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!