3-Ingredient Homemade Shaving Cream: Update

I posted this recipe over a year ago, and decided to do an updated post now. I am still making my own shaving cream and loving it! I have made a couple of minor changes that I thought were worth noting for the past couple of batches, though. I think my first changes came in March, and I just made another batch this week using these methods.

#1 I decided to experiment with almond oil in place of extra virgin olive oil. I wasn't sure if this would make a difference. The olive oil is probably cheaper, but I figured it was worth trying since I had it on hand anyway for my homemade face moisturizing oil. This changes the color slightly, but at first glance, it is pretty much the same. For a trial, I shaved one leg with the new batch of homemade stuff and the other with my old can of Skintimate. For me, there was a clear winner in the smoothness department, but just to be fair, I asked my hubby to do a "blind test" asking him to feel them and tell them if he noticed a difference -- without telling him why. Not surprisingly, he decided that the leg shaved with my homemade version was softer and smoother. Yeah!

#2 Shea butter. So, when I went to order more on Amazon, I actually ended up getting African shea butter for whatever reason. I must not have paid attention very closely. Is there a difference in how they work? Not that I can tell. There is a difference in color (more yellow) and smell. The African one seems a bit more chocolate-y to me, and trust me, that is not a bad thing at all. Hence, my newer batches are more yellow and smell different than my previous batches, but otherwise they have had the same skin conditioning qualities.

#3 My old hand mixer bit the dust last June, which you may have recalled if you happened to read this post about how in love I was with my new stand mixer. So, the old hand mixer worked pretty well for whipping up shaving cream, but it was messy and my hands did get tired doing it. Since it is no longer in the picture, I put my shaving cream block (more on that in directions below) in the stand mixer bowl, and whipped it up with the wire whisk attachment. Strangely, this takes about twice the amount of time than doing it by hand (6-7 minutes versus 3) BUT it's hands-free and definitely less messy. The only suggestion I have is to stop it a couple of times and stir the mixture by hand to get the solid chunks down from the sides of the bowl and back into optimal position for proper mixing. Easy.

{Here's a new batch after it "settled."}

Why homemade shaving cream? I wanted to eliminate chemicals! I like knowing what I am putting on my body. Also, my last batch lasted just over 4 months -- take that store-bought shaving cream! (There is no way a can of that stuff would have made it that long.) Here is how to make your own natural shaving cream. (Organic ingredients are always a plus, but I wouldn't say they are a must.)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup shea butter (mine is African)
• 1/4 cup almond oil (or extra virgin olive oil, if you don't happen to have almond oil)

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan over low heat, melt the shea butter and coconut oil. (This takes between 5 and ten minutes -- a bit longer with African shea butter than with plain shea butter, which I don't remember as being as dense.)
2. Pour the melted contents of the pan into a container. (I use a plastic bowl.) Add your almond oil (or olive oil) and stir to combine.
3. Allow the mixture to solidify in the refrigerator. (I still can't tell you how long this takes. More than an hour, but it will certainly be ready if you let it set over night, which is what I tend to do since I seem to always be making a new batch after the kids are in bed.)
4. Remove the block from the bowl (or other container) and place it in your mixing bowl. (Mine have always slid out easily once I tipped the bowl over, so this shouldn't be hard for you either.)
5. Whip the shaving cream. This used to take about 3 minutes with my hand mixer. Now, it takes a bit longer with the stand mixer (as mentioned above).
6. Store your shaving cream in air-tight containers. Labeling them is suggested. I like to just use masking tape and permanent marker to write the contents and date made.
7. To shave, I use my fingers to remove a dollop of shaving cream and spread it on my skin. It liquefies once you rub it in, and I love this. It never runs down my legs and gets wasted like commercial shaving creams or gels have a tendency to do. Also, the moisture gets locked into the skin. I know this because I see the water bead up where I have applied my shaving cream -- so it does two jobs in one. It works in all the usual places: underarms, legs, bikini area, and although I have not personally tried it, a man could also shave his face with this stuff. Note: Use caution if you like to shave in the shower since it may make the shower floor a teensy bit slippery at times.

