The first time I heard of facial cleansing balms, my first thoughts were “That’s almost concept the same as my DIY coconut oil makeup remover” and “I can totally make that myself” So I did, and I liked it. I’m not a skincare expert, but when it comes to this really simple stuff you know I love me a good DIY.

I didn’t post about it for a long time though because I hadn’t had a chance to try out the popular high end brands and I thought maybe there was something I was missing out on. This month I got my hands on a deluxe sample of one of the popular ones though, and it’s nice . . .but it’s not really much different from my DIY version, so now I can give you guys the recipe with confidence.

the biggest difference I have noticed between the store bought version and the DIY is the texture (Mine doesn’t go on as smooth and creamy)

There are a few different options as far as how to make it. The biggest one is the tea tree oil. Personally, I have normal-combination skin so I’m not usually fighting acne issues, but I get the occasional breakout. For me I add 1-2 drops of tea tree oil into this recipe, and I can barely tell it’s there. I don’t find it drying and I can use it to take off my eye makeup without any stinging but your eyes may be much more sensitive than mine so proceed with caution. If you have dry or sensitive skin you may want to add more, but then I would be very careful around the eye area, and avoid using it to take off eye makeup all together. If you have no acne issues or your skin is super dry, then you can go ahead and leave it out.

Your basic ingredient list for DIY Cleansing Balm is

• Coconut Oil
• Jojoba Oil (You can sub olive oil if you can’t get any Jojoba)
• Tea Tree Oil (Optional)
• Rosemary Oil (Optional)

 

Start by melting your coconut oil and measuring out 1 cup. I use the same jar to measure as I am going to use to store it. I recommend keeping these types of jars around if you’re into DIY beauty stuff because they come in super handy. Your friends will accuse you of being a hipster, but tell them to take a hike. I use these things for everything, they’re affordable and they look cute too. #hatersgonnahate

 

Like I said earlier the tea tree oil is optional and it depends on what you need. I put 2 drops in mine. It’s potent stuff so that’s plenty for me. You can skip if you have dry or sensitive skin, or want to use this to remove eye makeup and don’t like your eyes stinging . . .and if you do like stinging you’re pretty weird, but do what makes you happy. Who am I to judge? Two drops doesn’t cause stinging for me though, just FYI.

 

I recently started adding Rosemary Essential Oil because I had it for other DIYs and after reading up on it’s benefits for skin I felt like my face might like it. So far it does indeed. I use 8-10 drops, but those are the tiny little itty bitty drops that come out of the nozzle on the essential oil bottle, so it’s not a lot. If your bottle doesn’t have that itty bitty dropper then start with 1-2 drops and see how it goes. You don’t want to overwhelm the balm with rosemary either.

 

Next add one tablespoon of Jojoba Oil. This will give the cleanser a more balmy yexture, and it adds another type of oil to the mix that absorbs differently and adds to the moisturizing of the skin and breaking down of the makeup and whatnot. If you don’t have jojoba you can use olive too, I like the smell and consistency of jojoba better though. Olive oil and rosemary makes me think of the little spiced oil they give with bread at Italian restaurants. That’s delicious but I don’t want to clean my face with it.

 

To make sure everything is incorporated evenly I like to whip it through the food processor real quick, but you can also put the lid on the jar and shake the hell out of it. Bonus for the method is a little arm workout. Skincare & Muscles!

 

Once it’s mixed you can just pour it back into the jar. It will thicken up as the coconut oil hardens but it will not go back to being quite as solid as straight coconut oil, which is good because that makes it much easier to use. It smells pretty nice and it leaves my skin feeling soft and clean. I follow up with a gentle face wash after, because I always like to cleanse twice.

I’m pretty satisfied with my DIY Cleansing balm. How do you guys feel about cleansing balms? Do you love them, hate them, DIY them? Tell me, I needs to know!

Tags:  coconut oil diy natural skincare