How to make your own hand cream

Making your own hand cream is especially worthwhile in winter. Because then our skin is often dry and cracked due to the cold and heating air. The great advantage of homemade hand cream: you can decide for yourself which natural ingredients you want to use. Especially people with allergies and sensitive skin can thus exclude silicones, parabens or even artificial fragrances from the outset. You can also do without plastic by filling the hand cream into jars. Homemade natural cosmetics are also a great idea as a personal gift that is sure to go down well.

In a nutshell: How to make your own hand cream?

Heat 25 grams of coconut oil and 15 grams of beeswax in a water bath. Once the ingredients are melted, remove the container and add 25 grams each of almond oil and shea butter. Then stir the ingredients until the mixture becomes thick. If you like it fragrant, drizzle in another three to six drops of essential oil. Finally, fill the homemade hand cream into a sterile screw-top jar.

Homemade hand cream: the ingredients

For the preparation you need only a few, exclusively natural ingredients, for which you should pay attention to a good quality, so that the final product is also of high quality. It is important that the container is sterile before filling the hand cream to ensure a long shelf life. If the cream is a gift, or you just want to please yourself, you can decorate the container nicely with a handwritten label and small dried bouquets.

Ingredients list

• 25 grams coconut oil
• 15 grams beeswax
• 25 grams almond oil
• 25 grams shea butter
• few drops of essential oil (for example lavender, jasmine or lemon)
• dried blossoms (for example lavender or rose blossoms) if desired
• sterile screw-top jar

Depending on whether you prefer a more liquid or solid cream, the mixing ratio can be changed slightly. A little more oil will make the cream softer, and more beeswax will make it firmer.

How to make the hand cream itself?

To be able to process the solid ingredients of the hand cream well, they are first melted in a water bath. Be sure to use a heatproof vessel. Heat the coconut oil and beeswax, remove the vessel from the water bath and add the almond oil and shea butter. Now stir until the cream becomes thick. Finally, add the essential oil, about three to six drops are enough for this amount. Finally, the finished hand cream is poured into the sterile screw jar. For decoration, you can add dried flower petals – for example, dried lavender or dried rose petals. Allow the cream to set well before using.

Alternative ingredients for the homemade hand cream

If you feel like it, you can replace individual ingredients of the hand cream with others according to your personal preferences. For example, coconut and almond oil can be replaced by any vegetable oils such as jojoba or avocado oil. Instead of dried flowers, you can also use herbs. If you don’t like beeswax, take carnauba wax instead as a vegan alternative, but a much smaller amount of this is needed: About 6 grams replace the 15 grams of beeswax. Also note that the melting point of carnauba wax is about 85 °C / 185 °F, which is a little higher than beeswax, so it takes a little longer to melt.

How to use and store homemade hand cream?

It is best to apply homemade hand cream to damp skin. For very dry skin, it can also be applied thickly overnight as a cure. If you also wear cotton gloves, the cream will be absorbed even more intensively. If the hand cream begins to smell unpleasant, dispose of it immediately. However, it can be kept for several months in a sterile container.