DIY Homemade Oat and Coffee scrub for Glowing skin

Winter marks a bad period for people with Normal-Dry skin, skin becomes scaly, itchy and most of all loses it's natural glow. So what do we do ? We people with dry skin can't  even think of scrubbing with coarse salt/sugar ! But how do we ensure a healthy glowing skin? Here is one a nice gentle scrub recipe just for you!

Ingredients:

• Oats which is ground to fine powder.
• Coffee powder which is neither too fine / coarse.
• Honey (A boon  to humanity!)
• Milk Cream ( Use milk for normal skin)
• sandal wood powder (Optional but adds glow)

How to:

1. Mix oats powder, coffee powder and sandal wood powder.
2. Add Honey and milk cream to it and blend.
3. Allow it to settle for some time so it is not harsh on skin.
4. Now apply the paste evenly on skin(face) in circular motion and allow it on skin for upto 1 hour and wash off.

Skin will thank you for this luxurious treatment !  Mine did :-)

Click here for chocolate face mask.

DIY Simple One Ingredient Hair conditioner

There is atleast one hairy tale in fairy tales from various folklore's, Who doesn't like nice bouncy hair which feels like silk to touch ?  So what to do now ?
There are 100's of conditioner from various brands available but what if there is one simple ingredient which can  spin the same magic costing a lot lesser and does a whole lot of other great things too ? Sounds like a ad ? Well let me not build up more. Here is the recipe!

Ingredients :
Apple cider Vinegar!

How to:
Mix one teaspoon of Apple cider Vinegar (Any other natural vinegar is fine) With One cup of water (you can add essential oil if you can't stand the smell)
Apply this mixture on scalp and ends of hair and leave it for 5 minutes after shampooing the hair (See here for homemade shampoo) and then  either allow it to dry or wash off.

It not only makes your hair soft but also curtails growth on scalp and protects against dandruff and best of all it is free from harmful chemicals.

DIY Homemade Simple Winter lotion for Dry skin

Every time i read the ingredients list in most of the day creams/lotions etc with all the chemicals my heart skips a beat and takes me towards going natural albeit a little expensive.

I feel homemade one's are the best because even the lotions and creams claim to be ayurvedic/natural have a list of preservatives like ethanol's/ paraben's as preservative.  You can read about their ill effects!

I have started experimenting with my own lotion  a I have been successful so far. If you have tried my lip balm recipe this should be a breeze

So without much ado i present my lotion recipe.

List of Ingredients for about 20ml of lotion (Lasts about 15 days)

• 1 teaspoon(5ml) of beeswax
• 4 teaspoon of the oils, I used a blend of coconut oil and almond oil in 1:1 ratio
• 3 teaspoon of pure rose water(distilled)
• 2 drops of honey
• 1 drop of neem oil
• 3 drops of Vitamin E oil
• 5 drops of lavender essential oil(optional/ use any essential oil of choice) 

How to:

1.  In a double boiler, keep a clean sterilized bowl either stainless steel / glass.
2.  Add beeswax, coconut oil and almond oil and allow them to blend and melt.
3.  Then take it out and allow to cool but not solidify
4.  At this stage add rose water and blend (you can either use hand blender or blend in mixer)
5.  While blending add neem oil(it has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties) make sure you add a little unless you are ok with the strong nutty smell), Vit E oil and other essential oils( I added a blend of 20 drops of lavender with 2 drops of clove* essential oil) and then transfer the whipped cream to a jar.

*use caution when using clove oil with kids/pregnant woman.
 If you use a sterilized process then the cream even with rose water should last about a month.

Please discard if you find the smell odd or see any mold growth.

DIY How to make your own decongestant/vapor rub

I have been a vapor rub addict ever since my childhood. When the eucalyptus/Wintergreen oils are very strong and can be difficult on a sensitive skin vapor rub is just perfect!

But just a look at the ingredients on any popular brand lists petroleum jelly as a base or key ingredient.

The very thought of applying anything related to petrol on skin is just disgusting, Also it clogs the pores and hence not great for skin as well.

So here is a recipe for an all natural, preservative free decongestant/Vapor rub.

