*~~~~~~~DIY skincare recipe & discussion thread~~~~~~~~*
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skincare Tools & Do-It-Yourself Skincare

free skin care · Thu May 26, 2005 1:37 pm

I just did one batch of Dr. H Cleansing Cream. I bought almond meal (because I am too lazy to ground them). I ground them further, but they did not secrete their own oil, so I added almond oil and some water. The consistency is not identical as Dr. H CC, but it is pretty close. The color is more whitish (probably because I added some l-ascrobic powder like carekate suggests). The result: it is *great*. I love it. I've tried it for 3 days now.

Next formula: Carekate's ACV toner & diderot's avocado lip balm.

Thanks Carekate, diderot and everyone else that contributes to this posting. This is both fun, effective, and cost-effective!!

free skin care · Fri May 27, 2005 10:33 am

I finally made some ACV yesterday and started using it. It really smells vinegary, I put some lavendar into the green tea when it was brewing but the vinegar still smells so strong. So I added some Dermalogica's stress relief oil (I absolutely love that smell), still can't kill the pungent smell. Then I added more lavendar water...no use. I thought maybe I can get used to it. When my husband came back in the evening, he said "it smells fish & chips here"...Oopse, I didn't acknowledge his comment Very Happy

LOL. I am still using the fish&chips toner (=carekate's ACV toner) and see how long I can put up with the vinegary smell and the effect on my skin.

Is there another version of homemade toner without vinegar?

KK

free skin care · Fri May 27, 2005 2:08 pm

You know since I've been wearing this the boyf has been fancying chippy an awful lot Laughing

free skin care · Fri May 27, 2005 9:19 pm

Kk1668 wrote:

I finally made some ACV yesterday and started using it. It really smells vinegary, I put some lavendar into the green tea when it was brewing but the vinegar still smells so strong. So I added some Dermalogica's stress relief oil (I absolutely love that smell), still can't kill the pungent smell. Then I added more lavendar water...no use. I thought maybe I can get used to it. When my husband came back in the evening, he said "it smells fish & chips here"...Oopse, I didn't acknowledge his comment Very Happy

LOL. I am still using the fish&chips toner (=carekate's ACV toner) and see how long I can put up with the vinegary smell and the effect on my skin.

Is there another version of homemade toner without vinegar?

KK

Hi Kk1668,

As Carakate suggested, add lemon essential oil and Ylang ylang oil in it should take care of the problem, I add a little of both in mine, I actually like the smell now, versus smelling like FOOD-GONE-BAD before the 2 oil were added....

D

free skin care · Sun May 29, 2005 2:47 am

Carekate,

I just made a batch of your Vitamin C serum
I was just wondering if you know the concentration of the serum?

Thanks!!

April

free skin care · Sun May 29, 2005 11:48 am

aprilha, I think the vitamin C is at 12 % strength. (Carekate, correct me if I am wrong).

free skin care · Mon May 30, 2005 4:17 pm

Hi guys...

All these recipes sound wonderful and I am really keen to try them all...thanks!

However, I'm in the UK and wondered if anyone could suggest the best place to get some of the ingredients ie Vit C crystals, essential oils, glycerin etc etc. There are lots of sites selling essential oils, so how do I know which one to go for? Vit C crystals are not so easy to find..would there be anywhere I could just walk in and buy them? I want to make the serum and Dr. H cleanser and the ACV toner tommorow...can't wait!

Thanks for all these fantastic suggestions, I will let you know how I get on!

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 1:22 am

Hi Nikita

I bought the majority of my items from
www.thepersonalformulator.com

Although this is not a UK site I costed up the difference in purchasing the goods from the UK including the shipping and it was still much cheaper getting it from the states!

However be warned, the heavier your package the more expensive the shipping will be, so just be sure to calculate it out!

One UK site that I did find was
www.aromantic.co.uk

Re the Vitamin C crystals I did have quite a job to find the correct ones, but if you log ontowww.solgar.com and find your nearest stockist they will order it in if it's not on their shelves - cost is around £9.45.

HTH

T x

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 4:41 am

Cheeks thanks for the info on the Vit C crystals, I too have had a hard time trying to find the correct ones. A question, could I not just disolve a few crystals in a tiny bit of water and apply this? Do I need to bother with the rest?
Also why can't I use ascorbic Vit C?
Sorry if these have already been answered Wink

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 12:21 pm

KK1668, as Diderot said, if you add a couple drops of Ylang Ylang essential oil and Lemon essential oil, it almost completely cancels out the vinegar smell of the toner. I promise your man will no longer think you smell like fish & chips when you use it. In fact, with the Y-Y and lemon oil in my ACV toner, I actually LOVE the smell now!!

