Oil of Gladness: Recommendation and Recipes

I asked a neighbor friend if she’d like to experiment with me, and we began making our own moisturizers, sun screen, lip balm, skin scrub, and such! My friend, Carol, called us the “mad scientists”! We researched, bought ingredients, and experimented in my kitchen.  Now, I’m on my own, experimenting, as Carol is caught up in another project.

I’m thankful to be able to make skin products that have no chemicals, perfumes, or toxins — just pure nutrition. Whatever you put on your skin goes into your blood stream, so we should not use products that we wouldn’t eat! Coconut oil is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. It’s great for rashes, cracked skin, and various skin issues, and for people with no skin issues at all!  It’s amazing the skin issues it heals, and I use it all the time from face to feet.

So today, I want to recommend to you a particular coconut oil — one that should make your body glad, and this is a good company to support.

Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil

I like Tropical Traditions, Inc. because it supports local farmers in the Philippines, is owned and run by a man who is a Moody Bible Institute graduate who has a missionary/gospel focus, and  TT offers high quality products.

Instead of telling you all about it and its advantages, I’ll just send you to their site: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com .

I like their Gold Label Virgin Coconut oil, but probably all their products are good. It is expensive even on sale, and you want to buy it when it is on sale. They have lots of products and continually rotate their sale items, so buy accordingly.

Before I give you a lotion bar recipe, let me suggest that if you have not experimented with coconut oil in recipes that you give it a try in baked goods (great in pumpkin bread and cookies) and in your skillet (fry up some pancakes), and in making popcorn.

Yes, popcorn! Now, I’m taking on a mama-tone, but you should not eat microwave popcorn!  Make it the old fashioned way(and I don’t mean in a fire pit). It doesn’t take long and cleans up well (though not as easy as in the microwave). Choose a 4 quart pan, add 1/4 cup coconut oil, and measure out 1/2 cup popcorn. Turn pan on medium. Add one kernel and let it pop. Then add the rest of the kernels and cover with the lid! Will be done in about 3 minutes!  Add salt as you wish. This amount makes plenty for the two of us and sometimes with some left over. My husband is the popcorn maker in our family. A good guy job.

Now, let me give you my most basic lotion bar recipe.

Basic Lotion Bars

3 Ingredients of equal parts — we’ll make it one cup each:

1. One cup bees wax*

2. One cup shea or cocoa butter

3. One cup coconut oil

From this base, you can modify and add.

First, you will need to melt these ingredients together by creating a double boiler. Pour about 2 inches of water in a sauce pan. Place a  4-cup, Pyrex measuring bowl (with pour spout) in the sauce pan. Now heat the water. While it’s heating up to a boil, put the bees wax in the measuring bowl to melt first. It takes the longest to melt.  As it starts to melt, next add the shea or cocoa butter, and lastly add the coconut oil which melts quickly.

Stir with a popsicle stick. When all is melted, pour liquid into molds or small containers. Let cool on counter for an hour or two. Place in freezer to speed up the time, if you wish.

OPTIONS:
Two ingredient version: One part bees wax to two parts coconut oil. Works well.

Add 30 drops of an essential oil of your choice AFTER all is melted and stir. Try lavender, peppermint, or melaleuca .

Increase bees wax to make harder; decrease to make softer like a butter.

You can make bars,  butter, lip balm, or whatever.  These ingredients are ALL healing. Bees wax is ant-bacterial as well!  No toxins in these potions. Nourishing.

This is enough to get you started. Check out http://www.tropicaltraditions.com.  For more lotion bar ideas and for other healthy living ideas, check out http://www.wellnessmama.com . I love this site. Katie, the Mama who runs this site, is a young mother of about 5 children. I enjoy checking out her advice.

I read this on a Trader Joe’s greeting card recently:

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Now, there’s a wise and light-hearted ending — as long as you’re wearing your homemade coconut oil lotion!!  🙂

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Note:

* Bees wax can be purchased from a local bee keeper (great!), local store, or online. You can buy it in pellets, which melt quicker. (I used a block of it from a local source; best quality and lowest cost.) The color of the bees wax will color your lotion, making it anywhere from a creamy tan to a sunny yellow. Hobby Lobby sells white and tan colored bees wax in its candle making department. The white is more processed (fewer nutritive properties left, if any) but it makes for a lotion bar that is nearly white and is wonderful with lavender essential oil.