Homemade Aloe Vera Gel Hand Lotion Recipe
Homemade lotions and creams are inexpensive beauty products that may not be very popular and preferred in the modern hectic lifestyle, but its potentially a very good substitute to the chemicals packed in the store bought lotions, they are harmless and works equally great as any other homemade lotion will do.
Aloe vera gel is quite versatile when it comes to it therapeutic and medicinal uses, it has been used in many Ayurvedic treatments and is very easily available. You can grow it in your garden and use it for first aid as its gel comes out handy in conditions like cuts, wounds, bruises, burns etc.
Its Sanskrit names is Ghritkumari and it is used medicinally in many different ways since ancient times. Aloe vera is a type of cactus which is grown widely in india and Africa.
Apart from its medicinal uses Aloe Vera is a very popular ingredients used in making various skin care products. it is known to treat sunburn, Acne, fights aging and it is a wonderful moisturizer.
I can go on describing the uses and benefits of this “Plant of Immortality” as named by the ancient Egyptians, but for now I will focus on today’s DIY skin care product which is Aloe Vera Gel Hand Lotion.
Aloe Vera Gel Hand Lotion Recipe
What You Will Need
Beeswax : 1.5 tbs
Sweet Almond Oil: ½ cup
Aloe Vera Gel : 1 cup
Essential Oil of choice : 10 drops (I use Lavender Oil)
For adding Enrichment to the lotion: use I capsule of vitamin E oil
Steps for making Aloe Vera gel Hand Cream At Home
- Set up a double boiler
- Add sweet Almond oil and beeswax and melt while stirring the mixture in continuous fashion
- Add Aloe Vera gel and fold it into the mixture
- Continue heating till you get all the ingredients well dissolved
- Remove from heat and add essential oil and vitamin E oil.
- Mix everything well and allow the mixture to cool in room temperature
- Once cooled and set blend it in a blender (preferably a hand held blender)
- Blend till the your lotion attains the look of whipped cream
- Take a sterilized jar and pour in your aloe Vera gel hand lotion and store in the refigerator.
This Lotion has a shelf life of 5-6 weeks, to keep it fresh make small batches and use.
Variations you can make in this Aloevera hand cream recipe:
Replace Lavender oil with any other essential oil of your preference,
Replace sweet almond oil with olive oil
Instead of using only almond oil you can take equal portions of almond oil and coconut oil.
Homemade Hair Dye Recipe for Grey Hair
Premature graying of hair has become a very common problem in the contemporary era, people lead a workaholic and stressful life with busy schedules which makes taking out time for personal care a luxury. The nutrition part in daily diet is almost neglected and all these may lead to grey hair. However there might be other reasons also like deficiency of vitamin B-12 or problem of Thyroid.
The silvers or salt and pepper whatever you call it can also occur due to excessive use of electric hair dyers, harsh chemicals present in some hair care products.
I noticed my first silver strands when i was in my early 20’s and I bet I am not alone. A lot of youngsters are now seeking consultation from experts to combat the problem of grey hair and many others choose to dye their hair with harsh chemicals.
When you are seeking a solution to stop greying of hair you try almost everything that promises the desired results some really see good results and some land up with side effects like hair loss and lifeless hair, instead of making your hair an experiment lab try out homemade hair dye recipes made with all natural ingredients which have proven benefits to help with premature greying of hair see the difference. These natural hair coloring remedies will not only provide color but will also nourish the hair from root to tip.
Best 3 Homemade hair dye for grey hair recipes
The Triphala Hair Dye for natural black hair color
What you need
Loha Choorna
Ink-nut (Terminalia chebula / harad/ Haritaki)
India Gooseberry (Amla)
Black Earth (Kali mitti)
Sugar cane juice
How To :
To make your homemade hair dye, first you need to grind all the ingredients except the sugarcane juice.
Sterilize a glass jar .
Mix the ground powder in sugar cane juice.
Place the lid and leave for one month.
After one month the dye is ready to color and cover your grey hair.
Apply this paste at night on the hair and wash off in the morning.
This hair dye pack will give a natural black color to the grey hair
Liquorice (Mulethi/ Mulhati) and Indian Goosberry (Amla) Treatment
Take one part Amla Juice, one Part clarified butter and one-fourth part Liquorice.
Take all of them in a heavy bottom pan and simmer until the water (liquid) dries up and thick clarified butter is left.
Let it cool and then store it in cool and dry place.
This remedy is very safe to use as a hair dye and does not have any side effects on the skin.
The Homemade Recipe for Henna and Amla Hair Dye
Henna is a very common plant that is used to dye the hair. Naturally it provides orange-reddish color but since we are using amla in our hair pack the tone will be close to black.
Henna can also lead to dryness of hair in some people, addition of milk in this hair mask takes care of that.
