Instructions

Melt the the first three ingredients (everything except the essential oils) in a glass container in a double boiler until they are liquid and incorporated.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to under 45 degrees centigrade (113 F) and mix in your essential oils.

Be careful not to add the essential oils too soon or they may lose their scent and other properties if they are overheated.

Pour into cute containers and give away to your friends when they have a bit of a headache.

This recipe calls for 1 part oil, 2 parts butter (oil that is solid at room temperature) and 3 parts wax.

You can also do a 1:1:1 ratio but with these particular oils you will end up with a slightly less solid final product.

You may substitute other oils but please be careful not to choose oils that can be comedogenic (cause acne by blocking pores) if you or your friends have acne prone skin. Sunflower oil is a non-comedogenic oil. Olive oil is also unlikely to cause problems and castor oil or hemp oil are also safe. I chose not to use hemp oil in this case because of its 3 month shelf life. I can’t remember the last time I had a headache so I figured longer is better. For the solid oils/butters there are not many options that are really recommended for facial applications. My beloved coconut oil rates a 4/5 on the scale of comedogenic oils so because I am sensitive I do not use it on my face. It is still a lovely oil for other applications. I used the rice bran wax here because it is good for acne-prone skin and I had some kicking around. You could also use carnauba wax here as it is very safe.

Some people have asked about beeswax. I do not use it because of the bees and also because it has always given me a reaction and there are so many non-bee waxes out there that are really cool. If you would like to use beeswax note that it is a 2/5 on the comedogenicity scale.

If you want to go wax-less you can use straight shea to still maintain a buttery consistency

A bit grainy?? Shea butter can be a bit grainy. I was making this in a hurry so that was not my first concern BUT if you want a smooth and beautiful product you can (drumroll……) temper your shea based body butters and bars JUST LIKE CHOCOLATE to achieve a smoother product. We will do more on this another day.