Homemade products???

gingahippy · 10-05-2008, 02:41 AM

I've played around a bit in the past with home made moisturisers (I had a skin graft that needed heavy TLC and didn't want any chemicals) and had some good simple results, choose a butter (cocoa/mango nut/shea) an oil (splash of wheatgerm/grapeseed/apricot kernel) a good dose of aloe vera gel and a little green tea, I used a simple palm-based emulsifying wax to blend it all together and added some sandalwood, frankincense and rose essentials oils.

It didn't last long, my girlfriend at the time took one pot because she liked the smell and my flatmate took the second pot to treat some skin condition he had.

I guard the last pot very carefully.

When i first got back into shaving a few months back with a DE I made my own aftershave with much less finesse.

40% aloe vera gel, 20% witch hazel and 40% homemade Croatian plum brandy (too rough to drink, i had to do something with it!)

It stings, it stops bleeding and it takes down the razor burn. Can't ask for more.

Anyone else out here made their own products yet?

Detach · 10-06-2008, 05:30 AM

[quote=gingahippy;266967

It stings, it stops bleeding and it takes down the razor burn. Can't ask for more.

[/quote]

i'm a panzy when it comes to my face

...i ask for no stinging

gugi · 10-06-2008, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gingahippy

Anyone else out here made their own products yet?

No, we drink our brandy, either because we know how to distill it smooth, or perhaps because we're rougher than it

Plus that way it conditions from inside out.

foundlingofdollar · 10-07-2008, 10:01 PM

I threw together some witch hazel and aloe juice at about a 50%-50% mix. It works well enough for me. There are some folks around here that make some really nice homemade bay rums too.

joke1176 · 10-08-2008, 01:50 AM

try adding some powdered alum to your aftershave. I make my own, and a little alum works awesome, I add just enough to stay in solution without precipitating when shaken.

fpessanha · 10-08-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joke1176

try adding some powdered alum to your aftershave. I make my own, and a little alum works awesome, I add just enough to stay in solution without precipitating when shaken.

Never tried Joe's aftershave... but I can attest, due to some limited experience with some other of Joe's stuff, that this man (and the great woman he calls his wife...) knows his homemade stuff.

fccexpert · 10-09-2008, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gingahippy

I've played around a bit in the past with home made moisturisers (I had a skin graft that needed heavy TLC and didn't want any chemicals) and had some good simple results, choose a butter (cocoa/mango nut/shea) an oil (splash of wheatgerm/grapeseed/apricot kernel) a good dose of aloe vera gel and a little green tea, I used a simple palm-based emulsifying wax to blend it all together and added some sandalwood, frankincense and rose essentials oils.

It didn't last long, my girlfriend at the time took one pot because she liked the smell and my flatmate took the second pot to treat some skin condition he had.

I guard the last pot very carefully.

When i first got back into shaving a few months back with a DE I made my own aftershave with much less finesse.

40% aloe vera gel, 20% witch hazel and 40% homemade Croatian plum brandy (too rough to drink, i had to do something with it!)

It stings, it stops bleeding and it takes down the razor burn. Can't ask for more.

Anyone else out here made their own products yet?

No chemicals? I don't think I could begin to list all of the chemicals in that mix. Maybe if I put a sample through a reallly good chromatograph, but then, maybe not.

ronnie brown · 10-10-2008, 02:13 AM

i make my pre shave oil and i like it so much i use it as a aftershave as well it is almond oil 16 oz. 1 oz.cederwood . 1/2 oz. sweet orange oil , 1/2 oz lavender& tee tree. the smell is great and it last a long time.

jockeys · 10-10-2008, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gingahippy

It stings, it stops bleeding and it takes down the razor burn. Can't ask for more.

Anyone else out here made their own products yet?

Here are some recipes.
Homebrew Bayrum Recipes

The one I tried is still in use. It burns like hell IF you weren't careful enough shaving, otherwise not. I love the sting, and I love the way it firms my face up. Plus, it smells nice.

nickyspaghetti · 10-10-2008, 12:47 PM

To be honest I have tried a few homemade recipes for a few things - aftershaves, shaving soaps, moisturisers. All the recipes were found on the internet. Nothing I have found for free actually produces a decent final product - well, it works to a certain degree, but if you bought it in a shop you would be pretty irritated.
The only thing I am still trying to get right is a shaving soap. I nearly have it but I need to find an ingredient that will make the bubbles last longer.

gingahippy · 10-11-2008, 02:21 AM

Loved the attatched thread on home made bay rum!

most of it sounded good enough to drink.

I heard somewhere that traditionallye soap works very well. Simply mix your chosen oils with Lye (caustic soda for cleaning drains), i don't know the amounts, and leave for a few months for the lye to evaporate out of the hardened soap, apparently it as the best for being kind to the skin too.

I have no idea wherre i read it though, may even have been on here somewhere. my memroy isnot so good.

Did I mention that already?

joke1176 · 10-11-2008, 02:39 AM

Actually, the lye gets converted when it saponifies the oils into a soap. We just let ours "rest" for a week or two, and it's just fine. We also test our batches with pH strips to make sure it's balanced before using.

nickyspaghetti · 10-12-2008, 11:42 AM

That is the basic idea, but the importance of getting the right quantities of the right oils is what I was getting at. At the moment I still haven't found the right oils to create long lasting bubbles. It may be because I use 10% coconut oil which bubbles loads but the bubbles are big and pop too quickly.