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Coconut Oil: 3 in 1 Beauty Product

As I continue my maternity leave this month, I wanted to share this recipe from Kristina, the writer behind The Greening of Westford. I am a huge fan of coconut oil; it was my belly butter of choice during my nine months of being pregnant. This is an easy recipe and I hope you find it useful!

If you are looking for more natural replacements for beauty products, I have THE ONE!  Coconut oil is an amazing ingredient.  You can cook with it and use it as part of your beauty routine! It is becoming a regular item on grocery store shelves as well.

This little mixture can be used as a moisturizer, eye makeup remover and eye cream.

Coconut Oil Moisturizer
Ingredients

1/2 cup Coconut oil
1/2 tsp Vitamin E (optional)

Directions

Place the coconut oil and vitamin E in a bowl.   Whip with an electric mixer until it is like whipped cream or frosting (about 5-10 minutes).

Vitamin E oil is used as a preservative.  However, if you don’t already have some, don’t bother.  Coconut oil has a pretty long shelf-life as is.   Some people find it easier to melt the coconut oil first, and then whip it as it cools.  If you prefer this method, you can melt the coconut oil in your microwave or over a double boiler.

Place in a pretty jar and you are done!

Uses

I put this on my body as a moisturizer after showering.  When I remove my eye makeup at night, I put a small amount on my eyes and wipe the make-up away.  A little remains which moisturizes that delicate skin around your eyes beautifully.

In the summer, this mixture may turn to liquid.   You could store it in the fridge to keep it more solid, but totally your preference.  In colder months, you may have to scrape at it a bit, but it melts quickly with the warmth of your hands.

Have you tried coconut oil in other beauty treatments?

About the Author

Kristina Greene is the founder and editor of The Greening Of Westford blog.  She focuses on practical eco-friendly actions anyone can do to save time, money, aggravation, oh, and the planet!  Connect with her through her blog, facebook and twitter.

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DIY Finger Paint With The Kids

DIY Finger Paint for Kids Random Recycling

When it’s too cold to go outside, it’s time to get creative inside. Our craft project of the day was to make DIY Finger Paint. One of my goals is to finally make some of the many kid-safe recipes I have found on Pinterest. There are recipes for nearly everything that you buy at the store, except you can make them for a lot less with ingredients you already have in your home. Often times, it’s also less toxic than what is available at the store.

DIY Finger Paint can be made with just 4 ingredients, plus some food coloring. I had a box of unopened food coloring that I have avoided using in our baking. Using it to decorate paint is a perfect way to use it up. The project is actually two steps: 1) Making the paint 2)Finger Paint time.  I made the finger paint with Madison’s help while the little guy took his nap. By late afternoon the paint was cool enough to use and they could get nice and messy playing with the paint.

The messiness level is pretty high on this one so beware. The food coloring stains the hands, but it did wash out fine in the bath. The color will be a lot better on white paper, I used paper bags instead to test it out. The paper is really durable and my kids don’t really care about the “picture” they are making. They just want to swirl it around and make “rainbows.”

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

2 cups water

1/4 cup clear liquid dish soap

food coloring

Instructions

Add sugar and cornstarch to a small sauce pan. Blend together, then add water. Cook on medium heat until the mixture turns into a gel-like substance.

Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and stir in the liquid soap.

Divide the mixture into separate containers that you can add the food coloring too. I would use about 8-10 drops for small containers. Glass baby food jars are great for this. We used larger jars to create the colors, then I transferred smaller amounts to an egg carton to use at the kid’s easel. If you have any leftovers, cover tightly to use later.

DIY Finger paint Random Recycling

Do you have a favorite DIY craft project or recipe to share?

 

I’m sharing this over at The Tuesday Baby Link Up.

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Shhh…we make our own hand soap

After I mentioned making our own foaming hand soap in yesterday’s post about household cleaners, more than a couple people have asked how to make it.

Here is the super easy recipe I use to make the foaming hand soap. I use Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps Pure-Castile Soap as the base.  This product got an A from the EWG Healthy Cleaning Guide. Tea tree oil is also a great addition because it has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiseptic qualities.

I reuse the foaming hand soap dispenser from CleanWell.  This line of products is a favorite and when I need a fresh bottle.  They have antibacterial soaps without triclosan, which is a big environmental hazard.

DIY foaming hand soap recipe

Foaming Hand Soap Recipe

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Keyword: Soap

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons Castille Soap
  • 2 drops of Tea Tree Oil
  • 2 drops of Essential oil I use lemongrass currently

Instructions

  • Add ingredients to empty foaming hand soap dispenser (about a 9 oz size). Fill the balance with water and shake gently.
Tried this recipe?Mention @emilyroachwellness or tag #erwellness!

 

DIY foaming hand soap recipe

 

This is a super cheap way to keep up with the kids overuse of the foaming hand soap.  I have found Madison “cleaning” the bathroom sink with half the bottle.  At about 25 cents a bottle, I don’t have to stress about it.  Plus, there’s no sodium lauryl sulfate, triclosan or synthetic fragrance involved in her cleaning project.

If you can handle making your own hand soap, now you can move on to making your own bubble soap for kids!

Happy washing!

Disclosure: Some affiliate links are included in this post. 

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