Make your own hand cream with just two ingredients or salve with just 4! plus essential oil for aroma, if you like it.
2-Ingredient Hand Cream:
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil*
3 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Optional: 3 drops Frankincense Essential Oil
Equipment:
small ceramic or glass bowl
stainless steel spoon
stainless steel fork or small whisk
sanitized glass jar with tight-fitting lid (see “What size should I use?” below)
Method:
1. Measure out coconut oil and place it in the small bowl. Mash the coconut oil with the back of a spoon to a smooth butter. Coconut oil is very malleable and will melt with the slightest heat, so keep it away from heat or lights.
2. Measure out your EVOO and pour over the mashed coconut oil. Continue to mash and mix the two oils together until incorporated.
Add up to 3-6 drops essential oil (see Essential Oils, below). Stir to mix.
3. Then whisk the mixture until soft peaks form. Scrape into your storage jar and cover tightly.
Your 2-ingredient cream is now ready to use!
Notes:
If you don’t have extra virgin olive oil but instead have an organic oil such as grapeseed oil, avocado oil or sunflower oil why not use one—or a combination of these—in place of EVOO?
You may have the ingredients on hand to make this very simple yet elegant cream in less than 15 minutes! The oils are “food-grade” oils and the coconut oil is solid as long as room temperature is below 77 degrees F.
It’s best to make a smaller amount of cream and rely on it as your hand moisturizer in the short term. Then make more if you run out!
If you happen to have Shea butter (usually sold as a cosmetic ingredient in the US), go ahead and make use of the Shea in place of coconut oil! Its texture is drier than coconut oil, which melts in your hands. Shea butter hand cream follows the same measurement and recipe above.
Essential Oils:
Add an essential oil such as Frankincense if you prefer its aroma to coconut oil. Coconut oil smells pleasant in itself, but you have the option to choose a different scent.
Choice essential oils for this cream could be Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Sweet Orange, Cedar or Clary Sage, or your favorite scent.
Use only a small amount, such as 3-6 drops. And by the day after you make your cream, the aroma will be stronger. Be aware that essential oils can be drying, so aromatically stimulating a hand cream can work against your purpose in this case.
What size jar should I use?
Picking a smaller or a taller jar helps you decide how much of each oil to measure out. As I indicated in the Foot Scrub Recipe, it all depends on how much cream you will need. Is the cream for yourself? then I would choose the smaller jar—one that holds about ¼ cup liquid, or less. This is the amount given in the recipe, above.
Why not up-cycle a jar for this cream? Look around and check your re-cyclable items. When re-claiming a glass jar for use here, be sure to sanitize it by washing thoroughly and boiling it in water for 5-10 minutes.
4-Ingredient Salve Recipe
Salves are easy to make. They usually include beeswax and sometimes butters as well as oils. This recipe adds a touch of honey for extra vitalizing and moisturizing properties.
Find beeswax or other waxes in pellet form, rather than a cake, in health food stores, and measurements will be easier to manage. It lends a light yellow-cream color and rich texture. Your salve is hardened with beeswax very easily! So be careful in how much you add in, erring on the side of caution for softer results.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil*
3 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1/2 teaspoon Beeswax pellets
Optional: 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon raw honey (organic honey is okay, too)
and/or your choice Essential Oil
Equipment:
small bowl, ceramic or glass
double-boiler or bain-marie, see below
stainless steel fork
small stainless-steel whisk
sanitized glass jar with tight-fitting lid (see “What size should I use?” above)
Method:
1. Measure out coconut oil and place it in the double-boiler—or bain marie if it’s easier for you. Slightly melt the coconut oil on medium or low heat. You won’t be at this long and lower heat is best.
2. Add beeswax and stir. Keep watch on these two ingredients to make sure the coconut oil does not burn. Swirl and stir often with your stainless-steel fork to completely melt the beeswax.
3. Measure out your EVOO and pour over the melted beeswax and coconut oil. Continue to heat the oils and beeswax together for 1 minute or so until the oil appears uniform in color.
4. Turn off the heat. Add the honey, if using. For my ¼ cup recipe, I use 1/4 teaspoon of honey. Whisk the honey into the mixture to blend. Finally, add up to 3-6 drops essential oil. Stir it thoroughly.
5. Remove from heat. Immediately pour and scrape into your storage jar and cover tightly. Allow to cool to room temperature or place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Your 4-ingredient salve is now ready to use!
For More on Dry Skin
Please see my posts on dry heel skin, here and dry hands, here. And my recipe for a Foot Scrub, here.
A bain-marie is a French-inspired term for a double-boiler “work-around”. If you have a wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan and a heat-proof dish or pyrex measuring cup, you can make a bain-marie.
First, pour about ½” water into the saucepan. Place the heat-proof dish or cup into the water. Turn on the heat to medium-low and gather your ingredients together.
Next place your ingredients into the bowl and proceed as above.
