DIY Coconut aloe lotion (And how to harvest aloe)

I have this aloe plant that was given to me as a housewarming gift from my sister in law 5 years ago. I struggle with using it enough, so I decided to look into making a really hydrating lotion.

Aloe is known for it's healing properties when it comes to skin it does good against sun burns and small wounds. Aloe is also a anti-inflammatory and moisture rich without being oily. I knew I wanted to use coconut oil for it's antibacterial and an smooth consistency so finding other ingredients that weren't  overly oily were a must.

This is my aloe plant, I should probably move the poor thing to a bigger pot, but I like having it on my window sill. If you don't have an aloe plant you can get one here or you may be able to get away using aloe vera gel from the store.

To harvest the aloe I cut off 3 of the leaves that were about 5 inches long. I cut the thorny sides off each leaf first. Then using a knife I peeled the top and bottom off of the leave leaving as much meat as possible. It's a bit of a messy process but I ended up with with these clear gels strips that I blended down into a gel. you should get about 1/4 cup of aloe gel.

Now onto the lotion.

Ingredients

1/4 oz (2.5 teaspoons) beeswax

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon of grapeseed oil

1/8 teaspoon vitamin E oil

1/4 cup aloe gel

10 drops of essential oils ( I used 2 drops tea tree, 3 drops jasmine, 5 drops lavender

Melt down the beeswax on the stove top. When it is melted add it to coconut and grapeseed oil and mix using a blender. Once it's blended smoothly add vitamin E and aloe gel, again blend till smooth. Wait till everything has cooled a bit before mixing in the essential oils. 

Homemade deodorant (Updated 8-21-17)

Okay, I told you I would post this here, so here it is!! My homemade deodorant. First off I would like to point out that there is a big difference between deodorant and antiperspirants. Deodorant kills bacteria when you sweat, so you don't smell. Antiperspirants stop you from sweating with aluminum. Aluminum is only one of the many hazardous ingredients inside of store bought antiperspirants and deodorants, most of which can heavily impact or hormones.
Secondly a lot of homemade deodorants use significantly more baking soda then you need to keep dry, in return you may end up with chemical burns this is what many people will tell you is the "transitional period". There is no reason that you body needs to endure pain to go healthy. Please if you have a painful reaction to something please find the source ingredient and limit use are stop altogether. Baking soda may cause chemical burns in higher concentrations, but  in smaller amounts should be perfectly safe to use. 

Recipe:

• 2/3 cups coconut oil
• 1/2 1/4 an ounce of beeswax (I prefer a softer deodorant so I decreased the amount of beeswax)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda(With the addition of shea butter I found I could increase the baking soda to teaspoon without irritation)
• 1 capsule of vitamin E oil (this time I used a bottle so I tried my best to eyeball it)
• 2 deodorant empty deodorant containers
• 20- 40 drops of essential oils I prefer at least 10 drops to be tee tree 

Some of the oil blends I like are

• 5 drops of thieves EOs, and 15 drops of lavender EOs
• 5 drops of sweet orange EOs, 5 drops of bergamot EOs, 5 drops lavender EOs, and 5 drops of Jasmine EOs

Mix all the ingredients except the essential oils in a small pot over low heat, until coconut oil and beeswax are melted. Take off heat and add essential oils. pour into your containers and set aside in the fridge for 2 hours or until solid.

This deodorant doesn't need to be left in the fridge. So feel free to put in your bathroom cabinet without fear of it melting. it goes on really smooth and my highly sensitive skin hasn't had a breakout since I made the switch. If you think you would prefer a more dense deodorant add more beeswax.