This is yet another remedy to cover up the grey hair inexpensive and effective. Use fresh ingredients for this remedy.
Make a fine paste by grinding Amla, Henna leaves and Neem leave together. Now blend in milk to the paste till you achieve a semi liquid consistency.
Apply this mixture at night and keep till morning. This remedy should be done twice a week to get best results.
Note: Those living in the USA may avail all the Ayurvedic herbs and medicines from Nature’s Formulary
DIY Homemade Hand Cream Without Beeswax
DIY Homemade Hand Cream Without Beeswax for Soft and Smooth Hands
If you are searching for a recipe for homemade hand cream your search ends here. Our hands go through a lot throughout the day. They are exposed to various mediums and thus they lose moisture and start chapping.
Nothing can do better than an enriching and moisturizing homemade hand cream to keep them healthy and beautiful.
What it takes to make the best homemade hand cream at home
While making the homemade hand lotion you need to keep a few things in mind.
Do not make it too greasy.
Keep it moist enough. Extremely dry hand lotion won’t be absorbed by the skin properly wherein our motive is to make a hand cream at home that seeps into the skin and provides deep nourishment.
Beeswax is the wax taken from the honeycomb and is used in many lotion, creams and even in soap making. As water and oil cannot be combined together an emulsifier is used and beeswax solves the purpose.
The basic formula for making homemade cream or lotion is supposed to be
Emulsion + Main ingredient + Fragrance
This recipe for homemade hand cream is very simple and was shared by a beauty expert in a television show, it is without using beeswax, good for those who do not want to use beeswax in their lotions and creams. If you are ok with using beeswax in your hand cream try our Aloe Vera gel hand lotion recipe
Homemade Oatmeal Hand Lotion without Beeswax
Also see:homemade body scrub
Supplies you will need for making this easy homemade hand cream
Powdered Oatmeal 1 tsp
1 tsp of Sweet Almond Oil
1/2 cup Coco butter
1/2 cup Shea butter
Grape Seed Essential Oil 3-4 drops
Juice of half a lemon
in a double boiler, melt Shea Butter and Coco Butter, once melted take it off the heat. Combine the lemon juice and Almond oil with hand held whisk, keep whisking in a continuous fashion and stop when both the ingredients have mixed well and when you have attained a lump-less smooth paste.
Now blend the above mixture with powdered Oatmeal using a hand held electric blender or manual blender which ever is available at your convenience and comfort, I personally prefer blending the lotion manually using a spatula.
Gradually add Grape Seed Essential oil or any other essential oil of your choice drop by drop.
Your all natural homemade hand cream is ready to be used.
Wash your hands clean and dry, apply it on your hands
Oatmeal is known for its several benefits for skin. You will get all the richness of the ingredients used in making this homemade hand lotion. Anr essential tip would be to grinding your oatmeal as fine as possible, if the oatmeal is grainy the lotion will end up having a scrub like texture.
The reason that I shared this recipe of hand cream without beeswax is that, the vegans may not be comfortable using beeswax in their product as it is an animal derived product. In homemade lip balm recipes, beeswax is replaced with petroleum jelly but I am not sure if that trick works with hand lotion too.
You can substitute the Grape Seed essential oil with any of your favorite essential oil, the reason I added Grape Seed oil in this recipe is its anti ageing and moisturizing property. This lotion turns out little dry and using Grapeseed oil will make it a little more moisturizing.
Homemade Hair Conditioner Recipes
All Natural Homemade Hair Conditioner Recipes for Treating your Tresses
Hair conditioners are available in plenty in the market, but if you want you can make your own hair conditioner at home. Hair conditioning leaves your hair shiny and silky after shampoo.
Ingredients: 1 Egg
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp glycerin
2 tbsp castor oil
Method: Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk nicely. Your homemade hair conditioner is ready to use. Massage your hair and scalp with this conditioner, followed by steam. If you do not have a steamer you can soak a thick towel in warm water, squeeze the water out and wrap it around your hair. This procedure will steam your hair.
2. Natural Honey Conditioner For Hair
Take 1 tsp of honey with 1 egg in a mixing bowl and add few drops of olive oil. Massage your hair gently with this natural hair conditioner.
Take 2 mugs of water add 1/2 tsp of lemon juice. Rinse your hair with this after every hair wash.
Also Read: Homemade Shampoo Recipe
Boil 1 tsp of tea (any brand) in water, let it cool (in room temperature). Rinse your hair with this after you shampoo your hair. Let it stay, no need to rinse it again. This homemade hair conditioner will leave your hair smooth, silky and shiny.
Henna Tresses Conditioner for Shine and Nourishment
Henna Conditioner for hair brings dull and dead hair to life. It makes hair shiny at the same time this conditioner will do nourishment of hair.. Properly and regularly conditioned hair is easy to maintain as it wont get frizzy and tangled.
