DIY Shaving Cream

Intro: DIY Shaving Cream

An easy natural homemade shaving cream that will leave your skin smooth and silky without using preservatives or synthetic ingredients. Instead, the ingredients in this recipe are plant based and beneficial to your skin--wherever you're shaving.

Let's get started so you can get your shave on!

STEP 1: Materials

Gather the following:

• 1/3 Cup Coconut Oil
• 1/3 Cup Shea Butter
• 2 Tablespoons of Almond Oil (can sub with Jojoba or other oil)
• 2 Tablespoons Unscented Castile Soap
• Essential Oil of Your Choice (I used French Lavender)
• Kitchen Pot
• Electric Mixer
• Bowl 
• Rubber Spatula
• Air Tight, Sealing Storage Jar

STEP 2: Melt & Mix

Place both your coconut oil and shea butter into a pot over low heat. Continue to heat, stirring occasionally until your coconut oil and shea butter are completely melted and mixed together. Turn off your heat source once your ingredients are fully melted and mixed.  

Optional: You can melt your oils with a double boiler if that makes you feel more comfortable or you are worried about direct heat on the oils for any reason. 

STEP 3: Adding Oil

Pour in your oil and stir until completely blended. I chose a sweet almond oil for this step, but you are more than welcome to substitute with an oil of your choice. Almond oil has very little fragrance and lots of emollient and moisturizing properties.

Other popular base oils include: apricot oil, argan oil, grapeseed oil, olive oil, and rose hip oil. 

STEP 4: Cooling

Pour your liquid mixture into a bowl or container so that it can cool. Place your bowl or container into your fridge for around 1 hour, or until it has hardened. 

STEP 5: Soap & Scent

Take your solid oil mixture out of the fridge. Add your castile soap and essential oils. 

Essential oils are optional. They are an easy way to add fragrance to your shaving cream. They can also have added skin care benefits as well. I chose lavender as my essential oil for several reasons. The first being simply that I like the scent it has. The second reason has to do with the essential oils beneficial properties. Among it's many uses, lavender is believed to help relieve stress as well as reduce dry and scaly skin. 

Here are a few essential oils you could consider for your shaving cream. I have categorized them by benefits for skin types. They of course have other uses as well, look them up! You may also find there are others I haven't listed here. 

• For Oily Skin: Bergamot, Clary Sage, Geranium, Lemon, Orange, Peppermint, Roman Chamomile, Rosemary, Tea Tree
• For Dry Skin: Carrot Seed, Clary Sage, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender, Neroli Hydrosol, Rose, Rosewood, Ylang Ylang
• For Sensitive Skin: Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender
• For Normal Skin: Angelica, Cedarwood, Geranium, Jasmine, Neroli, Rose, Rosewood

STEP 6: Whip It

With your electric mixer (hand or stand) whip your mixture for several minutes, until it is light and fluffy. Overall the mixing process should take 4-5 minutes, but can take longer if your solid mixture is particularly cold. Scrape down the sides of your bowl with your rubber spatula if needed.

STEP 7: Storage

Using your rubber spatula, transfer your freshly made shaving cream to an air and water tight container of your choice. Oils like coconut oil can mold and rot easily so keeping as much moisture out of there as possible is always a good thing! 

STEP 8: Final Notes

FINAL NOTES:
As mentioned in the previous step, you'll want to keep as much moisture out of your shaving cream as possible since oils like coconut have a tendency to mold. Pat your hands dry before scooping your shaving cream out of your jar to prevent added moisture. Cover your shaving cream when you're not actively using it. For this reason, I also like to make small batches at a time.

Finally, your new shaving cream can be pretty slippery in the shower due to all of it's fresh oils and butters. Please be careful when you're using it!

Comments

[touchdry]

This sounds great - does it lather up? Can I use raw cacao butter (which I have at hand) instead of shea butter?

[BrahimAwal]

Thank you very much

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[mfrontuto]

I would get a empty toothpaste container, cut the back so that you can rinse out all of the toothpaste to make sure that it is clean/boil to sterilize, melt the end that you cut back together, and put your sahve cream in a plastic bag, cut a small hole in the bag and squeeze the cream into the tube of toothpaste. when sealed the cap should keep it airtight

[digitalhuru]

omg thats such a good idea

[holly-g]

Good recipe, moisture wise, but all the oils and butters do not make for a good close shave. Someone mentioned conditioner- probably the best, I have used as alternative to commercial products. Good guide though for moisturizer. TY

[DivaB]

Sounds great!! I do the natural bar soap into liquid soap recipe, but leave it thicker, and add vitamin E oil, Dermasil lotion, and of course natural essence oils. Sure does make a lot. Husband loves it, but now I need to try this method. May not be as cost effective, but it's something I'd like to try anyways, it just looks so fluffy and nice:)

[alzie]

Can you show us how it works in the bikini area? ;-)

Any way, ive been using a good body soap bar like dove for my face.

So far, so good.

[gia]

and I've been using a hair balsam that I don't particularly like but had a huge bottle of - also works great for any shaving a lady parts. :)

[RyPKelley]

Shave soap should really have some bentonite in it. Without it you are really opening yourself up to potential face destruction if you are a man...I can't vouch for how well it would work on legs but without the bentonite your face will not want to look at you in the mirror. You can find it in any homebrew store at the very least if you want to update your I'ble.

[Oldbear]

I use what ever bar soap we have on hand and shave with a somewhat worn razor... I have iron cheeks...

[Suzanne in Orting]

What does the bentonite do?

[RyPKelley]

Bentonite adds to the lubricity of the soap. It helps prevent any catching while shaving and leaves you with a much closer shave. Of course just by adding bentonite you will not necessarily find the magic bullet for a perfect shave soap but it will greatly increase the quality. For more info on homemade shave soaps check out BadgerAndBlade.com I wish I had all the answers, however I do love shave soaps.

[stubbsonic]

I might try cutting the flat end off of a larger plastic squeeze tube (the kind that sort of retains its shape). Then fill it with the shaving cream and crimp closed with a few folds and a binder clip.

I wonder how long it will last before going rancid (if unrefrigerated). I wonder what natural thing could be added to slow down spoilage. I've heard vitamin E, but I've learned to question those claims as there are MANY that are exaggerated or untrue.

[Suzanne in Orting]

When my brother was into camping, you could buy refillable plastic tubes at the outdoor supply store, (REI e.g.). You would fill them and clamp them shut, and they were large enough to easily clean. It's been a while, so I don't know if they are still available.

[Jobar007]

I like this and would probably use it if I didn't have the possibility of molding. I'll probably just stick to using hair conditioner when I shave.

[zikzak1]

Love the idea, but I'm not going to try it. This looks to be something that would slowly, but surely, plug the drain. Last time we had a plumber here for a clogged drain, it was 380.00 dollars!