Should you make your own beauty products?

by E-NewsCast Team
November 29th, 2009

With the huge range of beauty products on the shelves, why dosome people still make their own beauty products?

I started making my own skin care products years ago. I got abook about natural skin care. You can actually make masks out ofmashed fruit. They are really messy though, but back then, I wasreally broke. Could not afford to spend on good skin care so Imade do with what I could get.

I mashed watermelon and put in on my face. My face felt reallyclean, but there was a bit of a rash after that. I also readthat papaya was used in spas for back exfoliating masks. Infact, the enzymes in papayas and pineapples are often used toexfoliate the skin. These can be rather harsh though, so I nevertried that on my face.

One thing led to another. I moved on to make my own creams. Iwent through a period of time where every body lotion I triedfrom the stores, from the cheap ones to the $20 ones, made myskin itch. That prompted me to make my own body cream.

The cream recipes I found were mainly for cold cream. Thesewere really heavy, oil based stuff. I wanted something lighter.A water based lotion.

A cream isbasically droplets of water suspended in oil, kept in that stateby an emulsifier. For my creams, I used beeswax as anemulsifier.

I experimented in the kitchen. After plenty of failedexperiments. I finally came up with lotion in a texture I simplyloved.

A lotion is made of droplets of oil suspended in water, kepttogether by an emulsifier. I used lecithin for my lotion. Hereare some of the lotions Imade.

By varying the water based part, using rosewater or tea insteadof plain water, you can make all sorts of lotions. Likewise, youcan play around with the oil part of the formula, with variousinfused oils, or a few drops of different essential oils, tochange the lotion or cream. You can make tailor your beautyproducts to your personal tastes, and needs.

I had lots of fun with that. My skin loved these home madecreams when they were fresh.

I even made a batch tailored specially for a cousin, usingingredients that she loves.

Yet, I have since stopped making them.

Why?

Laziness is the main reason. Lack of time is another reason.

So much care must go into making the lotions which don’t keep.For me, even if I keep the lotions refrigerated, 2 days aftermaking the lotion, if I use it on my face, my skin breaks out. 3days later, if I use it on my body, my skin itches.

Preservatives are put in commercial skin care products toprevent these from spoiling. Without preservatives, bacteria,mould and all these nasty things multiply rapidly, spoiling theentire batch, causing nasty reactions on the skin. These homemade beauty products don’t have preservatives. That meant that Ihad to make new batches of skincare almost everyday.

Also, care must be taken to ensure all the equipment is sterileso the final product is safe to use. Carelessness couldintroduce lots of nasty germs into the beauty products you make.The water and oil component must be heated to the sametemperature and drops of one are added to the other while mixingthoroughly or the batch might separate.

It is so much more convenient to buy beauty products frombrands that agree with my skin condition, than to make them fromscratch. That is what I have been doing lately. Plus the reknownskincare lines are way better than what I can make. I mean, withtheir R & D budgets, they can afford to do plenty of research oncreating the most effective beauty products for virtually anybeauty need.

At the end of the day, whether you make your beauty products orbuy them off the shelf, it is a matter of your personalpreference.

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