This Henna based hair conditioner should be used atleast once in a month.
Ingredients for henna hair conditioner
Henna powder : 200 gms
1/2 tsp of awala, shikaki amd triphala mix (powdered)
Harad 50 gms
Curd 2 tbsp
Egg white of 1 egg
lemon juice 2 tsp
Few drops of onion juice
Mustard oil 2 tsp
Prepare a paste of all the above ingredients using lukewarm water.
Apply this paste on clean hair. If applying after shampoo just make sure to dry the hair before applying the henna conditioner. Comb you hair and remove the tangles before applying the conditioner.
Leave it till the paste dries up and then wash it with water.
This wholesome henna hair conditioner provides all the vitamins and nutrients required for healthy hair.
After Shampoo Conditioner
The homemade after shampoo conditioners are basically used as final rinse.
Apple cider Vinegar Rinse for Oily hair : Dilute apple cider vinegar in water and use it to rinse your hair after shampoo. Vinegar removes any soap residues left on the scalp. It also gives volume to flat oily hair. Remember to dilute the vinegar before rinsing. No matter how much hurry you are in but never use concentrated vinegar on your scalp, this will cause more damage to the hair. Alternatively vinegar can be replaced by juice of fresh lemon to derive same results
Green Teal Rinse :
Boil Green Tea in water and use this water to rinse your hair after shampoo. Green tea contains caffeine and it is said that the caffeine penetrates into the scalp and makes the roots strong and stimulates hair growth
Natural Conditioners for Dry and Frizzy Hair
Effects of Dryness on Hair
Dryness in hair causes the outer layer of the scalp which are called cuticles, flake off (peel away) from the central shaft.
How does a conditioner helps the dry hair
Conditioner acts as a glue and sticks the cuticle back to the central shaft
Conditioner provides lubrication to the hair
Prevents static electricity which results in avoiding frizzy hair.
Also Read : tea rinse for hair
Mayonnaise Hair Conditioner for extremely dry hair
The ingredients used to make mayo are coincidentally good doers for hair. The egg and olive oil in the mayo makes it the best homemade hair conditioner for dry, frizzy and unmanageable hair.
Take mayo in your hand and spread it length wise by gently combing the hair. By combing we ensure that the conditioner is evenly applied on the hair. Now cover the hair with a plastic cap. Let is sit for 20 mins then rinse it off. Remember this is not an after wash hair conditioner so you will need to shampoo your hair after rinsing off the mayo hair conditioner.
To take this conditioner one step further you can add equal part of mashed avocado to the mayonnaise.
Milk and Banana Conditioner for Unmanageable hair
Blend 1 cup of milk with 1 medium sized banana. Add 1tsp of olive oil and mix all the ingredients to make a paste. Now dampen your hair with warm water. Apply this conditioner following the technique mentioned in mayo hair conditioner.
The Avocado Hair Conditioner for Strong and Long Tresses
Cut an avocado and remove the seed. Scoop out the flesh and mash it nicely. Apply this avocado mash on the scalp by massaging it. Cover your head with a shower-cap to aid penetration. Keep it for one hour then shampoo your hair with a non alkaline shampoo. Complete this by using an after wash conditioner prepared by mixing 2 tsp of lemon juice to a quart of water. Use this as a last rinse then pat dry your hair.
How to apply homemade hair conditioners
Traditionally hair conditioner must be applied in wet hair after shampoo i.e washing your hair clean with a shampoo. It is not necessary to condition your hair after each hair wash but it is better to do so as hair conditioners gives your hair soft, silky and shiny look. For regular quick hair conditioning, apply your hair conditioner to washed hair and let is remain for 3-5 mins and then rinse it of with water.
The other way to condition your hair is deep conditioning. Apply your store bought or homemade deep hair conditioner to washed wet hair. After application you will now want the conditioner to sit on your hair for sometime so that it goes deep and nourish your hair. Take a shower cap and wear it such that your entire head is covered so that the conditioner does not dry up quickly. Incase you do not have a shower cap you can cover your hair with warm towel also.
Now sit and relax for 1-2 hrs and then rinse your hair.
Try these DIY Conditioners and share your experience in the comments section.
5 Best Homemade Body Exfoliating Body Scrub Recipes
Homemade exfoliating body Scrub can be a delight for your pocket and your skin as well. Body scrub is something we spend a lot for and if we can get something which is economical at the same time effective also, there can be nothing more that you can wish for. Let me share you a fact about body scrubs, did you know that salt and sugar forms the best base for an exfoliating body scrub. These are the ingredients which are easily and sufficiently found in any kitchen. And these ingredients makes the most effective body scrubs. Then why to go for chemical based expensive body scrubs available in the market.