And yes, Aprilha, Quacko is correct: the Vit-C serum recipe I posted will yield a 12% strength. If you want a stronger concentration, you would add a smidge more Vit-C crystals (i.e.: instead of 1/4 teaspoon, make it 1/3 teaspoon) which should give you a 20% concentration. If you’ve never used a Vit-C serum before, I recommend starting out at the lower concentrations and working your way up.

Nikita -www.thepersonalformulator.com is a good bet for ordering essential oils, propylene glycol, amber or cobalt bottles, etc, but they do charge a flat rate for shipping so The Personal Formulator is better if you’re “buying in bulk” (i.e.: a bunch of supplies at one time). But if you’re just going to order one item (i.e.: one essential oil), then I recommendwww.aroma-pure.com because they will tell you how much the international postage will be before you commit to buying. If you’re just interested in certain essential oils, though, you might check to see if there is a health food store in your local area where you can buy them.

Rosebud - I’m not sure if you can just mix Vit-C crystals with water, without adding the propylene glycol or glycerin. My mind is telling me, sure, why wouldn’t that work? But there are a couple of others out there who are even more skilled at mixing the serums and would be able to tell you which ingredients are required and what they actually do. Try performing a search, because the question about asorbic acid vs. lysorbic acid was just asked around here recently, although I can’t remember what the answer was....

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 12:39 pm

P.S. For those abroad who are having a hard time locating the correct type of Vit-C crystals in their own area to use in making your own Vit-C serum/s, I would be willing to send interested EDS members a small bottle of the Vit-C crystals and/or Propylene Glycol (enough to make at least a year’s worth of serum) for the actual cost of postage and handling.

The actual supplies for this stuff are so cheap and it’s so easy to make that there is no longer any excuse for not using a Vit-C serum, as opposed to buying store-bought serums, which can turn out to be prohibitively expensive if you have to replace it often because it becomes unstable! It literally costs just pennies per batch. Email or PM me if you are interested.

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 1:50 pm

rosebud: I will try to answer both your questions. First, I fixed once a batch of vitamin C serum just with water. Needless to say, it was too runny, also, it was a lot harder for me to dissolve l_ascorbic powder.
Now, I mix it with water, propylene glycol (and a little of HA). That gives it a better consistency.

Second, you can use ascorbic, and not L-ascorbic. I believe ascorbic contains at least 90% l_ascorbic. The rest would be d-ascrobic which is not helpful but not harmful either.

Carekate, you impress so much!! (with you giving away your vit. C serum). And your are right. It hardly costs anything to do the vit. C. (Makes you quetion how much profit those cosmetic industries are making off us).

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 3:59 pm

Thanks for answering my queries guys! I guess I have absouletley no excuse now.

carekate....i'll be in touch if ordering from the website you gave doesnt work out but I'm sure it will be fine...thank you!

Cheeks...did you have to pay any customs charge/duty on the products you ordered from the US? I agree with you that even including postage the cost is cheaper, but I worry about having to pay extra charges at this end....or doesnt this apply to vitamin type products?

Thanks again for all your help...I really appreciate it!

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 5:16 pm

rosebud wrote:

Cheeks thanks for the info on the Vit C crystals, I too have had a hard time trying to find the correct ones. A question, could I not just disolve a few crystals in a tiny bit of water and apply this? Do I need to bother with the rest?
Also why can't I use ascorbic Vit C?
Sorry if these have already been answered Wink

Hi Rosebud,

I made mine with just Rosewater and VitC crystal, no problem at all, the trick is don't try to stirr it, it won't desolve, just shake the mixture and let it sit, you should have your serum in a few hours. (I did it with water the first time too, worked the same way).

D

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 7:52 pm

Has anyone play with SOY here ? I took out all the serum/cream that really firm my skin, checked all their ingredients, found SOY protein is the common ingredient. Before I spend too much money on this, I went out and bought a small box of organic soy milk, put it on a spray bottle, spray it on my face(yes, my mom thinks I am losing it, haha). NOT KIDDING, my face tightened up immediately, couldn't even smile(not exactly the way I want it). So now, I have a bottle of rosewater and opened a capsule of "soy max", still in a testing period.....I did noticed some tightening and skin tone more even the next morning. Wonder if anyone on this board play with SOY too, would love to hear any comments.

I read it somewhere, maybe this board or others, that Soy inhibits hair growth and make hair thinner, can be used as an alternative for shaving(or something like that), so I have been avoiding my eye area, don't want to wake up with thin brow and lashes.

