Published: 11/27/2015 - Updated: 12/27/2017
Making homemade cosmetics is easier than it might seem at first glance. With a bit of patience and information, it’s easy to make your own creams, soaps and other cosmetic products.
In this post I’m going to show you how to make moisturizing body cream with argan oil.
Argan oil has several properties which have been known of for a long time in Morocco. Here it was used for making soaps, creams, and oils for quite some time.
It has a high vitamin E content which helps prevent aging.
It contains a lot of fatty acids that promote tissue regeneration.
Its repairing and rejuvenating effects will help reduce wrinkles, repair skin and keep you soft and moisturized.
Types of creams
Creams are essentially made with oils (like olive oil, almond oil and any other type of essential oil) and water-based substances (like aromatic essential oils). They are mixed with an emulsifier, which is a product that combines oils and water-based products.
There are essentially three types of creams:
- Oil in water creams
- Water in oil creams
- Oil creams
1- Water in oil creams
These creams contains more oil than water.
2- Water in oil creams
These creations have more water than oil.
3- Oil creams
These creams contain simply the oil, which means they are made entirely of oils.
Components used to make creams
Vegetable oils
There are a lot of oils that can be used to make creams, from olive oil to almond oil, coconut, avocado, or even the wonderful argan oil.
Oils make up the base of these creams and not only provide magnificent properties, but they are also the medium that allows the body to use the rest of the properties in the cream.
Choosing between one or the other comes down to skin type, or what you want to gain from the cream.
Plant butters
Butters are products obtained from the fruits of different plants that, when included in creams, provide different properties.
There is a wide variety of butters around, and you can use any one that you like. There’s karite, natural cacao butter or mango butter.
Essential oils
These are used less often than plant based oils as a cream base. They are included in creams for moisturizing, improving circulation, or reducing wrinkles.
They’re obtained from plants, seeds, flowers, roots, or even the bark on some plants.
There’s also a wide variety of essential oils on the market that have very different properties, which can provide essential oils that bring virtually any property imaginable.
Active ingredients
Another essential component in creams are ingredients used to strengthen specific effects. Bee venom, for example, and snail slime are used as cellular regenerators, and pearl dust is used as a skin whitener and softener.
Emulsifiers
As said before, these are responsible for combing the oil and water base.
There are different types of emulsifiers, both artificial and plant based, although I personally prefer those from plants. These include bee’s wax, Olivem 1000 or Polawax, which are more natural.
Depending on the type of cream you’d like to use, one emulsifier may be a better choice than any others.
1- For creams that only contain oils, bee’s wax is the best option.
2- For creams that contain more water base than oil, you’ll need to use an emulsifier like cetyl alcohol.
3- For creations that have more oil than water base, you’ll need to use emulsifiers like Olivem 1,000.
4- Some work for creams with a water base as well as those with more of an oil base, like lanette wax.
Ingredients for making a moisturizing cream with argan oil
In order to make an argan oil body cream, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Moisturizing base cream (144 grams)
- Argan oil (6 grams)
- Storage container once the cream is prepared
- Plastic bowl for preparing the mixture
- Stirring utensil (spoon or silicon spatula)
- Weight scale
How to make a moisturizing cream with argan oil
- Place the 144 grams of moisturizing cream base in the stirring bowl.
- Add 6 grams argan oil and stir until well mixed.
- Pour into the storage jar and your moisturizing body cream with argan oil is ready.
I hope you like this simple recipe. You comments are welcomed. See you with the next post!
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Propylene Glycol – (PG): used to break down protein and cellular structure (exactly what skin is made of.
It unclogs pores, protects the skin from the sun, and
absorbs oil. As you age the wrinkles around your eyes will become far more apparent, which can make you appear far older.
Thanks for this interesting post. A friend of mine gave me a home-made body lotion recently and it got me interested in trying out some recipes myself. It’s really helpful to understand about the different components of a cream as well as having the recipe to follow. I’ve heard wonders about argan oil but not yet tried it – your blog post is a good reason to give it a go.
Is there a particular type of moisturiser that is recommended to mix with argan oil? Also, is it not more effective to moisturise with just the oil without mixing with a moisturiser?
Hi Sofia,
Thanks very much for writing to us. Some people, such as myself, find 100% unadulterated oils to be the most efficient way of moisturising the skin, using sweet almond, coconut or olive oil as some examples. However, many people find the texture and feeling of the oil on bare skin to be very greasy and can sometimes take a long time to absorb, especially if your skin is tight or very dry. Using a cream is less greasy and can be more easily absorbed. Each person is different and has to find the option which works best.
Also with regard to your question about “types” of moisturiser, we recommend using a bees wax emulsifier to bind the argan oil and cream, then later you can choose some great smelling essential oils such as lavender or ylang-ylang, depending on the needs of your skin. All the best with making your own creams!
I love creams because I have really dry skin and Argan oil is one of my favorite oils. I use it in my hair too since I wear it natural. When it comes to making homemade products, I love to experiment and try new things. I do not have all of the ingredients where I live, but I will order some online and try to make my own cream in the near future. Thanks for sharing this article!
Kisha B.
Minx