few drops of essential oil of your choice, for fragrance

Before you begin, prepare clean and dry glass jars for packaging.

Mix and Melt

Combine the oil and beeswax into a Pyrex measuring cup

Place the cup in a pan (or small pot) and pour in water to reach about halfway up the cup

Bring the water to gentle boil

Heat oil and beeswax until beeswax melts (it’s melted when you can’t see it anymore)

After wax is melted, remove the cup from the water

Let the oil cool for 2 minutes

Blend

Pour the orange blossom water into a blender

Blend water on medium

Pour the oil into the water as it’s blending

Let the mixture emulsify

If you’re using essential oil, blend it in now

Jar

Use a rubber spatula to transfer cream to glass jar

Cover jars with cheesecloth for an hour

When the lotion is room temperature, screw on the lid

Remember:

*Placing the lid on the jar when the lotion is warm will cause condensation to form under the lid, which will water down the lotion and form bacteria.

* Store at room temperature for up to 3 months, or in the refrigerator for 6 months.

Joce Meehan is a member of the SCA Trail Town Outreach Corps, an organization focusing on sustainable economic development in the towns along the Great Allegheny Passage supported by the Trail Town Program and the Student Conservation Association. Contact 814-248-9294