Vapor rub

List of Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoon(5ml) of beeswax
• 4 teaspoon of the oils, I used a blend of olive oil* and almond oil in 1:1 ratio
• 1 drop of neem oil(optional)
• 3 drops of Vitamin E oil
• 10 drops of winter green oil
• 10 drops of eucalyptus oil
• 5 drops of clove essential oil *(optional)
• 5 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 5 drops of camphor essential oil 

How to:

1. Set up  a double boiler with clean sterilized bowl on top of it preferably stainless steel/ glass.
2. Now add beeswax, olive oil and almond oil and allow them to blend and melt. Then take it out and allow to cool but not solidify
3. Once cooled but still in semi-liquid state add all the essential oils and blend
4. Allow it to solidify and your own vapor-rub/decongestant is ready!!                                   

*Use caution when using clove oil on pregnant women/Children.

Homemade DIY Natural Lip Balm - Chocolate

As always I prefer using a natural alternative to anything that I use on my skin.
My mantra has always been simple, Don't apply to your skin what you can't eat!
Lip Balm has been in my list for a long time now, I had to keep this on hold because of  not getting the Organic Cosmetic grade Beeswax in Bangalore.

I usually have trouble finding the lip balm because, if it has a tint of color it is either too dry or loaded with chemicals, If it is nice and smooth it is seriously pale and makes you look sick. So What better idea than making it yourself to suit your own skin! Let me not drag on and give the recipe! Trust me it's super simple!!

Ingredients :
1. Beeswax  - 3/4th of spoon if solid, 1 1/2 spoon when melted
2. Coconut oil  - 1 spoon if thicker, 1 1/2 spoon if melted.
3. Almond oil - 1 spoon
4. Olive oil - 1/2 spoon
5. Honey - 1 spoon
6. Castor oil - 3/4 th spoon ( if you want it a little glossy)
7. Cocoa powder - 1/2 spoon ( If you want some color)
8. Essential oil - of choice 5-6 drops( Can be skipped)

Steps :

1. Melt the Beeswax in a double boiler,
2. To the liquid Beeswax add all the oils(coconut, Almond, olive and castor oil) and stir it well till it blends.
3. Now add few drops of essential oil, if needed, I added lemon oil, it gives a very nice smell to the lip balm.
4. Once this is blended add cocoa powder( for chocolate brown) , you can change it to beetroot powder for red, or any color of your choice, or you can have a plain lip balm without any color.
5. Remove the tumbler from the double boiler and add honey to it and stir(honey also acts as preservative)
6. With honey it starts to solidify, when warm pour it into a clean box of your choice and allow it to cool.
In about 10 mins it solidifies and you have your nice creamy lip balm ready!

When i was done with mine, my niece commented that it smelled and looked so delicious that she wanted to eat it!!

Note: Castor oil adds a little bit of gloss so it's upto you to add it, If not you can the same quantity of any other oil.

Organic Sanitary pads!

One of the most not talked about topic is about the sanitary pads! It's mostly a taboo to talk about it in public. When we take care to not put in a lot of chemicals via food/cosmetics into body , It is often ignored how we stuff in a lot of harmful chemicals using these sanitary pads loaded with chemicals, plastic and perfume.

You can read more about it in this journal , But once i read about it, it was very hard to find a good substitute, It is too messy to use the old school methods, so thankfully found this alternative. After the experience with the organic one, I would never ever go back to the chemical laden one's!

Note : I don't have any affiliation with the company that sells it.

Homemade kajal/Kohl/kadige/eyeliner - DIY and Natural

Eyes have been celebrated as one of the most beautiful organ, Any song you hear be it in kannada, Hindi or English there are atleast 20% of those dedicated to eyes.
Even with my no make-up stance, Kajal is one exception which has always been my personal favorite, but thanks to my super sensitive skin most of the store bought one's used to either irriate my skin or cause dandruff. I later got to know that it is because of hell lot of chemicals in it, yes some of even the most expensive/so called natural one's I have tried.

So here is a simple recipe of kajal.
Ingredients :
1. Almonds
2. Castor Oil
3. Ghee

Step :
1. Arrange the setup of tumbler plate and a diya as shown below.
2. Now using fork hold the almonds to fire and allow it completely char.
3. Let the smoke from burning go and settle over the plate.
4. Once you are done with all the almonds(2-3 is more than enough for 3 months), use a drop of ghee to mix the soot to get the right consistency( Add very little as you don't want a runny kajal which will smudge) and put it to a box.
5. You can apply using finger tip or cotton bud.

Benefits:
1. Almonds and castor oil are great for eyes.
2. It is completely homemade and natural thus has no harmful chemicals, A great relief!!
3. Smell yum with ghee.