I made and have been using this fantastic stuff as a night cream. It's very simple but extremely effective.

Comfrey is a herb which contains allantoin, an ingredient which promotes cell renewal. It's been used for centuries to aid healing; however, it does contain ingredients which are toxic to the liver so it should not be taken internally.

Ingredients

2 TBSP raw unrefined pure shea butter
2 TBSP comfrey-infused almond oil (directions on how to infuse follow)
15 drops lavendar essential oil or similar amount of other essential oil (optional)

Put shea butter into glass bowl or jar. Heat over double boiler or inside pan filled shallowly with water over low heat, stirring until melted. Remove from heat and stir in infused oil and essential oil. Allow to cool, stirring frequently (if you don’t stir it often the shea butter separates and forms “inclusions” in the mixture, making it liquidy and lumpy). It will take several hours to cool and harden completely.

How to infuse oil

Place dried comfrey or other herb into glass jar. Pour almond or other cosmetic oil over until covered. Place jar into top of double boiler and heat over very low heat for several hours (I usually do about 4 or 5 hours on the lowest stove burner setting). Strain oil into another glass jar and seal. Keep away from light and heat.

Yesterday I infused calendula (marigold), which is supposed to be a really good herb for skin, into avocado oil, which is fantastic stuff. Next time I make my face cream I’m going to use half that/half comfrey-almond oil and see how it works.

When I first decided to try making shaving cream, I used this recipe, mainly because it was simple and used ingredients I already had. It's basically just shea butter and oil, with options for different essential oil fragrance blends.

However, the stuff turned out more like shaving grease than shaving cream. It was thick and goopy, wouldn't rinse off me or the razor, and left a coat of oil everywhere.

So I decided to try adding some liquid castile soap and see what happened. Here's the final recipe:

2 TBSP shea butter
3 TBSP almond oil (you can use other cosmetic oil of your choice)
2 TBSP liquid castile soap (I used Dr. Bronner's)
Essential oils for fragrance (I didn't have and didn't want to buy any for this, so mine is unscented, but you can use any of your choice. The original recipe has lots of good suggestions).

Melt the shea butter in a glass bowl placed into a pan filled shallowly with water. Remove from heat. Add almond oil, liquid castile soap, and essential oils. Stir and let cool.

It turns into a kind of liquidy cream with tiny white suspensions which I think must be the shea butter. They kind of melt after spreading it on your skin.

Because it's fairly fluid you'll want to put it into a tube or a bottle with a narrow opening. It works very well and leaves your skin feeling really moisturized. It doesn't foam like commercial shaving cream but it does the job.

The most recent homemade personal care product I decided to try is toothpaste. I started with the recipe here and modified it somewhat.

2 TBSP coconut oil
2 TBSP vegetable glycerin
1/4 cup baking soda
30-40 drops peppermint essential oil
5-10 drops tea tree oil

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and blend thoroughly with a fork. You may have to warm the coconut oil a bit to soften it, or even melt it, as it can be quite hard at room temperature.

It makes a sort of gritty paste that isn't quite the consistency of commercial toothpaste but is pleasant to use. One difference, the baking soda is somewhat abrasive, so I've noticed it being a bit harder on my gums than normal toothpaste.

There's probably a good way to squeeze this into a used toothpaste tube (a large syringe maybe?), but I just keep it in a jar next to the sink and dip my toothbrush into it.

This stuff can end up separating a bit, especially when the weather is very hot. You may have to stir it from time to time.

This is maybe the natural recipe I'm most pleased with. It works fantastically and has completely eliminated my need for conditioner, which is a plus because although I love the Aubrey Organics conditioner I was using, it's very expensive.

I started doing some research online about natural shampoos and kept running across the same ingredients: baking soda, apple cider vinegar, and tea tree oil. Baking soda is a cleanser, ACV is an anti-dandruff and conditioning rinse, tea tree oil is anti-fungal and a dandruff remedy.

It seemed like most people who were using natural methods were making a baking soda paste to clean their hair and then occasionally using an apple cider vinegar rinse.

So I tried that for a while. I made a paste with 1 TBSP baking soda, 5-10 drops tea tree oil (any more gave me a headache), and enough water to make it workable. I spread it over my scalp and left it for a while before rinsing. I'd then rinse with apple cider vinegar.

The only problem was, it stripped my hair incredibly dry. Even using conditioner didn't completely restore it.

