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I was at a fancy spa last week and fell in love with a line of natural smelly-good body products that they carried: Zents. The smells were fantastic, and their balm, Concreta, was fantastically formulated. Then I flipped the cute little sample boxes over. Holy Cow! $34 for 1.25 ounces of balm! I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped...Then I read the ingredients: beeswax, shea butter, coconut oil, scented oils. Seriously. That was it.
And, just like that, a new DIY project was born.
I added cypress essential oil for its muscle relaxation properties, rose hip seed oil for its skin regeneration properties, carrot seed oil for its anti-aging and detox properties, and orange oil for an energizing scent. You really can go wild, though, and add in any essential oils for their medicinal properties or their scents!
I think I'll be making another batch with calendula oil, peppermint oil, lavender oil, and tea tree oil and use it as a healing balm (just like All Good Goop!).
Ingredients
- 3 ounces unrefined beeswax (3/4 cup if you get the same size product as me)
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| Unrefined beeswax is yellow, so your balm will be yellow. The Zents balm must have used refined beeswax, since their product is so white. |
- 3 1/2 ounces unrefined shea butter (1/2 cup)
- 5 ounces unrefined coconut oil (3/4 cup)
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cypress essential oil
- 2 teaspoons rose hip seed oil
- 1/2 teaspoon carrot seed oil
- 1 tablespoon orange oil
Directions
1. Combine the wax, shea, coconut, and olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. The texture will be weird and soupy, since the coconut oil melts at 76 degrees and the beeswax doesn't melt until 140 degrees.
2. Stir the mixture until the beeswax starts to break apart. This may take a little white, because you are waiting for the mixture to come up to 140-ish. {Note: do not stick your candy thermometer in the mix, because you will NEVER be able to wash the waxy balm off of it... Still trying...}
3. When the wax starts to melt, whisk until it all makes one happy pool of clear, yellow liquid. Remove from heat. Dip a spoon into the liquid and then let it cool. Check the texture. If you want it more solid, add more beeswax and put it back on the heat until it melts. If you want it more creamy, add more coconut oil or olive oil.
4. Add it your essential oils and stir well. If the oils make the mixture re-solidify, just put it back on the heat until its all melted again.
5. Spoon or pour into jars. I found these adorable 4-ounce jars at Hobby Lobby to use as gifts {teacher appreciation week and Mother's Day!} I filled 6, so you should get about 24 ounces out of this recipe. If you need less, you can half the recipe.
I ended up spending about what I would have spent on 1.25 ounces of the fancy Zents Concretas on what will make about a lifetime supply of the exact same recipe!
A few hints to make your process a little smoother than my first go at it was:
- Don't use anything that can't go in the dishwasher.
- Be careful not to get the ingredients or the final product on your countertops - they are really hard to get completely cleaned off.
- When you're done, stick the pan and utensils in the dishwasher and wash on hot with vinegar. Then, run it again with dishwasher soap.
