by Joan Inong

Created on: March 25, 2008

If you are used to purchasing body care products, you will agree that they are quite expensive and that many of them are loaded with chemicals whose names you can't even pronounce. But, whether you want to save a little bit of money or you want to make your body care products healthier and environmentally friendly, you will love making body care products right in your own home. They are easy to do, and their cost is repaid over and over again.

OIL TREATMENT
This oil treatment is great for the skin, but especially for the hair. I have come up with a formulation that includes ingredients that are specially beneficial to the skin (and hair), because they are loaded with vitamin E, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and natural oils that match the oils our skin produces.
2 T. pure lanolin oil
2 T. virgin coconut oil
1 T. olive oil
1 T. castor oil
2 T. sweet almond oil
1 T. rosemary oil
1 T. vitamin E oil (optional)
Mix all the oils together. The lanolin oil and the virgin coconut oil are the thickest oils of the ingredients listed, but they will be thinned out as you mix the ingredients thoroughly. You can use as is, or you can heat up and apply to your hair as a hot oil treatment. Leaving on the skin or on the scalp overnight increases the benefits. Wash thoroughly afterwards if left on the scalp, but washing the body is not necessary.

BAKING SODA CLEANSER
This is a great way to utilize a common household cleaning product for your skin and hair. It is non-toxic (but who wants to eat this salty mess?) and it deodorizes, cleans up dead skin cells, and unclogs pores. Mix enough baking soda with enough water to make a thin paste. Apply to the skin (whole body) or you can just use on your scalp to make your hair squeaky clean. No need to use any shampoo! Use a natural, homemade conditioner from eggs and virgin coconut oil, or mayonnaise. Leave on for at least ten minutes, then rinse thoroughly.

MILK AND HONEY
If you can afford to bathe in milk and honey, go for it, because it will leave your skin silky soft! But, if you can't, but you still want the benefits, then try using it as a body wash. Just use more honey than milk to make the mixture quite thick, apply to your skin, leave on for at least ten or twenty minutes, and then wash off with warm water. You can also apply this to your hair to make it silky soft and shiny. It just needs five or ten minutes and then you can wash it off using somewhat cool water. Instead of the milk, you can boil rosemary, sage, chamomile, and lavender to make a tea. Let it cool for a bit, then mix in some honey. Make sure the honey is completely dissolved, then use this mixture to rinse your hair. You can wash your hair afterwards, but it's not totally necessary.

There are many more natural bath and body care recipes out there, but you can figure them out without much research by getting creative. You can save time and money by making your own natural homemade body care products!

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