Wednesdays are our Guest Blogger Series day where we feature Paleo and real-food bloggers. We hope you enjoy the new view points and unique content; if so, we encourage you to show these guest bloggers your support by visiting their blog and social media links provided in this post.
This week we’re visited by Kelly from A Girl Worth Saving as she shares a recipe for homemade hand cream, with lard (we LOVE lard!) as a main ingredient! Not only does her site feature delicious recipes, but she also has a page dedicated to various menu themes, assisting you in the trickiest of meal planning situations! As a wife and mom, Kelly shares practical tips and resources on raising a grain-free family.
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Back in the day, when I had a little more time on my hands, I was fanatical about making my own cold-process soap, hand cream and toothpaste. Then I became a mom and finding time to dabble in my hobbies was like trying to fit in my pre-pregnancy pants right after the birth.
I seriously forgot how easy it is to make this recipe, and it wasn’t until I started dreaming about what porky creation to share with ya’ll that I thought about using lard in this hand cream.
Before you think I might have gone a bit sideways using lard, if you think about the fats that were available back in the day before industrial processing and the birth of mineral oil, you were limited to animal fats (coconut oil or olive oil if you were blessed to live in an appropriate region ) for cooking and making toiletries. This recipe isn’t inventing the wheel, it’s reaching back into time and stealing your great-great-grandma’s recipe.
This is the first time I’ve used lard in this recipe and I’m hooked. If you’re afraid it smells like lard, it doesn’t. The beeswax scent is crazy strong. It even drowns out the patchouli essential oil I used to scent the batch. Another great thing about this hand cream is that it’s super emollient and inexpensive. Also, if you want you can get more creative and infuse the oil in this recipe. I infused the sweet almond oil with Chamomile.
Homemade Hand Cream
– 1 cup of sweet almond oil (liquid measurement)
– 1/2 cup of lard (liquid measurement)
– 1/2 cup of beeswax pastilles (dry measurement)
– 1 tablespoon of vitamin e oil
– 2 cups of warm distilled water
In a large pan that contains 2 cups of water, place a large Pyrex measuring cup (I recommend an 8 cup). Place the almond oil, lard and beeswax in the Pyrex and warm until the beeswax is completely melted.
Remove the Pyrex from the pan and set on your counter top. Now add the vitamin e oil and warm distilled water and whisk on high using your hand mixer. At first it might seem that you are just mixing water, but as the mixture starts to cool the oils will emulsify and you will have a hand cream. This takes about 10 minutes.
You can add any essential oils you like when it reaches the whipped consistency of a lotion. I recommend blending it for 2 more minutes after you add in essential oils.
Store in clean, sterilized jars in a cool place. Honestly even with the vitamin e oil and the essential oils in this recipe, I store it in the fridge.
Use generously on your hands and any rough areas of skin.
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Hi. I’m Kelly Bejelly. I was a vegetarian for 9 years and it seriously wrecked my mental health. Luckily I stumbled on to Weston A Price and then the Primal diet, which finally helped me feel balanced and alive again. I also managed to lose 60lbs.
I’m a Portland mom to one spirited primal toddler. When I’m not cooking up new Paleo/Primal recipes, I’m working on my health and counting down the days until I can raise backyard chickens again.
You can follow along on my site A Girl Worth Saving and check me out on Facebook and Twitter.