P.S. I will update on this soy thing after I give it a fair try, right now, I am too busy using my Decleor Ylang Ylang oil Laughing

D

free skin care · Tue May 31, 2005 10:51 pm

Sorry, should have read all postings before I posted mine about the VitC serum. The consistency issue didn't crossed my mind Embarassed

as I always concentrate on the purity. In fact, I don't use my homemade C serum the way you use serum. I sorta mix in whatever I put on my face that day(in my palm), mostly treatment oil in my case. It suits my lazy routine Razz

D

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 3:23 am

Nikita wrote:

Cheeks...did you have to pay any customs charge/duty on the products you ordered from the US? I agree with you that even including postage the cost is cheaper, but I worry about having to pay extra charges at this end....or doesnt this apply to vitamin type products?

Thanks again for all your help...I really appreciate it!

Ooops sorry forgot to mention about this - mine was under the $33 dollar limit so I didn't have to incur the customs charges. This company list the entire contents and costs on the outside of the packet so you will have to pay the charges if the total is over the limit Sad

T x

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 3:25 am

Homemade Vitamin C Serum

Ok, so I finally manage to track down the correct Vit C only to be stumped by the distilled water!!

I can only find online suppliers of distillied water - but at minimum of £15 a time!! No shops round here stock it - only deionized which isn't the same.....

Please help!

T x

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:30 am

This recipe was on an email I received from Diana Yvonne.

DMAE CREAM

Using 1 oz of your facial cream add 300 mg. of DMAE powder, which is available from your local health food store and usually in capsule form. This will give you approx. a 1% DMAE concentration. This should be thoroughly mixed with a little spatula to make sure all DMAE has been dissolved. A 2% would be 600 mg. of DMAE to 1 oz of cream/oil, etc. It is best to start with the lowest percent, gradually working up to a higher percentage as DMAE can cause skin irritation. A test on the the inner wrist or thigh for approx. 5 days should predetermine if you have any sensitivity to DMAE before applying it to the facial area.

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:21 pm

cheeks, I cannot believe that distilled water costs almost $30!! Truly. A whole gallon here costs less than $2. One suggestion is to use Purified Water. I have no idea if that is more available for you.

Good luck.

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:55 pm

Cheeks wrote:

Ooops sorry forgot to mention about this - mine was under the $33 dollar limit so I didn't have to incur the customs charges. This company list the entire contents and costs on the outside of the packet so you will have to pay the charges if the total is over the limit Sad

T x

Cheeks...
Thanks for that...i thought that may be the case so I thought I'd look around the shops before I ordered online...

I found nearly all the ingredients I need from local chemists and Holland & Barrats:

Vit C Powder (not crystals) £6.75 from H&B (i hope the powder is ok I couldnt find crystals)

Ylang Ylang oil - 10ml £5.49 H&B
Witch Hazel - Morrisons chemist

I have ordered the distilled water and propylene glycoll (u know what I mean!) from the chemist too and it will be in tommorow...they didnt have it in stock. The pharmacist mentioned that distilled water is the same stuff that they use in car batteries (!) and it would be cheaper just to buy it from a local garage but that didnt sound too appealing...is it the same stuff?

So tommorow I can start making my potions!

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:26 pm

Nikita is the Vit C powder the correct one l'ascorbic? If so Dancing

I will run out and get some Very Happy

and will pop by the chemist for some propylene glycoll how much did this cost you by the way?

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:32 pm

Rosebud..i am glad you asked that question, coz I'm not sure! It says pure vitamin c powder as 'Ascorbic Acid' on the label - is there a difference? Please let me know as I havent yet opened the jar and can return it tommorow, here is a link to the product detail:

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/azsearch.asp?xs=&SearchText=P&Page=3#D119

The propylene glycol was about £5 for 500ml, couldnt get a size any smaller...

I think I've got the wrong Vit C Shock

free skin care · Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:29 pm

diderot: regarding soy, I have not used it at all. I know that Aveeno boasts about using it in their clear complexion line. I cannot use it because soy affects thyroid, and I have a problem with mine.

free skin care · Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:05 am

Hi Nikita

The Vit C powder needs to be L-ascorbic - I originally bought the ascorbic powder which was wrong.

As for the water, the chemist is talking about de-ionized water which is not the same as distilled, I don't think that de-ionized is as pure and there is a different procedure used.

Quacko - I know the cost of things here are ridiculous, I will look into purified water to see if it is any cheaper!

T x

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