ChristianMilitaryWives

We promised our listening audience that we would post recipes for the homemade bath and beauty products we discussed on our Friday night show about a month ago! We may be slow, but we always deliver!

If you are looking for a good, creative, homemade gift to give to friends and family members this Christmas season, they you are in for a treat -- and if you make these things for them, they will be in for a treat too! Enjoy and feel free to post your questions here and we will answer them as we are able!  

Bath Fizzy Bombs!

All the ingredients I use:


Dry ingredients: (I measure by weight)
Baking Soda - 8 ounces

Citric Acid - 4 ounces
Corn Starch - 4 ounces
Salts - 4 ounces (Dead sea salts, mineral or epsom salts all work fine. I use epsom since they are the most affordable and they make the fizzies sparkle a little)

Wet Ingredients:
Water 1 T
Essential or Fragrance Oil - 2 tsp (Below I listed the supplier I use for fragrance oils)
Oil  2.5 T (I use almond oil a lot because it's light scented and feels nice on skin. If you use olive oil or other pungent oils consider how it may smell with the scented oils.)

Food coloring - 1 or 2 drops. (I personally don’t like using color. Just remember the color could stain skin and tubs, although not likely if it’s very light.)

1. Dry Ingredients:
 

Combine all dry ingredients in a (preferably glass) bowl. Whisk all of the clumps out. Be gentle with the whisk because the powders are all fine and you will be in a cloud before you know it! Your ingredients should have a fine consistency throughout.

2. Wet Ingredients: 

Blend your wet ingredients together. Do not worry if they do not mix well. You have water and oil in the same small bowl. I use a whisk and whisk it right before I pour it. You can also, alternatively, shake it in a small jar with a lid on it. 

3. Combine Ingredients:

I make a small well in the center of my powder and I use my hand to mix at this point. Take off all your jewelry if you do this. As I pour the mixture I use my hand to quickly and evenly distribute the moisture. If your mixture has a “reaction” (begins to fizz) quickly mix it into a drier (non-reactive) part of the mixture. The goal is to get the ingredients well blended and moist enough to mold, but you do not want the fizzy reaction to happen yet. That’s the reaction you want later in the tub! Add liquid about 1 tsp at a time. The consistency of the mixture, when you are all done, should be like damp sand that is easy to mold. When you grab a handful of it and squeeze it should be molded when you open your fist like in the picture above.

4. Give them shape!

Once your mixture is together, you have a pretty limited amount of time in which to get it into molds. A lot of people who make the bombs (myself in included as you see in pics) use the hollow Christmas tree ornaments you can find at your local craft store. They come apart at the center and are made to fill with stuff. 

To do the big bombs like these, you have to pack each side first and then overfill at the center and press the two sides together. You will eventually learn how much you need but you always need both sides of the orb full and then a heaping amount in the middle. This allows you to press the two sides together and hold it for 30 seconds or so until it molds them together. You don’t pull them apart, but rather you will gently shake or tap them and they will unmold. 
 

This recipe makes 4 good sized bombs and one half of a bomb. You can use smaller ball molds or use molds that have a shape to them (you can get these at the craft stores in the soap making section. 

When you unmold them there are a few things to remember:

1. Store them in a dry area, but do not do anything to dry them quickly. If they dry too quickly they will crack (no fan and no putting them in a warm oven, etc). They take approximately 24 hours to dry completely.

 2. As they dry, let them rest on a dry, white towel. I also turn them often for the first few hours. This keeps moisture from building up under them on the towel. The softness of the towel will keep the balls from developing a flat side. 

3. Some times small “warts” will appear. These are just small areas where the fizzy was has activated either because the mixture was not mixed really well OR there is too much moisture. It’s best to make them on a dry day. 

4. When they are hard and completely dry they can be stored in a bag or airtight container.  The shelf life for these is about 6 months. I have never had to find out if they last longer than 2 weeks! 

