This homemade nourishing hand cream is healing to dry skin and has scents that are musky, earthy, sweet, relaxing and are just wonderful. Make your own today!
No matter the season, my hands are in and out of dishwater, cold water pumps for the animals, and hauling wood. To say that my hands get dried out would be an understatement.
They will get so dried out, they can crack and bleed. This hand cream has really helped keep them soft and smooth. I go through a lot of lotion, no matter what time of year, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
While I love my skin softening lotion and the hard lotion bars, I wanted another option, so I found another homemade nourishing hand cream that I have come to love!
It has the added benefits of essential oils in my lotions as well, because they have been helpful to my dry skin, and have scents that are musky, earthy, sweet, relaxing, and are just wonderful.
Here’s what I do:
I start with a 4oz portion of shea butter. You can easily double, triple, or quadruple this recipe to give some as gifts as well. The shelf life of this is approximately 6 months, stored in cool, dry conditions.
Melt the shea butter gently over a double boiler until not quite fully melted.
You don’t want to get it too hot or you will lose the nutrients in the butter. When it is melted, put it in the fridge to help it cool off. You don’t want to leave it in there too long or it may fully solidify on you and you will have to start the process over again.
Whip it for 5 minutes with a wire whisk, and put it back in the fridge for another 5 minutes.
After a second time of 5 minutes of whipping, it will begin to look like your lotion. You can repeat this process another time or two to get it whipped just how you like it.
Add the essential oils.
I like to put in 5 drops of Helichrysum and 10 drops of Sweet orange.
You could also add lavender
Continue Mixing
Mix it in for another minute or so and then place it in an 8oz container. Viola! Nourishing hand creme that isn’t greasy! Be sure to pin this to your favorite boards for later!
Note
This recipe originally used Frankincense essential oil, and I had that on hand at the time. However, due to further and more in-depth studies, I no longer use Frankincense.
That is simply because the plant itself has become endangered, and as a responsible aromatherapy/herbalist student, I do not want to use plants that are harvested unsustainably to the point of being endangered and/or extinction.
Heather’s homesteading journey started in 2006, with baby steps: first, she got a few raised beds, some chickens, and rabbits. Over the years, she amassed a wealth of homesteading knowledge, knowledge that you can find in the articles of this blog.
Learn more about Heather and the rest of the writers on this page.
I am definitely trying this! So many homemade hand creams are so greasy – this looks awesome!
Anything that has shea butter is a winner in my book. I am going to make some and make sure a container stays in the car too
This sounds super easy! I’ll have to give it a try! Is there another essential oil that could be used instead of Frankincense?
You can use any essential oils you would like to! I like Lavender, Elemi, Peppermint, Orange, and even cinnamon for a spicy scent 😉
where do you obtain the essential oils like the frankinsensce and myrhh/
I get them from young living Oil company, personally
My lotion turned hard… Any suggestions?
How long did you have it before it turned hard? You can always gently remelt and rewhip it, too.
Would it be ok to add a bit of frankincense to this as well?
Can you put this in a pump bottle?