This morning I found this old recipe sitting around in my draft files from a couple years ago... but it's perfect timing because I've been playing around with undertaking a pretty big posting challenge and it's along the same lines as these homemade lotion recipes.
I love really old "how to" books and recipes. I also love American History and so when I come across books published in the 1800's I am in heaven! I'm currently immersed in a book about pretty much anything and everything to run your household circa 1874-ish and I'm LOVING it. SO much knowledge and information that has been lost over the years! These books are being sold and thrown out from dis-use as they gather dust and no one checks them out in libraries, and can't be found by word and phrase searches on the internet because they are not electronic. They can be found in internet archives, but the pages have been scanned (photo copied) for download and you literally have to look at the image of the page to read it... so no 'google' search will find the information. Therefore - not too many read these books. And they have awesome 'homemade' recipes for everything them!I'm getting ahead of myself.
THAT is where I'm going in the near future. Posting information and recipes and medicines from these fascinating books. But this morning I'm posting a simple recipe for a peppermint body lotion (because I have a bottle of yummy peppermint lotion in my nightstand next to the bed at this very moment - although not this particular recipe) and a moisturizing cream that has a bit of wax in it so you can apply it before heading out into the cold, windy winter weather.
Peppermint Body Lotion
1/4 t borax
1 t White beeswax Pellets
1 t Lanolin
2 T petroleum jelly
5 t Apricot Kernel Oil
4 t cold-pressed Sunflower Oil
10 drops Peppermint Oil
Dissolve borax in 2 T boiled water. Melt the beeswax, lanolin and petroleum jelly with the apricot kernel and sunflower oil in a double broiler. Remove from heat and stir well. Add the borax solution, whisking until cool. Stir in the peppermint oil. Pour into a large glass jar and store in a cool dark place.
Moisturizing Cream
2 T Carnauba Wax
1 T white beeswax
1/2 c Almond Oil
Melt the waxes and oil in a double broiler over low heat. Remove from heat and pour into a pot. Let cool to set.
