Thursday, May 20, 2010

a new passion--making tinctures and salves and potions and lotions

So I've been venturing into the world of DIY healing and body care.  I've long made my own cleaners for homekeeping and such, but this is all new to me.  My monthly '(I'm not a) dirty hippie' parties where we make our own body and home products are fun and informative.  I reference this book often, which tells how to make infusions, tinctures, salves, body care.  I highly recommend it--it's easy to understand and really accessible to the novice.  One of the recipes talks about using lemon balm in an infusion, which makes me long for my lemon balm that I grew from seed at my old house and had loads of.  I should have brought it here!  Along with my lavender and russian sage, which was all taken out by the new owners.  No, I'm not bitter.

Anyway, yesterday Lily and I attempted to make homemade rose water (top photo).  She gathered petals from our rose bushes and we poured boiling water over them and screwed on the lid, which happened to seal.  So now what?  I don't know.  Ha.

And these containers are my straight up almond oil which I use to moisturizer after a shower, my facial oil which is very fun to use from the glass bottle with a dropper, and my newly made (at the last hippie party) rose and honey face wash.  Love it.  These are both from the Make Your Place book.

Facial Oil
2 oz. carrier oil (I used almond)
15 drops essential oil (I used lavender and peppermint...I think)
Combine 2-3 drops oil with a few drops warm water to use.  Rub palms together to emulsify and pat on face.  You can change the ratio, depending on how dry your skin is.

Rose and honey face wash
1/2 c. Rose water, homemade is best (but we had some purchased already)
2 T. liquid castile soap
1 t. honey
Combine rose water and honey and stir til honey is dissolved.  And soap and mix well.  I put mine in a small bottle with a pop top type lid--easy to squirt some out.

So this is a new embarkment (is that a word??) and I have visions of a whole dedicated shelf of ingredients to make these things as well as already made salves and tinctures.  To think about it makes me happy.  This is a goal for this summer--to make some of these things with my little ones.  I should get going on my herb garden!

And...if anyone reading this is in my area and wants to be added to the party invite list, let me know.  :)

4 comments:

  1. I'd love to be added- I'll bring oodles of lemon balm, too. Want sage? I've got that too.

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  2. ohhh, heck yeah! are you on facebook by chance? if so, we can be friends there since I do the invites via fb. if not, I think I can send it to your email. Not sure. Just email me!

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  3. That Lily... she's a cutie! A STRONG WILLED little bundle of energy.

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