Homemade Orange Honey Body Wash
I told the Pilot that it’s time to prepare… my hippie is about to be unleashed in a serious way.
Never before have I been in a land where all of these natural options are at my fingertips.
I fondly remember the time in Tucson when I called a natural health store to see if they sold kombucha scobies.
“What?”
“You know, the mother bacteria to make kombucha?”
“Oh, people still do that?”
In my brain: YES THEY DO AND I AM ONE OF THEM.
In real life: “Yeah. No worries if you don’t have any. Thanks for your help!”
California. Kombucha scobies must be everywhere!!! Haha.
For real, I’m pretty excited to live in an area where it’s mainstream to DIY health products and homemade creations. It’s something I’ve become a huge fan of over time, and when we’re out of something or I want to try a new beauty product, I’ll endeavor to make my own. (Like this rose facial spray, bath bombs and lip balm!)
Here’s a body wash I made for our hotel stay last week:
I scoped out the ingredients for my favorite LUSH shower gel online (and wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when I saw “methylparaben” and “sodium laurel sulfate” but I digress..) and decided to make some, using ingredients I had on hand.
The key ingredient: honey!
Along with some Vitamin E, sweet orange oil, olive oil and pure castille soap, it made a perfectly sudsy mixture, which left my skin clean, surprisingly soft and lightly scented. I”ll definitely be making some new flavor combos!
Orange Honey Body Wash Recipe
(of course, use your best judgment when trying new ingredients for your skin.)
-1/4 cup honey
-1/2 cup pure castle liquid soap (found at health food stores + Target has it, too. There are scented and plain versions)
-50 drops essential oil (I used 40 drops of sweet orange oil and 10 drops of rose absolute)
-2 tablespoons liquid Vitamin E (at health food store; Trader Joe’s now has it for about $4)
-1 tablespoon oil (I used olive, but jojoba or grapeseed would be lovely)
Add the mixture to a bottle. Shake it up, and wa-la! Homemade body wash minus the sometimes-sketchy ingredients 🙂
Have you make any homemade beauty products before?
What’s your all-time favorite soap or body wash?
Hope you have a great morning! <3 See ya later today with a new workout.
xoxo
Gina
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I have been wanting to make your rose facial spray for forever! This was a great reminder that I need to do so. Especially because I just ordered a facial mist, along with a few other beauty products, and Josh thought it was an old box and accidentally threw it out. I was so bummed.
Ohh I bet this must smell absolutely delicious! Citrus body scrubs have always been my favorite since they’re so refreshing and tangy.
I would love to start creating more homemade products. My latest freak out moment has been what in the world do they put in dishwasher rinse that might hurt us? 🙂 My favorite thing to make at home are facial masks. I use a lot of avocado, coconut oil and honey.
Honey + Orange…I can only imagine how amazing that scent must be!
haha…moving to San Diego after college was the beginning of my hippie transformation and I’ve never looked back! Thank God I married a California boy. 🙂 I love making my own deodorant and face masks! My next venture is to set up a serious garden in our backyard after we move next month. The house we applied for has like 5 citrus trees in the back…hello fresh juice every morning!
my boyfriend and I are moving to North Carolina soon, and I’ve warned him that I’m using this as an opportunity to go green/toxin-free with cleaning supplies, bath supplies, etc by making our own (and hopefully saving some $$ as I’ll be a PhD student making a verrry small stipend). He seems onboard, but we’ll see 🙂
thanks for the great ideas- any other recipes you come across would be amazing to add to my arsenal!
I think I’m ready to unleash my inner hippie! 😉 I’m stymied by essential oils, though. What brand do you like to use for your homemade beauty and cleaning recipes and where do you like to buy them?
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
California is the PLACE to be to find anything DIY, natural, granola, etc. I’ve never made anything at home, but love the idea of putting honey in a bodywash. I’m looking forward to your future creations.
Making your own beauty inventions is such fun. I also wished I lived in a place where hollistic things were more widely available….Maybe one day! This body wash looks like a good one. I will have to try some out. Thanks for sharing!
This looks amazing! Did you use regular honey or raw honey?
Sounds great! I normally just use the Dr. Bronner’s castille soap by itself as a body wash and I love it on its own, but this version sounds really nice too. I embrace my inner hippie and so far have made deodorant, toothpaste, face masks, and yoga mat spray. I think I’d rather be in California than the NYC area (lower CT) because most people just do not do that sort of stuff here, haha.
