Scrubby time!

It's hotter than a thousand blazing suns outside.
It's so humid, I feel like I'm breathing soup.
It hasn't rained in weeks.

Not only is this weather the bullshit of all bullshit, the local farmers (and nationwide, no doubt) are screwed.

 Also, to be petty and selfish, I feel like crap and my skin is disgusting.

I started exploring my kitchen, trying to find things to use to scrub all the icky dead skin off and moisturize my face while not making it feel clogged and heavy, like it already does.

Enter the baking ingredients.

My perfect trifecta.  Brown sugar, honey, olive oil.

The quality of ingredients is important.  Don't buy that 99 cent honeybear crap and expect it to work.  They pasteurize all the benefits out of it.  You want raw honey!  It might look opaque, it might look kinda chunky.  It might have bits of wax in it.  It might start to crystallize, but don't fret: honey seriously has no expiration date.  Ever.  If you can't find raw honey (check at farmers markets and health food stores), you want unpasteurized honey.  They heat it up, but not enough to kill all the beneficial enzymes.
Honey has natural antimicrobial properties, is a good drawing agent, and moisturizes the heck out of your skin.  It also is slightly drying (which sounds like a contradiction) by getting rid of excess oil.

Likewise, the greener your olive oil, the more phytochemicals and whatnot are left in it.  Does this really matter for your skin?  Who knows, but it's not that more expensive, and it's more useful in the kitchen anways.

To make this glorious scrub:
1 part honey
1 part olive oil
1-2 parts brown sugar

Sexy, right?

Mix in a little dish.  Apply with damp fingers to a dry face.  Sit around for 5-10 minutes. Wet your hands again and massage the scrub into your face. (If you don't have time to sit around, just apply and scrub right away).


If you make a little extra, throw it in the fridge and use within 3 days.  I don't recommend doing this more than once or twice a week.  Happy scrubbing!

Keep Cool, my Babies!

Brimstone and hellfire.  It is hot in Wisconsin right now.  Leaving my air-conditioned work sanctuary is like walking through and subsequently breathing a bowl of hot soup.  My husband says it feels like an armpit outside.  Well said, honey.
We have a wall AC unit in our little house.  It cools a couple of rooms, but due to the layout of our house, our bedroom is hotter than a whore in church all. The. Freaking. Time.  We lay in bed with our c-pap masks on in pools of sweat, trying not to touch each other.  Sexy, right?
In addition to the fiery temperatures this week, my husband scored himself a nice sunburn.  That's what he gets for going to the beach when I'm stuck at work.  (Just kidding Jeffer, I really do feel bad for you).

Seeing him wallow in crispy red, exhaused misery, and sweating my patootie off myself, I decided to take action.  I looked through my bathroom cabinets and began to experiment.  What I made turned out to be amazing.  Skin soothing Aloe and Witch Hazel, tingly peppermint and calming neroli.  It's the bees knees.

Keep Cool Spray:
*1 part Aloe Vera Gel (100%, don't get the crap with alcohol and dyes in it if you can help it)
*1 part Witch Hazel
        (this is not an exact science.  I used 4 ounce spray bottles and just filled them halfway with Witch Hazel and topped them off with Aloe Vera Gel)
*Approx 5 drops of Peppermint essential oil per ounce of finished product (4 oz bottle = 1 used 20 drops.  Start with a small amount and add if needed.  You can always add more later...you can't take it out.  My husband said it stung his sunburn a little so I made him a weaker version)
*1-2 drops of Neroli essential oil per ounce of finished product (I used 5 drops in 4 ounces of finished product)
*Optional: you can use Chamomile, Calendula, Yarrow, etc EO in your version instead of or in addition to the Neroli...anything calming or soothing would work.  I used Neroli with the peppermint because I had some on hand and I like the way it smells.!
*Empty spray containers
*A funnel.  For the love of God, use a funnel.

Chicago Cutlery not necessary to make this product.

 

Line up the ingredients and get a'mixin!  Experiment with the oil types and quantities.  Peppermint will make it cooling and tingly, so I like to leave that one in and experiment with the additional oils. 

Ok, the cost breakdown:

The essential oils are kind of expensive.  But as you'll notice, I use them in a lot of products and they last a long time.  I usually don't include them in the cost breakdowns, but for example, the Peppermint oil cost $8.75 and the Neroli was $14.79.  Both of them have a shelf life of about a decade (most EOs do, except citrus, just FYI).  Also, at 1-20 drops of oil per "recipe," they will be used in hundreds of items before the bottles are empty.  I've had my Peppermint oil for 2 years and the bottle is almost half full.  Anyway: The Aloe Vera Gel was $5.79 and I used about 25% of the bottle (if that).  The Witch Hazel was $1.00, and I used about 3/4 of the bottle.  To be honest though, next time I would get Dickinson's Witch Hazel which is usually $4.79 at my local Pharmacy for a larger bottle...but I'll base the cost breakdown on what I used/spent this time.

$5.79/4 = $1.44

$1.00 x 0.75 = $0.75

Two 4oz bottles of glorious, all natural, skin friendly, no crap additives allowed soothing spray cost $2.19. 

Look, Twins!

Happy Summer!