In our Top 10 Carrier Oils for Hair post, we mentioned that we’ll be sharing some DIY recipes on our favorite and most effective hair oils. So, here we are today with this post!
This tutorial is super quick and super easy. No fuss, and perfect for when you’re too tired to formulate a combination of carrier oils (and essential oils) for your hair.
A Carrier Oil of your choice We used 100% Pure Argan Oil (Refined), which is brilliant for dry and/or dandruff-prone scalps, and thin, frizzy and/or brittle hair.
Instructions
Transfer your choice of carrier oil into an amber glass bottle with a dropper cap. This is to make it easier for you to measure the amount of carrier oil you’ll need when applying to your hair.
Depending on hair length, put 2-3 dropperful of carrier oil onto your palm. *Note: A member of our team has thick, waist-length hair and she only needs 3 dropperful of carrier oil to coat all of it. Make sure to not use too much oil (or only castor oil) or you’ll end up with greasy hair even after you shampoo!
Warm up the oil with your hand.
Massage the oil onto your hair. Avoid your scalp unless you’re using Jojoba oil, Coconut oil, Avocado oil, or Olive oil because they are more similar to the sebum naturally produced by our skin and scalp.
Leave for 15+ minutes.
Shampoo your hair, rinse off and dry.
Grab this picture to share!
We hope this post helps you!
Stay tuned for more DIY recipes on our favorite and most effective hair oils
There is a lot of information on the internet about cosmetic irritants, allergens and comedogens, but which is true and which isn’t? Check out this informative video (with factual references!) by Belinda Carli, theDirector of the Institute of Personal Care Science and Cosmetic Formulator
Thank you Belinda Carli from Personal Care Formulations for sharing this video with us!
Feeling down? Unmotivated? Not willing down down another cup of caffeine or just want to feel less exhausted throughout the day? Considering adding any (or all) of these 6 essential oils into your daily routine! They can be incorporated into your personal care products (shampoo, lotion, moisturizer and more), used on their own as diffuser liquids, or added into your handmade candles, soaps, wax melts and more!
1. Geranium Essential Oil
Geranium Essential Oil has an incredibly rich, rose-like smell (so similar that it’s often used as a replacement or extender for rose in many rose scents!). Among it’s known aromatherapeutic benefits are the promotion emotional stability and mood enhancement.
Citrus scents are commonly associated with cleanliness and pleasantness thanks to decades of marketing campaigns, so it’s a definite that the smell of Lemon Essential Oil will bring those into mind. Moreover, studies have also shown that lemon scents can reduce stress, boost energy and alertness, and promote feelings of positively and joy.
Like Lemon Essential Oil, Sweet Orange Essential Oil is also associated with cleanliness and pleasantness. It’s sweet and fresh and so decidedly orange that just a whiff of it is enough to make you feel happier and also give you an energy boost!
Known to be able to elevate moods and stimulate the mind and body, Peppermint Essential Oil is perfect for those who’d like a scent that’s not as tangy or sweet/zesty as Sweet Orange and Lemon, or as rich and powerful as Geranium. This essential oil’s high concentration of menthol provides a sharp enough scent that’ll certainly perk you up.
A little more subtle compared to Sweet Orange and Lemon, Grapefruit Essential Oil has a sparkling, clarifying scent. This citrus scent is excellent as a stress and mental fatigue reducer, resulting in a better overall mood.
Lemongrass Essential Oil has a scent that’s simultaneously fresh, sweet, earthy, lemony and invigorating. It has the ability to uplift spirits, balance your energy and clear your mind as well.
Generally, we know that there are two kinds of the antioxidant Vitamin E: the naturally-occurring (the d- form) and the synthetic (the dl- form, and the acetate). However, there is more to it than just that. Vitamin E comes in 8 forms which belongs to two classes. So, which do you use? And, how much Vitamin E do you need to add to your formulations?
The following informative video by Belinda Carli, Director of the Institute of Personal Care Science and Cosmetic Formulator, explains both selection and input amounts for you, and how to check that you have it right.