The only instructions you need to add, if you give them as a gift, is “Fill tub with hot water, drop in bath bomb, watch it fizz, enjoy its scents, feel the oils release on your skin.... sit back and relax!”

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Sugar Scrubs 


I have discovered that a good sugar scrub is the best way to exfoliate and add moisture to your skin in one step. I looked for many recipes this summer, but basically what I do is add brown sugar (or white if you want a harsher exfoliant) to pure vegetable glycerine. I mix in my essential oil and my favorite moisture oil - which again I use almost or sunflower oils for their light scent. 

Vegetable glycerine can be a little hard to find, but there is a link at the end of this article to an herb store where I get my ingredients. They have glycerine that is inexpensive and very good to use.

With a body scrub the key thing is to suspend the sugar in a main substance that will not dissolve the sugar. Many other recipes omit the glycerine and use a light oil such as safflower, sunflower or almond and a fragrance oil.  

Regardless of what you use the portions tend to be as follows:
1 Cup of brown sugar
1/2 to 3/4 Cup of glycerine or oil
1-2 tsp essence oil (based on your preference)
other additives like berry seeds for extra exfoliation or honey for added moisture.

Get creative! Put the mixture in a pretty jar, add a label and give it to a friend who would enjoy the wonderful mixture for her skin! Quick hint: The best batch I made was with a chocolate scented oil, brown sugar, and a little cocoa butter mixed in! YUMMY!

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Milk Bath 
Last year my mother in law asked me to make baskets filled with homemade goodies. The milk bath I made was a huge hit. I made it and filled up small old fashioned glass milk bottles I found at Hobby Lobby. 

Again the ingredients are basic and you can make it in many ways -- look in your pantry and get creative!

What you will need:
Dry milk (2 Cups)
Almond or other light scented oil (2 Tbs.)
Essence/Scented oil (1-2 tsp depending on preference)
Bath salts 1/2 C.
Optional: honey, oatmeal ground in a food processor, etc. 

Add the ingredients until well blended! Put in a nice container with instructions to add about 1/2 C. of the dry mixture to a running bath! Enjoy!  

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The next two recipes are from the book "Natural Beauty at Home" by Janice Cox.  Janice was kind enough to give us permission to publish them in this article for our military wives! Thank you Janice! I encourage you all to check out her book for other ideas!

Oatmeal Cleanser/Facial

1 Cup Oatmeal
½ cup Powdered Milk
Herbs of your choice (Green tea, Chamomile, Peppermint, Lavender)

Place oatmeal, powdered milk, and herbs (one tea bag worth is good) in a food processor  or blender and process till powdery. Store in an air tight container. To use as a cleanser mix two tablespoons of the mix with just enough honey and water to make a paste. Gently scrub face with the mixture. Rinse with tepid water. To use as a facial use enough of the oatmeal mixture with an egg and some honey to make a paste. Leave on face for at least 15 minutes. Rinse with tepid water.

Green Tea Toner

1 cup boiling water
1 Green tea teabag
1-2 Tablespoons Witch Hazel

Steep tea for 15 minutes. Discard tea bag and allow tea to cool completely. Add in Witch Hazel, 1 Tablespoon if you have dry, sensitive skin, 2 Tablespoons if you have oily skin. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To use dampen a cotton ball with the toner and gently wipe face. 

1 cup Cornmeal
1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Coconut Oil

Mix the ingredients till it is the consistence of wet sand, adding more Coconut oil if need be. Store in an airtight container. Has a very long shelf life as Coconut oil is very stable and takes a long time to reach rancidity. Use after shaving in the shower. Take two Tablespoons of the mixture and exfoliate well. Rinse with warm water. Dry with a soft towel and work the remaining  Coconut oil into the skin. This can be used as a full body scrub. Do not use on the upper chest as the skin is very sensitive. Do NOT use on the face. The cornmeal can get in the eyes and scratch your cornea.