How to make your own Natural shaving cream!

If you've ever looked at the ingredients in your shaving cream, there is a LOT of ingredients in there that are incredibly not good for you - as in toxic. Sure, there are brands like Alba or Kiss my Face for shaving cream, but they have very small containers for a LOT of money (2 oz for $7? crazy!). So, you can make your own shaving cream that is effective, good for your skin, and has no toxic ingredients whatsoever.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 8 ounces grated castile soap
• 8 ounces rose water
• 2 ounces cocoa butter
• 4 ounces of vegetable glycerin (can buy 8oz at Amazon for less than $4)
• equal parts essential oils of peppermint and eucalyptus (about 25 drops)

1. To make rose water, you need about 2-3 cups (firmly packed) rose petals, freshly picked, and 2 1/4 cups of distilled water. Place rose petals in saucepan, and cover with water. Simmer over low heat until water is reduced by half. Let cool and strain out petals.
   
   Soak the soap in the rose water overnight. Heat the cocoa butter and glycerin in a double boiler over low heat. Remove from the heat once the cocoa butter is melted, and add the soap mixture. Blend with an electric handheld mixer until creamy. Blend in the essential oils, and pour into container.
2. You can find ingredients like cocoa butter and vegetable glycerin at Amazon.com for very cheap, cheaper than you would find at the market. They really go a long way, and ounce by ounce, you're really going to save a lot of money than if you bought shaving cream.
3. You can play with adding other things to your shaving cream, like these:
   
   -castor oil (makes creamier foam)
   -cosmetic clay (extra body & slip)
   -for moisturizing: coconut oil, olive oil, or jojoba oil
   -aloe, for soothing
   -vitamin e, which is great for your skin

Tips & Warnings

• If you're going to be keeping this bottle around for a long time, consider adding a natural preservative to it, which extends shelf time. Otherwise, bacteria could grow, like with any other product that you make. Some natural preservatives include : grapefruit seed extract, 100% essential oils that are microbial (in order from least to most effective - thyme, sweet orange, lemongrass, rose, eucalyptus, peppermint, rosemary, lavendar, ylang ylang, lemon, violet), neem oil, vitamin E, honey, & rosemary extract.