3- Ingredient Homemade Shaving Cream

This is the only shaving cream recipe that I have tried so far, but honestly, I am happy with it, so I see no reason to try any others. While I have always used Skintimate, and I can get it very cheaply with coupons and sales, I just wasn't happy with all of the unnecessary chemical ingredients. Although, this homemade version is a bit more work and a bit pricier, I find that it's a perfect replacement. It's moisturizing, it smells nice, and it gets the job done without any chemicals added, which makes it a must-have for "surviving summer." I found this fantastic recipe on the blog Little House Living, and I am now kissing my Skintimate good-bye!

{Freshly whipped shaving cream}

{This is what it looks like after it "settles."}

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup shea butter
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. On the stove top, melt the shea butter and coconut oil on low heat. (This took about 5 minutes.)
2. Pour the melted contents of the pan into a container. Add the olive oil and stir to combine. (You can also substitute almond or jojoba oils, according to Little House Living, but I have not tried this. Perhaps for the next batch, I will try the almond oil, since I have some on hand for making my homemade moisturizing oil.)
3. Set the container in the refrigerator and allow the mixture to harden. (I am not sure how long this takes, but it is definitely more than 1 hour. Since I tried this late at night, and it wasn't solidified after 1 hour, I went to bed, and it was hardened by morning.)
4. Remove the solid block and place it in a bowl. (This easily fell out when I tipped the container over.)
5. Whip it. (Whip it good! Feel free to sing Devo while you make your shaving cream, even if it's only in your head.) I used a hand mixer for this, and it it took about 3 minutes to achieve the desired creamy texture.
6. Store your shaving cream in air-tight containers. I put my shaving cream into two different plastic containers with lids. One holds 8 ounces and the other hold 4.5 ounces. I suggest labeling your containers. For this, I just used masking tape (because I have found that permanent marker gets rubbed away from the plastic containers over time). The one I've been using for the past couple of weeks is being stored in the shower (although this may not be recommended, I find it easiest). The other container, I placed under the bathroom sink where it is nice and dark. I assume that this should last me for several weeks. (If you look at the photos, you will note that the consistency has changed so that it is no longer fluffy. It's more of a butter, but it still works wonderfully for shaving.)
7. To use the shaving cream, I just use my fingers to take out just a dollop. It liquifies while it is being rubbed into the skin, but I think that this is good for a couple of reasons. First, I never have to worry about it running down my legs and getting wasted, which can easily happen with a commercial shaving cream or gel. Second, I think that this provides extra moisture, which gets locked into the skin. You can see the water beading up where the shave cream has been applied. I believe that patting dry after rinsing means that my legs look softer and shinier than they did when I was using Skintimate. I use this in all the usual places: my legs, my underarms, and my bikini area. So far, it has worked nicely giving me smooth skin with no irritation, and I have nicked myself just once in the past couple of weeks. (The only downside is that this can make the floor of the shower a wee bit slippery, not terribly so, but I do want to mention that as a word of advice; If you do your shaving in the shower, please use caution.)

Notes on Where to Buy Ingredients: 

• Coconut oil should be available at most grocery stores. The one I used is organic. It came from Meijer and cost $12.74 for 16 ounces. Aside from making your own shaving cream, it can be used as a natural diaper rash cream, an all-over moisturizer, or a cooking oil. 
• Shea butter is a little more expensive and not as easy to find. Mine came in a 7 ounce container for $9.99 at a natural foods store. It's an ingredient found in lots of natural beauty products due to its healing properties. I've not personally tried it, but shea butter is said to cure lots of skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, and even sunburn. It just like it because it feels nice on the skin and doesn't leave a greasy residue. If you can't find this locally, there are lots of online vendors.
• For my oil, I used extra virgin olive oil, which I buy at Kroger, but you can get it anywhere. For the best deal, consider buying it in bulk, especially if you cook with it our use it to make other beauty products like my homemade face wash, homemade non-petroleum jelly, or this eye makeup remover. (Yes, I am currently in LOVE with extra virgin olive oil. I think there is very little that it can't do!)