Finally one day I tried mixing the apple cider vinegar and baking soda BEFORE putting it on my hair. It foamed fiercely, as such a mixture is prone to do. I used it, rinsed it out, and immediately noticed: no dryness. In fact, I didn't even need conditioner. It made my hair sparkly-clean and didn't dry it out whatsoever, unlike shampoos. It still seems a little bit too good to be true, especially since the main ingredients are so inexpensive.

Mix together:

1 TBSP baking soda
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
5 drops tea tree oil

Pour over your hair, work it in, leave for a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly to remove any residue. It leaves your hair shiny and soft without the need for conditioner. I do still use a commercially-available natural shampoo every once in a while, since this recipe does tend to build up in your hair after several washes and leave it a little "sticky".

This is the point at which many people say "yuck". I understand the reaction, but honestly, this stuff works just as well as I remember any commercial deodorant working. It's not an anti-perspirant, and you do still have to maintain good hygiene, but you do that anyway, right? I run and ride my bike regularly, and I have not noticed any "smelliness" or issues with this stuff as long as I wash and re-apply daily.

I experimented with many natural deodorant products and methods before finding this recipe online and modifying it. It works the best of anything I've tried so far, definitely better than commercially-available natural deodorants I've tried. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but this works for me so I'm sticking with it.

1/4 cup cornstarch (moisture absorber)
1/4 cup baking soda (natural deodorant)
30 or so drops tea tree oil
2 TBSP shea butter
3 TBSP almond oil
10 or so drops lavendar or other essential oil (optional)

Mix cornstarch, baking soda, and tea tree oil. Melt shea butter in a heatproof glass bowl set inside a pan filled shallowly with water over medium heat. Stir in almond oil. Remove from heat and stir in cornstarch/baking soda/tee tree oil mixture.

I originally just used 2 TBSP shea butter to substitute for the coconut oil in the original recipe. However, shea butter is much harder than coconut oil and I ended up with this rock-solid stuff that was almost impossible to use. I re-melted it down and added the almond oil to make it more of a cream. It works brilliantly and has a nice consistency.

Note: Baking soda can be a skin irritant. If your skin is sensitive or you notice irritation after using this, you can try halving the amount of baking soda (says the original recipe). You also might not want to apply it directly after shaving your underarms.

You really only need a very small amount of this. It absorbs well and doesn't leave a white residue unless you use too much.

I found this recipe here. The only changes I made were to use shea butter instead of lanolin. I also basically ended up omitting the rosewater as the cream just cooled into a pocket around it and it spilled out the first time I used it. I don't think you really need it.

Night cream

The cocoa in this moisturiser will not stain the face. Instead the alkaloids it contains - mainly theobromine and caffeine - act as stimulants and rejuvenate the skin.

2 tbsp almond oil
2 tbsp shea butter
1 tsp cocoa powder

Put the almond oil, shea butter and cocoa in a heatproof glass bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of water and heat gently over a low heat till the mixture melts into a smooth cream. Use only a wooden spoon to stir as a metal one will react with the ingredients. Take off the heat. Allow the cream to cool and store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator (it started growing mold when I kept it at room temperature).

This is a wonderful, rich cream which I use only at night as it's rather greasy. You do have to be careful not to get it into your eyes as it stings rather fiercely.

For years now, I've bought only all-natural personal care products. The reason for this is that I believe that natural ingredients are better for your body, and I desire to avoid the unpleasant and possibly harmful chemicals in most commercial products.

Deodorant was my last hold-out, until two years ago when I switched to natural. Gross, yes, and I've probably freaked out all two of you who read this blog. Fortunately many of the people who read it are at a solid geographical distance from me and have nothing to worry about.

However, more recently I've begun to experiment with making my own natural personal care products. There are several reasons for this.

One, natural products can be quite expensive. Specialty creams, lotions, soaps and shampoos often come at a hefty price.

Secondly, making your own products allows you to completely customize what you put into them and to experiment with ingredients and proportions in a way you can't if you buy ready-made stuff.

Thirdly, and perhaps most compellingly for me, is the satisfaction you get from making things yourself. There's a real pride of accomplishment that comes from crafting something from simple ingredients that most people assume you have to buy. I love discovering and formulating new mixtures that mean I don't have to rely on someone else for that item.

At the real risk of freaking out any of my friends and acquaintances who read or happen upon this blog, I'm going to post a series of recipes for the things that I've made and found to work. Hopefully somebody out there may find them useful.