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If you want to prepare a rich, softening balm for dry skin, we bring you a recipe that combines vegetable oils and butters providing the skin with intensive hydration and protection against water loss.You will definitely fall in love with this balm if you have dry skin on your elbows, soles, hands or knees.
The base for making the balm for dry skin is formed by Vegeline – vegetable petroleum jelly. This raw material gives the balm a rich consistency and at the same time helps to create a protective film on the skin, which prevents further dehydration. To reduce the feeling of greasiness, other raw materials such as starch or alkyl benzoate were used, which make the application of the product on the skin more pleasant.
Do you want to make the production of your balm for dry skin easier? You are in the right place!For heating the raw materials in a water bath, choose a container that is wide enough and is also suitable for mixing – it has a rounded bottom, such as a metal or heat-resistant plastic bowl. The cooling time will differ according to the amount of product you will be making. However, do not leave the mixture in the fridge or freezer overnight – the balm will already be too solid for whipping. It is enough that there is no more liquid mixture at the bottom of the container.You can also speed up the cooling by leaving an empty metal bowl to cool in the freezer in advance. Subsequently, pour the still hot mixture, after removing it from the water bath, in small portions along the walls of the cooled bowl. The mixture will solidify almost immediately. Later, however, you will have to use a spatula to get the mixture from the walls to the mixer beaters.When adding starch to the mixture, it is important to proceed gradually. It is good to turn off the mixer, stir a portion of the starch with a spoon into the mixture, mix with the mixer and repeat this procedure several times until you have added all the starch into the mixture. If you sprinkle the starch while mixing with the mixer, it may happen that the mixer stirs up the starch and disperses it into the surroundings. It is good to store the finished product away from sources of direct sunlight and heat. Jars made of dark glass are suitable, since the mixture is not liquid and would be difficult to dose from another container. The advantage is that if the oils and butters in the product have not oxidised and no water has entered the product (for example from wet hands), it is possible to continue using the product. Since water is not part of the recipe, the product does not require a preservative.
Below you will find information on the properties of the individual raw materials in the recipe. You will also find out more about their possible substitutions or options on how to adjust the balm exactly to measure.
To create a rich consistency of the balm for dry skin, the vegetable petroleum jelly Vegeline was used. However, this is not its only role. Thanks to its content of vegetable fats, it can excellently hydrate very dry skin, by creating a protective film on it, which prevents further water loss from the skin and, on the contrary, helps the other components to penetrate better into the skin. This petroleum jelly is purely of vegetable origin without paraffins or other substances derived from petroleum.You will appreciate Vegeline especially if you often have to wash or disinfect your hands, and therefore you have dry and cracked skin. If you would like a less rich balm that spreads somewhat more easily, reduce the proportion of Vegeline in the recipe and replace it with selected oils or butters.
A great butter for hydrating the skin is cocoa butter. This butter melts already at body temperature and thus facilitates the application of creams or balms. In addition, if you choose an unrefined version of this butter, you can also look forward to a pleasant chocolate fragrance that accompanies cocoa butter. Cocoa butter also contributes to the richness of the balm, therefore reducing its content in the recipe will cause the product to be more liquid and easier to apply. You can replace this butter with other vegetable butters, however every substitution will result in a certain change in the consistency of the product.
The advantage of the neutral oil MCT caprylis is the fact that this oil is extremely stable and minimally undergoes oxidation. Thanks to this, you can enjoy your products for longer. In addition, this oil is colourless and odourless, so the other components of the product can stand out. Of course, MCT caprylis can be replaced by another vegetable oil of your choice. You can also choose a combination of several oils or increase their share in the recipe if you want a balm that is creamier and easier to apply on the skin.
The main component reducing the greasiness of the final balm for dry skin is rice starch. This type of starch is extremely gentle to the skin, therefore it is often used also in baby powders or dry shampoos. Rice starch can be replaced with any other starch, try for example corn starch.If the product seems insufficiently nourishing and emollient to you, reduce the dose of starch in the recipe. Conversely, you can increase the starch content in the recipe at the expense of Vegeline. However, it must be taken into account that rice starch contributes to the richness of the product.
Alkyl benzoate is a raw material on an oil basis, which excellently complements the other components of the product; this substance is used to replace part of the vegetable oils, since it is well absorbed by the skin and does not leave behind a greasy feeling. If you do not currently have alkyl benzoate at hand, you can replace this substance with vegetable oils, especially those that are well absorbed by the skin, such as almond or apricot oil.
To maintain longer freshness of the oils and fats used in the recipe for the balm, tocopheryl acetate was used. This is a form of vitamin E, which is a fat-soluble vitamin with antioxidant properties. Its ability to quench free radicals, and thus to fight against oxidation, will be appreciated not only by our skin, but also by the other raw materials in the product. Thanks to vitamin E, the final stage of oxidation, when oils and fats change their colour and acquire an unpleasant odour, is delayed.Tocopheryl acetate is sensitive to heat, therefore add it only to the cooled mixture. Its possible substitute is tocopherol, 96 % vitamin E.
The balm for dry skin obtained a fresh fragrance thanks to the use of essential oil of field mint. Essential oils are a great option for perfuming products in a natural way. You can replace the mint essential oil with another type of these oils, it is however good to observe the recommended dosage (see IFRA document for the product).Another option is to omit any perfuming, or to choose fragrance oils, which are a synthetic substitute for essential oils. These oils provide an even wider palette of fragrances, so you can choose various fruity fragrances as well.
As mentioned, you can experiment with homemade recipes to achieve the desired properties. However, the final result can be influenced by many factors, such as humidity, temperature, quality of raw materials or their storage. Before you use any raw material for making a cosmetic product, familiarise yourself with its properties, the recommended dosage, storage conditions or safe handling. Each raw material may have the potential to trigger an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, therefore before using the product we recommend finding out whether you suffer from an allergy to any of the raw materials or to the overall product, for example by a skin test. If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or you have other skin and health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professional before applying a new product to the skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure raw material or a commercially available product.
We thank the great Ivana Jačalová for the great contribution with instructions for making a balm for dry skin. Have you made it with us? If you have comments, experiences or questions that arose for you while reading or creating our tutorial on the blog, write to us at marketing@handymade.sk and we will gladly reply to you.Until we meet again in a new article or tutorial, have a beautiful and creative day.
