How affordable is healthy skincare ?

I love to use natural skincare and have done so for many years. It is good for you (no exposure to chemicals), smells lovely, and it just does the job so well. Over the years my biggest obstacle has been the cost of using these amazing products. From the brands’ point of view, Organic certification is expensive in itself, let alone getting a product through Safety Assessment for the European market (I should know, I just started my own line of lip balms).

In the last 4 years, I had to seriously review my skin and haircare budget, for various reasons including having to pay for childcare in the UK and going part-time at work to look after my daughter. And guess what I eventually discovered: you can absolutely afford lovely natural products for your skin and hair if you are a little creative about it. So here are the main things I have learnt:

• Use pure cold-pressed vegetable oils suited to your skin’s needs:

Rosehip oil is my favourite (Fushi Rosehip Seed Organic Oil 100ml Extra Virgin, Biodynamic Harvested Cold Pressed

is the one I have been using throughout pregnancy), deeply moisturising and nourishing for all skin types -although I would not recommend for acne-prone skin- and works wonders for scars, stretchmark’s, fine lines and wrinkles. You only need a few drops and can add essential oils if you are not pregnant. Other options are sweet almond oil for dry skin, apricot kernel oil for combination or oily skin, jojoba oil for normal skin, and the ever-popular coconut oil for all skin types – and because it smells lovely.

• Grow an Aloe Vera plant (seriously)

  

  

  I got my Aloe Vera Plant

  

  delivered next day from Amazon last July, it is a happy plant that only asks for water and a lot of light. It provides us with a fantastic moisturizer that we extract from a branch when it gets too heavy. Blend it in a kitchen blender and keep in the fridge for a week. If you add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract you can keep it a little longer.

  Great for hair, face, body, you can even drink it! Brilliant with a few drops of rosehip – or another oil- mixed in for a lovely face moisturiser. Also, Aloe Vera is great to have on hand for the occasional burn or sunburn.

• Stop buying exfoliators- think Baking Soda

Mix a handful of Buy Whole Foods Bicarbonate of Soda“>baking soda in your usual facewash product. Rub it in very gently. Rinse. That is all you need in the way of exfoliation and it is incredibly gentle and efficient at that. Get a Buy Whole Foods Bicarbonate of Soda“>big bag of food grade baking soda will last you years.

• Just do it -yourself

I make balms and I really enjoy it because a- they work and b- I know exactly what it is in it (although I found Nursery would not use them on my daughter because they needed to have ingredients clearly laid out, which should be fine now that they went through Safety Assessment and are officially on the EU and UK market).

Because a balm never contains water and is exclusively made of oils, butters and -sometimes- natural waxes they are especially long-lasting and self-preserving (usually about a year at room temperature, travelling in your handbag and on your office desk, in short living a typical lip balm life). The blog Wellness Mama has loads of recipes of all sorts, including toothpaste and messy beachwave hairspray, all with natural ingredients.

Or, if this is not for you, you can also head to my store and get all natural beeswax, shea butter and mandarin lip balms. They have gone through the full European Safety Assessment (let me know if some of you would like me to write about the process in a future post).

All natural skincare, handmade in Scotland with Love

Shop our lip balms in the store

(we ship to the UK and EU!)

Natural, efficient and affordable lipbalms, handmade in Scotland.

What about you? Are you looking into reducing your beauty budget? Do you have any tips and tricks? I cannot wait to hear them