How To Make Homemade Organic body scrub
The formula for making your own body scrub is very simple, it takes only three ingredients to whip up your all natural, chemical free body scrub. First being the exfoliant that will have slightly coarse or grainy texture, second comes the medium that will give fluidity to the scrub and aide in the application. The best medium is a carrier oil like sweet Almond oil and finally you can add fragrance, the best choice for this is Essential Oil.
To make organic body scrub at home you need to pick organic ingredients for your diy body exfoliator. Now let me tell you there is a difference between natural and organic ingredients. The difference is in the process of cultivation for Eg. A Tomato is a natural product but it can be called organic only if it is grown following the process of organic farming.
Homemade Body Scrub Recipe Composition Basics
1. Choose your exfoliant
Options:
- Brown Sugar
- White Sugar
- Sea Salt
- Kosher salt
Ratio – 2 parts
2. Beauty Oil ( can be called carrier oil)
Option:
- Apricot Oil
- Olive Oil
- Avocado oil
Ratio – 1 part
3. Add essential oil for fragrance to the body scrub
Essential oils are highly potent oils derived from natural sources likes flowers, leaves seeds etc. They are therapeutic and can help in fighting various skin problems like dryness, oiliness, acne etc. They are the best ingredients to add scent to your scrub. Always avoid using fragrance oils as they are synthetic and they do not go well will the idea of making “chemical free” and “all natural” body scrub.
Options:
- Rosehip oil
- Lavender oil
- Eucalyptus Oil
- Peppermint Oil
- Grape fruit oil
- Vanilla Essential oil or any other essential oil of choice.
Ratio : Few drops
1. Green Tea Sea Salt Exfoliating Body Scrub Recipe
How to make
Things You will need
- Sea Salt 1cup
- Green Tea Bags 2
- Grape seed, Hazelnut oil or almond oil 1/2 cup
- Essential oil of choice -5 drops
Methods
Open the green tea bags and powder them. Add the powdered green tea to the almond oil. Leave to infuse for 5 days.
After 5 days, mix sea salt (the salt has to be fine) and green tea infused Almond oil. Add 5 drops essential oil of choice.
How to apply
Dampen your body and massage with this mixture. This mixture works fantastically on the elbows and heels. This makes an amazing exfoliating body scrub.
Also Check Out:
Homemade Face Exfoliator Recipe
Homemade Facial Scrub Recipe
2. Sugar Body Scrub Recipe
Things You will need
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Wheat Germ oil or olive – just as much is sufficient to dampen the
mixture.
mixture.
Few drops of any of your favorite essential oil.
Method
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and you are ready to go.
How to apply.
Apply the mixture on the body and scrub gently (dont be harsh while scrubbing) and rinse.This scrub is used as a facial scrub also. This is another simple natural exfoliating body scrub and this scrub also remove the dry paint from skin.
3. Gram Flour Body Scrub Recipe For Dry Skin
How to make
Gram flour – 2 parts
Yogurt – 1part
Turmeric Powder Just about a pinch
Lemon oil – few drops
Method
Take 2tsp of gram flour and add 1ts yogurt, turmeric powder (just about a pinch) and few drops of lemon oil mix all to make a thick paste.
How to apply
You can apply this paste all over the body and scrub it off when dry. This leaves your skin soft smooth and silky. This gram flour body scrub is great to deal excessive dryness of skin.
4. Homemade Organic Brown Sugar Body Exfoliator Recipe
Brown Sugar for Homemade Body Scrub |
How to Make brown sugar body scrub
Things you need
Organic Brown Sugar – 1 cup
Organic White Sugar – 1 cup
Vitamin E capsule – 1 Capsule
Organic Olive oil – as much as required to form a paste few drops of vanilla essential oil (optional)
Method
Take a mixing bowl add organic brown sugar, organic olive oil, 1 capsule of vitamin E (cut open and mix to the mixture) and organic white sugar mix them all.
How to apply
Moisten your skin and then massage gently with this natural organic body scrub.T his is a very simple and easy homemade organic body exfoliator.
Also see: Homemade hand cream
5. Homemade Exfoliating Oatmeal Body Scrub Recipe
The grainy texture of oatmeal makes is a superb skin exfoliator especially for oily skin. Besides being naturally absorbent, oat is packed with the properties which are a true blessing for the skin. Oatmeal body scrub not only exfoliates the the skin but it also absorbs all the impurities from the skin, will open the pores and go deep, it also hydrates the skin leaving it smooth and soft.
Take 2 tbsp of rolled oats. Grind it into a powder.
1 tbsp of baking soda
Lemon Essential Oil 1 drop
Honey 2 tsp
Dried Lavender petals for fragrance you can use any other fragrance also.
Mix all these ingredients to form a thick paste. Store it in an air tight jar.
Rub your oatmeal body scrub softly on the body and then gently rinse with water. Pat dry with towel and experience a smooth and moisturized skin.
I hope you try out these homemade body scrub recipes. Do leave your comments and suggestions.