Haha, I think this totally depends where you move from, but I found San Diego to be very “un-hippie”, having moved here from Vancouver, BC, where people are definitely a little greener/crunchier than here. For example public transit/walking everywhere, great health foodie community, lots of crunchy mamas, yoga studios at every corner – ahhhh, I miss Vancouver, but I digress. It could be that we live in the ‘burbs now and nothing is possible without a car. 😉 There’s probably more of a hippie vibe in the beach areas than north county inland. But being only 10 minutes from hubby’s work has advantages. Looking forward to finally moving to our house with a yard next week, so gardening is up very high on my learning list! We have a pomegranate tree in the back! 😀 And I think with all the herbs we’ll get, a beauty DIY will be in the near future.
You are SO creative my friend! The only DIY supplies i make are vinegar/water for cleaning – otherwise i rely on the ‘au natural’ stuff – although i still need to check ingredients and it is probably costing me 3x as making my own, but sigh….
I hope you are loving SD so far!!!!
OMG I love love love this!!!! Can’t wait to experiment myself! Ever since you introduced me to Somethin’ Special I’ve been hooked on their products and scents. It would be fun to incorporate some of my favorites from her line!
I’m super jealous of your future access to all things natural and healthy. I’m pretty sure most people have never even heard of Kombucha here in Kansas! Health-minded folks are definitely not the norm around here 🙁
Hope you’re transitioning smoothly!
It is spelled “voila”. …
Just being silly
Right
http://fitnessista.com/2010/08/nut-butter-monster/
Wa-la! I love it 🙂
who cares?!!!
Exactly!! Who cares!
http://almostexactlyblog.wordpress.com is a great blog for DIY/natural/chemical-free beauty products! I switched to the no-shampoo method and started mixing my own body wash using her recipes. Mine is kind of similar to yours but also with water since castile soap is supposed to be significantly diluted. Great idea to add honey, and I’m looking forward to more hippie DIY recipes in the future!
This would be great for Mother’s day! I have been giving homemade scrubs to my mom and boyfriend’s mom and they love it. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have enough resources around here to buy natural products…I guess a lot of online shopping! I used to visit my boyfriend in North Carolina and it killed me that none of the grocery stores carried organic foods or specialty items. Luckily Massachusetts has Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, plenty of farmer’s markets, and a lot of other privately owned places!
Wow this looks awesome! I will need to bring out my inner hippie and get on more things like this 🙂
You’ve totally inspired me! and I’ve been loving Lush’s Celestial face moisturizer, but then read the ingredients and spotted the parabens in that too! Darn! I’m thinking maybe it’s time to try making my own 🙂
LOVE the bodywash idea too. Hopefully I can find time to make my own!
this recipe sounds luscious! I tend to get lazy and just use regular soap, then slather up with coconut oil later to make up for its dryness. In the end, I smell like a coconut…not sure if that’s all bad, but I’m excited to try out this recipe’s scent. Thanks!!
i can only imagine how delicious this body wash smells. honey is one of my very favorite scents. i have pretty sensitive skin, so i really need to look into making natural products for my skin.
i hope you and your family are enjoying SD so far! can’t wait to hear updates about the big move. 🙂
Sounds yummy! I stopped buying my favorite Lush products when I saw parabens and SLS in the ingredients list 🙁
But, so far, making my own has been fun and beneficial to my skin. Can’t wait to try this bodywash.
Sounds yummy! I stopped buying my favorite Lush products when I saw parabens and SLS in the ingredients list 🙁
But, so far, making my own has been fun and beneficial to my skin. Can’t wait to try this bodywash.
Guess I posted this twice…oops.
Your post reminded me…the first time I traveled to California, we flew into San Francisco and I immediately said to my fiancée…OMG, I love it here…and that was before we left the airport, because they had a yoga spot, vegetarian options and a place for the puppies. It is great…I’m sure there are all kinds of ways to release your inner hippie…lol.
Oh how cool! I would love tomake my own. I am so not a good cook though so it could easily turn into a sticky mess ha.
Welcome to California!!! it’s seriously the best place I’ve ever lived– and I’ve lived lots of places like you 🙂
can’t wait to try out your body wash recipe- I’m getting bored of plain ol’ peppermint dr. bronner’s! living outside the mainstream is the way to be!! speaking of scobies… my husband has quite the science experiment going on with his kombucha right now— ahhh!! I think it seriously made a NOISE today!
Oh my gosh I totally feel you, here I’m lucky to find kombucha at all, never mind a scoby. I had to go super old school and grow my own from a bottle of original kombucha (which until a week or two ago could only be purchased in one place 45 minutes away from where I live!).
That wash looks awesome! I tried making my own shampoo last year, it didn’t go well 😮 but maybe I’ll have more success with wash!!