Check it out now
*In our store, we sell Vitamin E Acetate (Tocopherol Acetate; You can buy it here!) which is synthetic and contains antioxidants that are great for the skin but does not slow down the rancidity of oils.On the other hand, natural Vitamin E (like dl-alpha-tocopherol) is an even better antioxidant for the skin, and it’ll also slow down the rancidity of oils.
SOME SCIENCE FACTS
Tocopherols
Consists of 4 types of Vitamin E: alpha tocopherol, beta tocopherol, gamma tocopherol, and delta tocopherol. They are distinguished by the slight chemical differences (location and number of methyl groups) on its core structure.
Tocotrienols
Consist of the 4 other types of Vitamin E: alpha tocotrienol, beta tocotrienol, gamma tocotrienol, and delta tocotrienol. Tocotrienols have 3 unsaturated bonds ‘trienol’ but are otherwise similar to tocopherols in structure. Tocotrienols are also more permeable to cell membranes (meaning they’re more easily absorbed) than tocopherols.
If you’d like to read up more on Vitamin E but don’t know where to start, check out our list of references down below!
Thank you Belinda Carli from Personal Care Formulations for sharing this video with us!
At Craftiviti, we’re always grateful and appreciative about the love we get from our customers and supporters. It’s always amazing meeting other passionate crafters, hearing from them and finding out about their love and support for anything craft-related!
Today, we’d like to share one of the earlier blog posts we’ve stumbled upon that featured us: Beautiza’s ‘Creativity Starts at Craftiviti’that was published in 2016, more or less a year after Craftiviti was born!
Gemstone soaps are gorgeous. Not as entirely easy to make as your typical melt and pour soap (where you just melt and pour into molds, wait for them to harden and then, they’re ready to use), but definitely worth the extra effort!
The following videos are two tutorials on how you can make your own gemstone soap at home. We’ve tried both of them and found them easy to follow
1. GEMSTONE SOAP D.I.Y. by mimi’z world
2. How to Make Melt & Pour Gem Soap by Soap Queen/Bramble Berry
There are 3 common recipes on internet on how you can make your own diffuser liquid at home, and since we’re enthusiasts about aromatherapy, we thought, why nottry them and share whether it worked for us or not? We also did some other experiments on creating other kinds of diffuser liquids.
1. Alcohol + Water + Essential Oil
The first common recipe we stumbled upon for making diffuser liquids. Here’s a little science on how this combination works and how leaving one out will result in separation between one and the other:
As we know, water and oils don’t mix, but alcohol and oil are miscible, which means that they can mix and form an even solution. Therefore, mixing essential oil and alcohol means that we don’t need as much essential oil (they’re expensive!) in our diffuser liquid to obtain a suitable volume for our reed diffuser bottles.
However, alcohol evaporates faster than water so even if it can “climb” up the “channels” in reed diffuser sticks, it may evaporate too fast so it’s as if it never did. This is where water comes into play because water can climb up this “channel” and remain there longer, allow for the aroma of the essential oil to spread. Moreover, water and ethyl alcohol will form a strong bond between them when mixed together. So, a separation between alcohol, water and essential oil is less likely to happen.
Best of all, this combination won’t leave a greasy, oily mess when it gets knocked over! This is how you make 100ml of diffuser liquid using this combination:
Stir until the alcohol and the essential oils are completely mixed.
Add in 50ml of hot water (ours is 40°C). *Note: Distilled, tap or filtered water is fine. If you’re concerned about bacteria growth, you can change the liquid once every few days or your can add in preservatives like our Ecocert Preservative Tea Tree Extract, Liquid Germall Plus or Optiphen Plus.
Stir until everything is completely mixed.
Your diffuser liquid is now ready to be used!
*Notes: a) The essential oil (or fragrance oil) should be mixed with alcohol first, before water is added to it (there is still a small chance that separation will happen, but this chance is small). Otherwise will result in a separation between the three ingredients.
b) If you’re particular about the separation of ingredients, we don’t recommend topping up this diffuser liquid with more essential oil when the smell has faded.
