Welcome to the Cosy Craft Club's DIY skincare month! We really want to encourage you to have a go at making your own skincare, and we'll be sharing the key things you need to know to get started. You can find all our DIY skincare posts in one place here.

Today’s post is from Krishna, founder of skin I care. Krishna runs workshops to teach you how to make your own vegan skincare. Today she’s going to be giving us some insights into the important things to consider when getting started in DIY natural skincare - plus, she’s sharing with us a free body butter recipe so you can get started!

Hello! I’m Krishna - a creator, formulator, and lover of making my own things. For many years I worked as a Management Accountant and now I am a graduate of Formula Botanica’s Diploma in Organic Skin Care Formulation course. I live in London and in addition to working for myself, I am a mum of two. It was because of these two, that I finally made the jump and took up skincare formulation professionally.

My skin I care workshops are filled with skin enriching ingredients, simple processes and lots of information. We keep the groups small so you get the most out of each session and learn how to adjust recipes to your skin type and conditions.

Learning how to make your own natural skincare is one of the most rewarding and empowering skills you can master.

Why should we learn this skill?

I truly believe that making your own skincare is a useful skill to have just like cooking. The skin is after all the largest organ, so it deserves fresh, healthy and nourishing ingredients.

One of the major problems with today’s skincare products is that they are highly toxic. Most skincare products today contain very harsh ingredients. These ingredients like BPA, synthetic fragrances, parabens, phthalates and other unnatural, toxic substances are linked to everything from skin irritation to chronic disease. So, being able to master this skill gives you a better control and knowledge of what you are feeding your skin!

What do I need to get started?

I always recommend starting simple, researching into each ingredient, remembering the purpose of the product (for example, you don’t want to use expensive essential oils in a shower gel as they get rinsed off) and at every step making mental notes of how the ingredients smell, feel and mix into your formulation. Being in the moment when formulating is a good practice of mindfulness!

Step 1. Choose your Ingredients

Important things to look at in ingredients is their solubility, aroma, colour, skin compatibility and sustainability. We encourage new learners to approach skincare formulation as an art as well as a science – taking inspiration from anywhere: colours, flavours, countries, music, nature, words, emotions and seasons. Choose a few ingredients that really appeal to you, research them and then start simple.

Also, and this is very important, please don’t ever buy very expensive ingredients when you first start to make natural skincare products. You will likely experience plenty of formulation disasters, so it’s best to start as simple as you can.

Step 2. Make Natural Skincare Products

If you’re new to making natural skincare products, I always recommend starting simple and safe. The best way to do this is by making anhydrous skincare formulations, which don’t contain any water, so won’t need any preservation. Examples of anhydrous formulations are body butters, face oils, balm cleansers, lip balms or powdered masks. (Keep reading for a free recipe for body butter!) These formulations do however require an antioxidant such as Vitamin E or Rosemary CO2 extract, which will slow down the process of your oils and butters going rancid.

Initially, your balms might be grainy, your emulsions might split, your essential oils might not blend with your toners and your cleansers might not foam, but practise makes perfect and before you know it, you’ll have a gorgeous thin lotion to use for yourself or to give to friends & family.

Step 3. Learn about Natural Preservation

You want to make sure your formulations are safe, so you need to think about preservation. You can either make only anhydrous formulations, which don’t need a preservative, or make natural skincare products that contain water BUT these will need a preservative if you want them to have a shelf life of longer than a week. Otherwise they could go mouldy and encourage microbial growth within a matter of days. You simply do not want to be rubbing microbes all over your face, which is why it’s so important to get the safety right.

There are lots of things to think about when choosing a natural preservative, such as:

You don’t want to use a preservative that only works against one type of microorganism and lets another type proliferate in your lotion. Choose a preservative that works on a broad spectrum of microorganisms or pair it with another preservative if required.
Make sure that your natural preservative is compatible with your formulation. Does it have the right solubility? Does it have the right pH range? These are all trickier components of making natural skincare products, but an online formulation course such as Formula Botanica’s Diploma in Organic Skincare Formulation can help explain many of these concepts in detail.
How long a shelf life does it give your natural skincare product? If you intend to keep your lotion for over a year but your preservative only works for 3-6 months, you may need to consider changing your choice.

Step 4. Set up your Workspace

Even if you’re making formulations for your own use, you want to make sure that you have a sanitised and clean workspace, so you can prevent contamination from occurring. After all, you don’t want to order lots of beautiful botanical ingredients, spend ages learning how to create your own serum and then contaminate it with the kitchen dishcloth!

The most important points to remember are:

Implement Good Hygiene: Keep your working area clean, tidy, well ventilated and free of food, drink, smoke and any illnesses or infections. Check, clean and maintain the equipment you use before and after every time you make natural skincare products. And always wash your hands!

Safety First: Although natural skincare products will contain ingredients that are generally very safe on the skin, you may occasionally be working with ingredients that could cause sensitisation if they were applied neat, such as many essential oils. Make sure you always use proper personal protective equipment such as aprons and gloves, which are inexpensive and easy to buy on Amazon.

Good Storage: Store your ingredients in the fridge or in a cool, dark space (follow the storage conditions set by your supplier). Keep your finished formulations stored in a sealed and safe environment away from direct heat and light and labelled properly.

Now it's time to put this new-found knowledge to the test! Here's a recipe to make your own body butter. Happy formulating!

Whipped Shea Citrus Body Butter

Body butter is a skin moisturiser that typically contains cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil or another vegetable-based oil. It's thicker than lotions and is extra effective at rejuvenating dry skin, whether used all over or only on problem patches, such as elbows and knees.

Formulation for 200g:

130g refined shea butter
56g safflower oil
2g vitamin E oil
1g lemon essential oil
1g orange essential oil
1g grapefruit essential oil

Ingredient Benefits:

Shea Butter - Apart from it being highly moisturising, it’s a source of vitamins A, E, F and K. After shea butter is extracted from the Shea nut the natural butter is filtered to remove any impurities, resulting in a creamy off white colour and an ultra high quality pure product.

Safflower Oil - This light weight oil prevents dryness and roughness and removes dirt and oil. Its hydrating properties lend skin a healthy glow, promote elasticity and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

Essential Oil - For its scent and benefits.

Method:

Step 1: Weigh the shea butter into a deep bowl and whip it with a set of electric beaters until it is uniform, light, and fluffy.

Step 2: Add the safflower oil, and whip again until the mixture is uniform, light, and fluffy. (We add a little pinch of beetroot powder and whisk to make it pink!)

Step 3: Weigh the vitamin E and essential oils out into a small dish. Add a scoop of the whipped body butter and stir to combine before transferring that mixture back into the master bowl and whipping to combine.

To use: Scoop a small amount and gently massage onto your body or problem areas.

Because this body butter is 100% oil based, it does not require a preservative (preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry, it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid.

Thanks for all that information Krishna! If you want to learn more about creating your own natural skincare products, visit the skin I care website or go to one of their workshops and have fun trying it for yourself!

Rachel x

How to get started: make your own skincare (plus, a free body butter recipe!)

Whipped Shea Citrus Body Butter