I don’t know about you, but quarantine gave me time. Time to watch documentaries I’ve wanted to watch, start projects I’ve thought about for years, finish programs I started writing years ago, and make a lot of my own products.
A few months after going whole food plant based (not vegetarian when I was 10 - but when I gave up all the packaged foods!) I started to pay attention to what I was putting on my body. I soon realized that most of the products I was using were toxic, so I shifted into buying alternatives.
This took years, and I’m still learning.
Fast forward to today, I’ve started to also look out for products that produced a lot of waste (and plastic).
Here’s some facts about plastic that I’ve recently learned:
Plastic was first invented in 1906, and became used more wide spread in the 1960’s.
The Plastic Breakdown
Plastic bags take 10-20 years to breakdown
Plastic bottles take 450 years to breakdown
Other types of plastic take 1000 years to breakdown
Plastic does not decompose or biodegrade instead it breaks down into microplastics
Microplastic is one of the biggest threats to our ocean. Fish are consuming these plastics which are toxic to them. Please check out A Plastic Ocean on Netflix to see the dangers and how it is effecting oceans ecosystem
Since fish are consuming these microplastics - they are ending up in our food system. So in reality we are eating plastic
I sat for a while with these facts, and it occurred to me that most (if not all) the plastic ever produced still exists today in some form. So I decided that I didn’t want to continue to add to that mess. Any way that I could possibly avoid plastic I would.
This led me to replacing single use items with reusable ones, starting my own garden, and DIY’ing beauty products.
Today I am going to share with you the shaving cream recipe that I have been loving (especially great with my safety blade!)
What you need:
2 1/2 oz. Shea Butter
2 1/2 oz. Coconut Oil
3 tbsp. Pure Castile Soap
2 tbsp. Jojoba or Almond Oil
Essential Oils of Your Choice
What You Do:
Set a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and set a bowl over the water. In the bowl place the Shea and Coconut Oil and melt. Once it is melted add in the pure castile and jojoba oil. Allow to cool a bit before adding your essential oils - you’ll need about 20 drops total.
Once the mixture has reached room temperature transfer to the fridge and let it harden. Once it is harden using a hand or a stand mixer whip the cream for about 2-3 minutes until it is fluffy and looks like whipped cream. Once it is whipped put it in a clean glass jar with a lid and store in your shower.
For reference I used 10 drops each of Tea Tree and Cedarwood oil.
Why those oils?
Tea Tree is great for treating blemishes, moisturizing, and cleansing the skin. It is also anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and said to work against ingrown hairs.
Cedarwood also helps to moisturize, is anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial. I chose this because since switching to a safety blade I would get razor burn when I shaved and wanted something moisturizing but great for sensitive skin! Cedarwood and Tea Tree are both used to treat acne so I thought it would be gentle and healing for my legs and the razor burn.
You could pick oils for their healing properties or to make your shaving cream smell nice - the only thing to remember is to wait for the mixture to cool - you never want to heat essential oils!