I LOVE this! I used to think Lush was great but then I too saw the ingredients and realized a lot of things I try to avoid are included. Sad face. This looks amazing though!!
I’ve only made lip gloss, but this looks awesome!
Ahh, I was wondering when you would start to pick up on the bad ingredients in Lush products 🙂
I’ve made face scrubs for myself and as gifts but never body wash. Definitely time to change that! Pinning this so I can make it when my current body wash finishes. Thanks for sharing 😀
OMG I will have to try this. I am also obsessed with anything rose scented, it reminds me of my nana who used to bath in rose water. And she also used to eat roses, haha.
On a side note, I was wondering if you use natural deodorant or have you ever attempted to make your own? I desperately want to find a natural option but the ones that I’ve tried have not worked well, especially after working out.
Oh & what brand of oils do you buy? I normally get mine from the local health food store or farmer’s market but I am interested in seeing if I can get a better quality product for a similar price on amazon.
Usually DIY deodorants will keep you from getting stinky, but not from sweating in your underarms. The antiperspirant properties in store-bought deodorant come from the chemicals that DIY recipes are trying to avoid. 🙂
Sorry, I guess I didn’t explain what I was asking. I know natural/DIY deodorant won’t stop the sweating but I was asking for recommendations on ones that Gina or others have had success with it. I have tried a couple like the crystal brand that have not helped the stink factor at all.
i don’t use natural deodorant at all. i’ve heard that the crystal deodorant doesn’t do anything and with daily workouts (and um, not-daily showers) i’m sparing everyone of the stink 😉 i use secret deodorant
Haha, I hear ya. Yeah the crystal deodorant experience was kind of embarrassing. I definately do not recommend it. I also tried Lush’s dirty hippie & they aren’t kidding by that name. People kept asking me what that woodsy/hippie smell was. LOL. I don’t think I stunk, but let’s be real, maybe I just couldn’t tell since the patchouli smell was so strong.
Do you have a favorite “Secret” smell?
i think it’s called tahitian vanilla?
I totally recommend “The Pits Veggie Deodorant” from Bunny Butt Apothecary. I’ve been using it for a few years now and it’s great! I like the Cucumber Tea scent.
http://bunnybuttapothecary.com/the-pits-veggie-deodorant-p-37.html
I haven’t put together any homemade products, but I have tried “No Poo” with baking soda and raw apple cider vinegar (really bad for your hair it turns out–don’t do it!) and then I tried honey washing my hair. None of it did my hair any good, but I lived to blog about it. 🙂 Now I’m back to regular, but with good ingredients shampoo.
I’ve never made my own scrub but this sounds so easy and wonderful. Maybe I will add it to my weekend to do list 🙂
I love when people’s inner hippie comes out! My husband will get this look on his face when I talk about new ingredients and that’s how I know I’ve gone into full on hippie mode. Can’t wait to tell him about your body wash recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, I love it. I’m so going to try this. So far I’ve only made a hair mask ( my grandma’s recipe) and body scrub. Thank you for sharing.
Haha, welcome to Southern California!!
I hope the move is going smoothly. This body wash sounds heavenly! Definitely stopping by the store after work to grab some of the ingredients 🙂
Yes! This is right up my alley. This is definitely something I’ll have to try out. Looks great.
I go in phases. I’ll make all Diy cleaners – then will miss the real thing, and switch some back! Flip flopper here. 🙂
I’m getting ready to attempt diy rose water which hazel skin toner, and coconut oil/cocoa butter whipped body butter next.
That seems like an excessive amount of essential oils. 50 drops for a small bottle? I’m surprised I don’t smell it halfway across the country
Is this safe to use with toddlers? Or if I use it for just me in the shower, and she takes a bath later, and tries to lick the water (as most babies/toddlers do), will these ingredients harm her? I dont know how early they can start to handle honey without it being toxic to them
This recipe sounds amazing! What is the shelf life of the body wash?
that’s a great question. i had ours for about a month and it still smelled great
Just to clarify- did you use the peppermint scented castile soap, and orange oil and rose in this wash? That didn’t smell funky? Lol.
I might start with the unscented or citrus castile soap, but I’m super excited to try this!
Any suggestions on how to make it without the Castile soap? I have a severe coconut allergy. haven’t been able to find a Castile soap without coconut oil involved. (OR even a natural soap/body wash for that matter).
Please help!
Without using xanthan gum or guar gum, how watery is this body wash? Did it come out a creamy consistency? I make my own body care products and the biggest complaint was making body washes that were too watery. I know it’s a science to find the right recipe when it comes to what makes each of us happy. I’ve recently played around with a new body wash recipe that came out creamy and lathers up really well.