5 Recipes for Homemade Personal Care Products

Whether we’re talking toxic perfumes or the mystery ingredients in our toothpaste, store-bought personal care products are full of questionable ingredients. We can shell out the big bucks for more natural products, but if you want to really have control over what you’re putting on your body the best option is to whip up your very own! Here are some recipes to get you going.

1. Toothpaste

Over at Instructables, you can find a simple recipe for homemade toothpaste that actually tastes good! Not only is this recipe simple, you’ll save a bundle. According to the author, “Your family could be brushing their teeth for a YEAR for how much you’re currently spending on one tube!”

2. Perfume

Recent research suggests that conventional perfumes are full of untested chemicals. Instead of hitting up the big box store for toxic fragrances, why not make your own perfume or cologne scented with essential oils?

Up next: Make your own deodorant, facial scrub, and shampoo and conditioner!

[Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by amanky]

1 of 2

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Lindsay K.

12:10PM PDT on May 22, 2012

Thanks for this info - looks good.

send a green star

Donna H.

3:07AM PDT on May 22, 2012

Thanks for the info.

Joe R.

9:03AM PST on Jan 21, 2012

Thanks.

Barbara B.

8:47PM PST on Jan 16, 2012

Some of the recipes mentioned include ingredients that would benefit from a cautionary note themselves. Baking soda oral products can introduce more sodium into one's system than is good for some of us (even if one is careful not to swallow a bunch of it). One of the conditioners recommends baby oil -- as in the petroleum product? I'd recommend being careful not to use GMO vegetable oil (as in most canola) or corn starch because they will be absorbed by the skin. Wonderful skin oils include almond, jojoba, coconut, sesame, olive. Rosewater may come from roses grown with heavy pesticide use. Coconut milk and oil, unless organic, have probably been produced through use of the solvent hexane. Try to get honey from bee-friendly operations, get it raw and unfiltered, then expose to as little heat as possible, in order to preserve the enzymes and other nutrients. Try to get eggs and dairy from grassfed, organic, and/or raw operations. Watch out for conventional sugar -- it may have been derived from GMO beets -- and brown sugar is actually white sugar with molasses added back in. Organic dried cane juice, or coconut sugar, are lovely alternatives. What you put on your body is absorbed into your body. Thanks for the wonderful recipe ideas.

Victoria W.

10:23PM PST on Jan 12, 2012

definitely going to try these :) thanks!

Charmaine C.

2:40AM PST on Jan 10, 2012

Thank you for a very useful article.

Michelle M.

5:07PM PST on Jan 8, 2012

Thanks for this!

Sonny H.

11:57PM PST on Jan 4, 2012

Thank you. Will try the suggestions.

Elisabeth T.

5:18AM PST on Dec 12, 2011

Great article, thanks so much..

Joyce S.

1:27PM PST on Nov 20, 2011

I gotta try that toothpaste thing! Another beauty-care trick I love as someone who lives in Michigan is taking some brown sugar, some olive oil, and then rubbing the mixture on your lips. This helps so much in the dead of winter when your lips are all dry and cracked and miserable.