Lotion bars (a review of a d.i.y. beginner)

After making the lip balm I really wanted to make something else. I started to look up recipes for hand crème as my hands get easily dry and I have problem with my cuticles. After typing “hand crème diy” in Pinterest I got some pages with hand lotion bars. I got really intrigued by this. They seemed very easy to be made so I decided to give them a chance.

Indeed, it is very simple to make them. I made the first batch with unrefined shea butter and I must admit I was very disappointed with the scent despite the addition of sweet orange oil. So I meted this batch and added more sweet orange oil and lavender oil and some lavender but I still could smell the shea butter. Shea butter is really great when it goes about hydration but the scent of unrefined butter is something I can not bear. For me it smell as rotten milk but a friend of mine said that she liked the scent of my bars so perhaps is just a matter of personal preferences.

The second batch I made replacing shea butter with cacao butter and I loved it scent. It is really nice.

BUT, in all posts I have read about lotion bars authors claimed that they (bars) changed their life and they (bloggers) will never ever return to commercial hand creams. Well, I must admit that my hands are softer after using these bars and my cuticles really improved. On the other hand, I need to say that the way of application is not really easy. It takes a while before bars melt, and it takes really long when you have cold hands, which is my problem. So to apply this cosmetics I need to first worm up my hands (on a cup of tea, for instance). Secondly, it takes a while until hands are not more oily. It is not something I can use at office just as I did with my Dove cream. But the hydrating effects lasts longer than this of my Dove. And I know what I am putting on my skin! Perhaps I should make a real hand cream instead of bars. I think I will experiment with this a bit. Once I learn more I will share my thoughts. For now I share some photos of my mini bars.

P.S. To be honest, I really regret that I do not have anyone close by (a friend, not just anybody) that could experiment a bit with me.

D.I.Y. lip balm/ Balsam do ust własnej roboty

For quite some time I was thinking about making own beauty products. In the secondary school I used to make some toners and cleansers but then I stopped. Last week I made my first step by making own lip balm. It was a bit intimidating in the beginning but believe me, it is very simple. I melted two teaspoons of cacao butter with one ts beeswax and four ts sweet almond oil in a water batch. After I remove it from the water batch I added four drops of orange essential oil. Then I distributed it into containers. If you want to try, remember that it solidifies very fast.

It tastes different that balms I used to buy (my kids says that it is tasty) but it is very hydrating and feels very soft. And most of all I know what is in it and what is not (no toxic additions like colors, conservants etc.). A colleague of mine who got it from me liked it a lot.

Od jakiegoś czasu miałam ochotę by zrobić sobie kosmetyki domowym sposobem. W czasach szkoły średniej zdarzało mi się zrobić jakiś tonik czy preparat do mycia twarzy, ale potem jakoś skończyłam. W zeszły weekend poczyniłam pierwszy krok i zrobiłam sobie balsam do ust. Początkowo trochę się bałam, ale okazało się to bardzo proste. Trzeba było jedynie stopić ze sobą dwie łyżeczki masła kakaowego z jedną łyżeczką wosku pszczelego i czterema łyżeczkami oleju ze słodkich migdałów w kąpieli wodnej. Po ściągnięciu tej mieszanki z kąpieli dodałam cztery krople olejku z pomarańczy i po zmieszaniu przelałam do pojemniczków. Jeśli chcielibyście spróbować to uważajcie bo ten balsam bardzo szybko zastyga więc trzeba się śpieszyć.

Ten balsam działa nawilżająco i zmiękczająco na usta. Smakuje inaczej niż balsam ze sklepu, moje dzieci mówią, że im smakuje. Najważniejsze jest to, że wiem co w nim jest i czego w nim nie ma (toksyn, mających przedłużyć mu świeżość, poprawić smak lub kolor). Koleżanka z pracy, której podarowałam słoiczek była nim zachwycona.

Henna

For a very long time on the left side of this site you could see my picture wearing blond hair. For a long time I was bleaching my hair. I am naturaly dark blond but since my 25 I got quite some grey hair and I did not like it at all. Around two years ago my hair’s started to brake a lot. After brushing, my brush was full of hair, the batch tube was full of hair after I washed my head. I was getting pretty nervous. I am still not sure what was the cause; was it the bleaching or the fact that gray hair are more breakable (at this moment my natural hair is very grey). I just wanted to give my hair a brake but on the other hand, I did not want to be gray, I feel too young for it. That’s why I decided to try henna. When I was 17-19 I was also putting henna on my hair but at that time I was using the pure henna so my hair was red.

On internet I found a lot of positive opinions about Khadi henna but since it was not available in our local store I bought what was: henna from njd-cosmetics (chestnut-brown). I usually prepare it a day before by simply mixing the powder with hot water. Sometimes I add some oil and lemon juice. The preparation takes no more than 2 minutes excluding boiling time. Putting henna on hair is pretty messy business, it takes quite some time to get right color (for me round 2 hours) and the bath tub gets realy messy after rinsing hair. Nevertheless, the color is very nice and my hair stopped to brake after few months of using henna (I did not expect immediate results).

              

Recently however, I learned about Lush henna blocks. I wanted to give it a try so I bought the brun henna. The bar cost at our shop 15 euro (twice as much as my njd-henna). The smell was definitely different from the henna I was used to due to addition of oils and butter (I was pretty excited about this additions). Since my hair is short I used only half of the bar. The first disappointment came when I was trying to melt it. It took ages! I was trying to help with a fork and after 15 minutes of struggle I finally managed. There was no difference to njd henna in regards to application or the development time. However, it took me lot more time to remove it from my hair. This henna contains coffee, which was very difficult to remove. It is advised not to wash hair 48 hours after coloring but I had to, otherwise it seemed impossible to get rid of the residues. The tube was more messy than after the other henna because of the oils. There was a nasty green film inside the tube. The worst part was that the smell of oils and butters was overwhelming even after washing my hair. I had headache whole next day. I could smell it for nearly two weeks. Hubby also did not like it.  The color was very nice but for the first few days it was more red than brown. My hair was more shiny and soft than after the njd henna but because of the overwhelming scent I think I will not use the second part of the henna and will return to my old brand.

                             

It is not that I’m negative about Lush, not at all. I have two shampoo bars from Lush which I love. One is with addition of nettle and helped my daughter to get rid of dandruff very quickly. The other one is for greasy hair and I use it myself. I must admit that I do not need to use conditioner after this shampoo and my hair is very shinny and soft.

Does any of you have other experience with henna? Is there something else you can advice?