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Making your own creamy body wash is a fantastic natural alternative to conventional body wash which often contains harsh chemicals. Homemade body wash is also much gentler than bar soap and will not dry out your skin. Add your favorite essential oils to customize the scent! This DIY recipe is easy and quick to make and works for your entire family.
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I have made my DIY body wash recipe for my whole family for quite a while now. It’s natural, it cleanses and it moisturizes and is perfect for all skin types, even sensitive skin. Not to mention, it saves $$$$. Making your own body wash is fun because you can customize scents with different castile soaps and essential oils. This recipe contains not only raw honey but also jojoba oil which helps to replenish the skin helping it to stay healthy and soft!
Why Make Your Own Body Wash?
- To avoid chemicals. Shower gel is filled with them!
- To save money.
- To clean as well as moisturize and heal dry skin.
Most body washes contain a bevy of harmful chemicals like sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, propylene glycol, triclosan, and artificial fragrances. All of these chemicals are irritating not only to your skin but irritating to your hormones and even your organs!
As I like to say “If you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin”! Many of these harmful chemicals go directly into the blood stream. Over time they can build up and cause health issues.
Making your own body care products is just too EASY and FUN to continue to subject yourself to harmful chemicals-in my opinion. So, let’s get started!!
Ingredients in Homemade Body Wash:
Castile Soap is a highly concentrated liquid soap, like 3x more concentrated then a regular body wash! This is why we use it in recipes like this, so we can dilute it with other nourishing ingredients. Be sure to never use it straight, it can burn! I like to use THIS brand because it is 90% organic, 70% fair trade and contains no preservatives, fragrances or foaming agents. Plus, it comes in lots of different scents!
Raw Honey is an excellent natural ingredient to use on your skin. It is very hydrating and encourages your skin to retain moisture as well. I wrote a post on cleansing with honey which has turned out to be one of my favorite and easiest ways to gently cleanse your skin. Honey also helps create lather in this homemade body wash. You can also use manuka honey in this recipe especially if you’re using it on your face or experiencing body breakouts. Manuka honey is a powerful (but still gentle) addition to skin care because of it’s medicinal and healing qualities.
Jojoba Oil is an excellent oil for any skin type but you can use whatever nourishing oil you have on hand. Sweet Almond Oil, Olive Oil, Hazelnut Oil and Hemp Seed Oil are also excellent. I do not recommend using coconut oil or butters because they will solidify and eventually not mix with the soap or honey.
Pure Essential Oils are optional and dependent on what type of castile soap you use. I typically use lavender castile soap and like to add Geranium Essential Oil because it encourages your skin to slough off dead skin cells, relieves water retention and revs up circulation. However, you can also get unscented castile soap if you’d like to create your own scent with essential oils.
Vitamin E is excellent for the skin and added to many skin care products where anti aging is needed. It also helps to stabilize your body wash.
More Homemade Body Care Recipes:
- Healing Heel Balm
- Body Lotion
- Cellulite Smoothing Body Cream
- Firming Body Oil
- Homemade Body Splash
- Vegan Vaseline
What You Need to Make Body Wash Recipe:
- 4 TBSP Castile soap (find it HERE or HERE)
- 4 tbsp. Raw Honey (find it HERE)
- 4 tbsp. Jojoba Oil (find it HERE)
- 3 tsp. Vitamin E Oil (find it HERE)
- 30 drops Essential Oils *optional*
- 8 ounce glass pump bottle
- Funnel
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DIY Body Wash
Yield: 1 cup Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes
Making your own natural body wash is a fantastic natural alternative to conventional body wash that often contain harsh chemicals. It's also much gentler than bar soap and will not dry out your skin. Add you favorite essential oils to customize the scent This DIY recipe is easy to make and works for your entire family.
Materials
- 4 TBSP Castile soap
- 4 tbsp. Raw Honey
- 4 tbsp. Jojoba Oil
- 3 tsp. Vitamin E Oil
- 30 drops Essential Oils *optional*
Tools
- 8 ounce glass pump
- Medium sized funnel
Instructions
Simply, add all ingredients to an 8 ounce pump bottle, and shake!
Notes
Shake before each use. It might separate for a couple of days, after that mine stays mixed.
All of these ingredients are very rich. They are so yummy to the skin. It doesn't take but a couple pumps to be effective. Don't be fooled by the lack of lather.
Because we're using all natural ingredients, this cleanser will not suds up. It does leave your skin feeling very cleansed though. However, you can use it in a foaming soap dispenser but even that will not give you many bubbles.
Did you make this product?
Essential Oils Suggestions:
Lavender essential oil is my go-to but I also enjoy an essential oil blend of ylang ylang and lavender oil. Citrus oils like bergamot and lemon pair well with this duo as well. Tea tree oil is great for body acne since it has powerful antibacterial properties. Peppermint and rosemary essential oils have a cooling effect. Essential oils have anti-inflammatory properties which is a great property to add to homemade body wash.
It all depends on the scent of Castile soap you choose.
I like to get my essential oils from Plant Therapy. They are affordable, have organic options and free shipping. I also get essential oils from Mountain Rose Herbs. They also have high quality oils at affordable pricing.
A Word on Castile Soap
Castile soap is very concentrated and can burn delicate areas. I researched many, many DIY body wash recipes and found that the proportions I use are common. However, if you think you might be sensitive, I would reduce the castile soap by half. You can always add more.
I use Dr. Bronner’s castile soap because it is organic and easy to find. My local grocery store carries it. You can get it in a variety of scents as well. One of my favorites is Sweet Almond. I love mixing orange essential oil and lavender with the sweet almond soap. It makes a light and invigorating scent that is wonderful for a body wash as well!
If you are worried about the high pH of castile soap, I think you’ll find this article by Lisa Bronner, the daughter of Dr. Bronner, extremely helpful.
You can also get (very affordable) castile soap at my ingredient shop of choice, Mountain Rose Herbs. You’ll have to add your scents through essential oils because their’s is plain.
Do You Need A Preservative in Your DIY Body Wash?
You do not need a preservative with this homemade body wash recipe since we are not adding water or water based ingredients like rose water or Aloe Vera Gel. Honey can stay good for years – in fact, unspoiled honey has been found in Egyptian tombs. The two other ingredients, castile soap and oil, also have long shelf lives. However, the shelf life is 1 month maybe 2 tops which is why we want to make this recipe in small batches.
I hope you enjoyed my natural body wash recipe! Just a few simple ingredients can make so many natural products that will help transform your beauty routine!
Remember, becoming chemical free is easier than you think. You won’t break the bank and you’ll end up with the most decadent beauty products on the block! Plus, don’t get in a hurry! Enjoy the process of making better choices for your body! You’re doing a great thing for yourself.
xx, Jenni
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