During Autumn and early Winter, the air tends to be drier (despite the rainfall….), causing skin to also become dry and prone to irritation. Add to that the fact that many of us are spending lots of time inside with central heating, we’re exposed to dry air a lot at this time of year. This dry air is just one of the factors that can make us more prone to catching colds and flu too, as the mucus membranes of the nose dry up, preventing bacteria and viruses from being ‘caught’, therefore allowing that annoying sniffly cold your co-worker had to make its way into your body too.
As the qualities of each season change, so too do our bodies and minds – we might feel more energetic in the Summer and experience oily skin, whilst the colder and darker months can make us feel more tired and lethargic, with outbreaks of dry skin. Young children also tend to suffer with eczema for a period of time, so as well as experimenting with eliminating dairy, this calm is a gentle and non-chemical way to treat the flare up.
This calming balm is here to help, with soothing ingredients and absolutely nothing artificial. Lavender and chamomile are wonderful for calming inflammation, and the tea tree oil can stop any infections spreading due to scratching, and keeps the area clean. The oats are great for softening skin naturally, and shea butter and coconut oil are naturally moisturising without clogging pores.
If your skin needs some TLC, or if you fancy making a hand made Christmas gift, this could be the best way to show yourself or someone else you care.
INGREDIENTS
(makes roughly ½ cup)
- ¼ cup organic shea butter (available on Amazon)
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp oats
- 1 tbsp dried chamomile flowers (available at many health food shops, online, and for anyone living locally to me in Sussex, you can get it from Taj the grocers)
- 15 drops lavender essential oil
- 8 drops tea tree essential oil oil
METHOD
Use a blender to grind the oats to a fine flour-like consistency
Melt the shea butter until most of it has liquefied
When you have just a few solid lumps of shea butter left, add the coconut oil and continue to melt until everything is a thick, liquid consistency
Take off the heat and leave to cool for just a couple of minutes
In these couple of minutes, crush the chamomile flowers until they’re almost a powder, but feel free to leave some whole flowers – simply because they look so nice….
Pour the oil into a clean jar and add all the chamomile flowers and ground oats
Stir to evenly distribute the flowers, close the jar and place in the fridge for 15 minutes
After 15 minutes, add the lavender and tea tree oils and stir well
Close the jar and place back in the fridge for another 15 minutes
Continue to alternate between cooling the oil in the fridge and stirring it for about 1-2 hours, to ensure there’s an even consistency throughout. If you don’t have time to do this, it won’t matter too much, it’ll just mean your mixture may separate a little.
Use on dry skin (keep away from eyes or only use a very tiny amount near the eyes) and store in the fridge for up to 6 months!
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