WHAT WE THINK In our opinion, this is the best homemade diffuser liquid recipe. This watery liquid makes it easy for it to travel up the reed diffuser stick, thus shortening the time before the aroma dispersion. However, we’re not entirely fans of having to shake/swirl the liquid now and then when separation happens (Check out [4] for our diffuser liquid recipe that results in no separations at all!).
PS: We covered our beakers with tape to make the opening smaller. This is to prevent the diffuser liquid from evaporating too fast.
2. Carrier Oil + Essential Oil
The second common recipe we came across. The recommended ratio for this diffuser liquid is of 30% essential oil to 70% carrier oil. Sweet Almond Oil and Safflower Oil are the most common carrier oils recommended for this purpose.
This is how you make 100ml of diffuser liquid using this combination:
*Note: Once the aroma of the essential oil has faded, you can just add more.
WHAT WE THINK This is a recipe we disliked. Not only do the oils separate after a while (this is common especially when the oils have different densities), but it’s not entirely guaranteed that this viscous blend can “climb” up the “channels” of the reed diffuser sticks as well. We set ours aside (we used Sweet Almond Oil) for a week and still smelled nothing. The reed diffuser sticks are dry where the oil didn’t touch them as well.
3. Carrier Oil + Alcohol + Essential Oil
The last common recipe we came across. The recommended ratio for this diffuser liquid is also 30% essential oil to 70% carrier oil, but with the addition of 2-3 tablespoons (or roughly 30-45ml) of alcohol.
So, here’s how you make 100ml of diffuser liquid using this combination:
Add in 2-3 tablespoons (roughly 30-45ml) of alcohol. (We used Denatured Ethyl Alcohol for this again).
Stir until everything is mixed.
Your diffuser liquid is now ready to be used!
*Note: Once the aroma of the essential oil has faded, you can just add more. If you’re particular about the separation of ingredients, making a new batch is your best choice.
WHAT WE THINK This is a recipe we disliked the most. After less than a minute, there are clear separations between the oils and whatever that has mixed with the alcohol in this diffuser liquid (see picture below).
Like the second recipe, it’s not entirely guaranteed that this viscous blend (even though the alcohol does help thin out some parts) can “climb” up the “channels” of the reed diffuser sticks as well. We also set this blend aside for a week and smelled nothing. The reed diffuser sticks are dry where the oil didn’t touch them too.
4. Polysorbate-20 + Essential Oil + Water
If you’d like a diffuser liquid that will climb up the “channels” of your reed diffuser sticks and for there to be NO separation at all, this recipe is the one to use! Instead of alcohol, all you need to use is an emulsifier like Polysorbate-20, which is used to bring small amounts of oils into a watery environment.
This is how you make 100ml (and a little more) of diffuser liquid using this combination:
Add in a minimum total of 30 drops of your choice of essential oils to your container.
Add in the equivalent amount of drops of Polysorbate-20 to the container. *Note: A 1:1 ratio is recommended for Polysorbate-20 with fragrance oil/essential oil.
Add in 100ml of water. *Note: a) Room temperature or hot water is fine. Cold water can also be used but the Polysorbate-20+Essential Oils mixture won’t blend as thoroughly with it.
*Note: Once the aroma of the essential oil has faded, you can just add more but there will be a separation between the new essential oil and the diffuser liquid.
WHAT WE THINK Our utmost favorite diffuser liquid recipe! No separations and we got a gorgeous milky colour no matter the colour of the essential oils used. It works just as well as the “Alcohol + Water + Essential Oil” combination.
5. Pure Essential Oil
Okay, this isn’t actually a recipe but using only essential oil (or fragrance oil) as a diffuser liquid base saves time and also fills the space with concentrated aroma. All you need is your choice of essential oil or fragrance oil, and pop in a bunch of diffuser reed sticks or wood diffuser ball.
Here’s a comparison shot of our experiments with the various kinds of diffuser liquids mentioned above:
We hope this post helps you when you’re making your own diffuser liquid at home If you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to comment below or contact us!
We used 100% Pure Argan Oil (Refined), which is brilliant for dry and/or dandruff-prone scalps, and thin, frizzy and/or brittle hair.