Homemade Non-Petroleum Jelly

So, spring is in full bloom, and we are rapidly spiraling into summer! That means lots of skinned knees and bug bites, and oh, yeah, feet that were not quite ready to be seen in sandals. Luckily, I think I have found a super solution to all of these warm weather woes that is simple, affordable, and not chock-full of chemicals. Since I had so much fun sharing some ways that I pamper myself with homemade beauty products, I felt it would be great to share some helpful tips on "surviving summer."

My first tip is to make your family some non-petroleum jelly, which I learned about here. (I was actually on the hunt for DIY tinted lip balm recipes, and found one that called for Vaseline. Yuck! I refuse to put something petroleum-based on my skin and lips these days, so I first had to locate a recipe for making my own non-petroleum jelly before I could try that. More to come on how that lip balm turned out.) This is very easy to do with only two ingredients: olive oil and beeswax.

My beeswax came from Michaels, and with a coupon, ended up costing about the same as I would have paid at the natural foods store, $10 a pound. (In retrospect, I wish that I had just bought it there. I don't think there is a difference. I was hoping to find it in pellet form instead of the big block, but no such luck, so I purchased one labeled for "candle making." Again, I don't know if this matters. I suspect that beeswax is beeswax, so my personal advice is just buy it where you find it, or try looking online if you want to save yourself the run-around.) I started out with extra virgin olive oil, and ran out just before I had enough, and had to substitute the remainder of the "light tasting" olive oil that was on hand. I don't think this makes a huge difference, but when I make my next batch, I will first make sure that I have enough extra virgin olive oil. (I love it for cleaning and moisturizing my face, so I figure it is awesome for lots of other stuff, too!) I love this stuff, so I will definitely be making more when the first batch runs out. It will be handy for winter dry skin, too, but I don't want to think about that just yet...

{2-Ingredient Homemade Non-Petroleum Jelly}

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup grated beeswax (about 1 ounce)
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Grate your beeswax. (I first had to chop my big one-pound block into smaller pieces, using my chopping tool left over from my chocolate business days and a cutting board.) Grating the beeswax reminded me of grating Fels Naptha to make my own laundry detergent, except that the soap is softer, so this required a bit more elbow grease. Don't worry, though, once you get through grating your beeswax, I promise that this is smooth sailing!
2. Add grated beeswax, along with olive oil, to a small sauce pan. Melt over low heat. (The original blogger also suggested that you can use a double boiler, but I decided to make this easy on myself and just used a single pan, which worked fine.) I found that this took about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the melted contents of the pan into a container to cool. I used a clean half-pint canning jar. I am not sure how long the cooling process takes exactly; I checked after an hour, but it wasn't ready. Since it was late at night, I just went to bed and let it sit until morning, which was obviously plenty of wait-time.
4. Add a lid once the non-petroleum jelly is cool. I have also taken some and put it into smaller containers to store in other bathrooms and/or take with us on-the-go. 
5. Apply as needed. Here are some ways we have used this so far:

-- lip gloss (Super shine + moisture = all you really need, minus the parabens and other nastiness!)

-- bug bite balm (I can't swear that this actually takes the itch factor away, but we are doing well with our placebo-effect mentality. It seems to work for us, so it's at least worth a try.)

-- boo-boo salve (If you are avoiding anything that is petroleum based: Vaseline, Aquaphor, even the store-brand Neosporin we were using contained mineral oil -- Boo! -- this is a great, safe alternative for skinned knees and other boo-boos.)

-- cracked heel cream (I personally attest that this works better than any of the commercial products I have ever tried for dry heels and that is with or without slipping socks on over top.)

-- cuticle cream (Have I mentioned that I often need this since I have a bad habit of biting/picking at my cuticles? Well, this does a great job of repairing the damage overnight. It's not perfect, of course, but this works nicely on hands as well as feet.) 

-- It should work on dry skin anywhere else on the body, too. Plus, I am sure there are other uses that I have not even thought of yet. Possibly a diaper rash salve? I would do research first, though, before using with cloth diapers, but it would certainly be okay with disposables. I am guessing if I added a few drops of essential oils like eucalyptus or peppermint, this might would work as a homemade vapor rub, too. I wonder if this would soothe a sunburn? I may give it a try at some point, although, I hope I don't have to test this out any time soon! Feel free to share other uses that you have for non-petroleum jelly.