A Complete Guide to Additives of products made with Essential Oils
I have written about essential oils and carrier oils HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. This is the next in the Essential Oil series: additives for homemade products containing these items.
If you make (or buy) your own body creams, butters, lip balm, etc, you know that you use a combination of essential oils and carrier oils as well as other additives to make your items. Depending on what you want to make and how you want it to function, you can use different items in your products.
Other additives for cosmetics are butters, clays, and waxes. Common ones are below.
Butters:
cocoa butter: rich and creamy, soothing. tends to be thick so combine with an oil or other butter
kokum butter: used for elasticity and flexibility of the skin. I’m actually not super familiar with this butter as I have not personally used it.
shea butter: very popular. moisturizing and healing. good to protect and condition skin. mixes well with cocoa and mango butter and most oils.
Clays:
bentonite: from volcanic ash sediments. used for mineral deficiencies and healing
french green: very absorbent
rhassoul: used mainly for facial masks
white cosmetic/kaolin: very versatile and commonly used.
Waxes:
beeswax: I use this when making lip butter as well as body butter. it is an emulsifier.
carnauba: vegetable wax. harder than beeswax.
When making scrubs, there are a few different salts to choose from.
dead sea: high in nutrients, very fine
epsom: very cheap, readily available, used to relax muscles
himalayan pink: very pure
sea salt: coarse or fine.
Misc:
Depending on what you want to make and what you want your product to use, there are other things you can add to your cosmetics.
aloe vera: good for soothing skin, especially burns and diaper rash
arrowroot: used as a substitute for cornstarch. great for body powders
baking soda: also found everywhere. Acts as a pH stabilizer and thickener
borax: emulsifier, preservative, buffering agent
castille soap: extra mild and gentle. good for facial blends
citric acid: causes the fizzing in bath bombs
guar gum: binder, thickener, volume enhancer
lecithin: emulsifier and thickener, preservative
stearic acid: emulsifier for most bath products
vegetable glycerin: helps skin retain moisture
vitamin E: helps shelf life, antioxidant
witch hazel: soothing
So, as you can see, there's a huge variety of things you can add to your product recipes! I hope that next time you make or buy your cosmetics, you keep some of these ingredients in mind!
Have you ever made your own bath products?
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