We're pretty green. You know that, right? I mean, in oh so many areas we try to be as chemical free as possible. We make all our own cleaners, we buy organic whenever we can, our mattress is made of rubber for Pete's sake! But the dirty little secret (every family has one) is that my husband buys whatever shaving cream he wants. "It was a Euro!" he'll tell me. I usually buy him something luscious and wonderfully chemical free periodically throughout the year, but he never tells me when he's about to run out, which necessitates a last minute purchase and he, God love him, is cheap. And so begins the saga.
Did you know that in 2015 the US Poison Control received nearly 2.2 million calls? That's 1 poison exposure every 15 seconds, and the highest incidents occurred among CHILDREN! And do you know how these kiddos are being poisoned? “Cosmetics and personal care products lead the list of the most common substances implicated in pediatric exposures, coming in at 144,396/13.6% (children younger than 6 years, NPDS, 2015). Cleaning substances (118,346/11.2%) and pain medications (96,720/9.1%) follow. These exposures are nearly always unintentional.” These statistics were fresh in my head (from writing my e-book on Green Cleaning- available here) when one of my sweet littles confided to me that they had used daddy's shaving cream for toothpaste (it comes in a toothpaste-type tube, so it was truly an understandable mistake). And this sweet child of mine had harbored the secret all day, afraid the chemicals might send them to the hospital, and not wanting to tell anyone. Well, when the statistics for poison control come out for 2018, you'll know I was one of those numbers.
We all lose our cool sometimes, right? It happens. And when a crunchy mama makes a call to poison control because her husband wants a deal on shaving cream, well.... it was one of those times. And there is no more shaving cream in our house, it's in the bin, every bit of it. But in the morning, when my husband gets up to go to work, he will need to shave. So, it's midnight and I'm making shaving cream.
Let's get down to the nitty gritty, shall we? I experimented with one recipe, making one little tweak, to make it two ways. One is a whipped shave cream, the other is harder and in a bowl (great if you're using a brush).
INGREDIENTS2/3 Cup Shea Butter
2/3 Cup Cocoa Butter
1/4 - 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
2 TBSP Castille Soap
15-20 Drops Essential Oil
If you're fancy and you have a double boiler, I salute you, this is your chance to use it. If not, stick a bowl on top of a pot of heating water and start adding ingredients. For a harder shave cream that you'll simply pour into a bowl and let harden, use just 1/4 cup Coconut Oil. So, add the Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter and Coconut Oil to the bowl and let melt. Then take the bowl off your pot of water (this is for those folks, myself included, without the seemingly elusive double boiler) and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. Then add in your Castille Soap and Essential Oils. I used a mix of Sandalwood, Peppermint and Melaleuca, though if I were to do it again, I would perhaps use something with Frankincense. You're done! Now just pour it into your containers and let cool (I put mine in the fridge).
If you want a whipped shave cream, add 1/2 cup coconut oil instead of 1/4 cup and follow the directions as above. EXCEPT.... once your shave cream is cooled, use a hand or stand mixer to whip it (whip it good- you get extra points if you get that song reference). Once it's beautiful and whipped, put it in a container and it's ready to go.
A safety precaution. If you or your spouse/partner are using this cream in the shower, be careful! The oils in this can make your shower floor slippery. I would recommend using the shower to get yourself nice and steamy, then shave at the sink in front of your mirror.
And as always, we only use doTERRA Essential Oils in our house. They're awesome, we love them, you will too! Interested in learning more about them? Woot woot! Poke around on the site and then shoot me a note
here, I'd love to help you navigate this oily world!