DIY Body Care Products: Ingredients to Avoid & 6 Recipes to Start With

QUICK SUMMARY

Buying organic produce and making DIY cleaners are wonderful first steps toward a healthier home, but one of the most overlooked sources of daily chemical exposure is body care products. Lotions, shampoos, deodorants, toothpaste, cosmetics, fragrances, and soaps are applied directly to the skin, scalp, lips, and mouth, often every single day.

The goal is not fear. The goal is stewardship. Learn the most common ingredients to avoid, use trusted tools like the EWG Skin Deep database, and start replacing everyday products with simple DIY body care recipes made with clean bases, nourishing oils, and properly diluted essential oils.

Start small: swap your soap, toothpaste, shampoo, moisturizer, cosmetics, or deodorant one at a time. Small daily changes add up to a lower toxic burden and a more abundant, natural lifestyle.

Buying organic produce and making DIY cleaners are often at the top of the priority list when cleaning up chemicals in the home. But an entire section of toxins is often overlooked in spite of being one of the most personal sources of toxic exposure: body care products. Take the time to learn which toxins should absolutely be avoided and just how easy it can be to replace them with DIY body care products.

Do Body Care Companies Actually Care?

The irony of the term “body care” is not lost on the person looking to make better choices for their skin. With so many skin, cosmetic, hygiene, and fragrance companies touting body care products, we want to believe they actually do care and have our skin’s best interests at heart.

A quick look at an ingredients list with an informed eye reveals the truth: convenience, shelf life, fragrance, texture, and profit often overshadow quality.

This is important because most families use several personal care products every morning before breakfast. Toothpaste. Deodorant. Shampoo. Conditioner. Lotion. Makeup. Perfume. Hair products. Sunscreen. Hand soap. Body wash. Add them all together, and “just a little bit” becomes a daily lifestyle exposure.

One of my favorite resources for keeping chemical-slinging companies in check is the Environmental Working Group. Their Skin Deep database evaluates personal care products and ingredients so families can make better decisions without needing a chemistry degree. (1)

There has been some progress. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 expanded FDA authority over cosmetics more than any federal cosmetics law since 1938. That matters. But stronger regulation does not mean every product on the shelf is automatically clean, wise, or aligned with a natural living lifestyle. (2)

As long as production is simple and consumers are happy, business will continue as usual. Even some companies that pride themselves as organic or all-natural are not always reliably safe. It’s up to us to learn the ropes and “vote with our dollars,” choosing (or making!) only safe, natural, truly non-toxic body care products.

Ingredients to Avoid in Body Care Products

Body care products such as cosmetics and beauty products are poured on, rubbed in, left to sit, and sometimes soaked onto and into our skin – the largest organ of the body!

Reality check: your skin is a brilliant God-designed barrier, not a helpless sponge. But it is also not a brick wall. Topical ingredients can remain on the surface, absorb locally, or in some cases move deeper depending on the chemical, the product base, the concentration, the health of the skin barrier, and how long the product stays on the body. (8)

If you’ve ever made natural topical remedies or if you are familiar with essential oils, you know that the skin is not only a living and complex organ, but that it is also our ally in absorbing and transporting substances. In the case of a good anti-inflammatory oil dilution, this is great! In the case of toxic, hormone-disrupting chemicals in body care products, this is horrible!

There’s so much to learn about the chemicals used in commercial body care products – the pronunciation alone could take a full article. Knowing that toxic ingredients are both dangerous and common can spark fear and anxiety – not Abundant Life giving traits!

Chemicals to Stay Away From

Instead of trying to become a full-blown chemist to weed through label nightmares, we can learn some basics to watch out for and resources to turn to when in doubt. Some quick ingredients to learn and avoid in body care products include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Parabens – spotted as a suffix (e.g., ethylparaben) and used as preservatives in many cosmetics and personal care products. Current research continues to examine parabens as endocrine-disrupting chemicals that may interfere with hormone-sensitive pathways, including puberty timing and breast cancer-related mechanisms. (3)
• Phthalates – used in some cosmetics, nail products, hair sprays, cleansers, shampoos, plastics, and fragrance-related applications. Phthalate exposure from personal care products is a concern for reproductive health, pregnancy exposures, hormone disruption, asthma, and allergies. (4)
• Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing ingredients – used in some hair smoothing products and as preservatives in certain personal care products. Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen, and FDA has warned about reactions from hair smoothing products that release formaldehyde when heated. (5)
• Triclosan and triclocarban – antibacterial ingredients once common in consumer hand soaps and body washes. FDA ruled that 19 antibacterial active ingredients, including triclosan and triclocarban, can no longer be marketed in consumer antibacterial washes because manufacturers failed to show they were safe for long-term daily use and more effective than plain soap and water. Research continues to examine triclosan’s effects on thyroid, reproductive, microbial, and endocrine pathways. (7)
• Fragrance or parfum – a catch-all term that can hide a mixture of undisclosed fragrance chemicals. FDA notes that fragrances are used in many products and that fragrance ingredient labeling has special rules; EWG warns that fragrance can be made from thousands of chemicals and that manufacturers are not required to list every fragrance chemical on the product label. (6) See how dangerous they can be in this report on artificial fragrances.

If you’ll take a peek at the resource list at the bottom of this article, you’ll see the Environmental Working Group as a reference point multiple times. Their Skin Deep Database is an easily searchable index for both products and ingredients. If you’re ever in doubt about a product or want to systematically educate yourself on the dangers of toxic additives, absolutely start there!

To really boil this down to the simplest of safety rules for body care products, remember that what goes on your skin can matter, especially if it’s a leave-on product, a product used daily, or a product applied to lips, underarms, scalp, mucous membranes, or broken and irritated skin.

So, if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t apply it!

You might not want to chug a batch of fully natural and safe massage oil, but this “rule” is still a good way to remember that skincare is far more than skin deep. If you are feeling adventurous – or simply distrustful of marketing tactics – give some DIY products a shot.

Why We Need to DIY Body Care Products

The FDA’s antibacterial soap ruling was a wake-up call. For years, antibacterial hand and body washes were marketed as better than good ol’ fashioned soap and water. But FDA concluded there wasn’t sufficient evidence that these over-the-counter antibacterial soaps were better at preventing illness than plain soap and water. (11)

Simply put: Clean is good. Sterile is not the goal for everyday family life.

Antibacterial products are designed to kill microbes, and there are times when targeted antimicrobial care is appropriate. But our skin also has a living microbiome that works with the skin barrier and immune system. Research continues to show that the skin microbiome and skin barrier function are connected, and disrupting that balance is not the same thing as creating health. (12)

This is why DIY body care products are so powerful. You control the ingredients. You control the fragrance. You control the preservation method. You control the essential oil dilution. You can make small batches, customize them for your family, and stop paying for products that bring a toxic burden into your bathroom.

Here’s the thing: biblical health is not just about what you eat. It is also about what you put on your skin, what you breathe in your home, and how you steward your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. God gave us plants, oils, butters, clays, herbs, salts, and other natural ingredients that can help us care for our families beautifully and practically.

Demystifying Essential Oil DIYs

Don’t click away just yet – you can do this! DIY body care products aren’t just for the Pinterest-inclined among us. You don’t have to be a fancy blogger or experienced aromatherapist to make your own toiletries, sans nasty toxins!

Essential oils make the process even easier, preserving familiar scents and flavors with just a few drops added. As a bonus, they are loaded with health and beauty benefits that can change the way we look at hygiene and basic cosmetics and body care products.

But remember: essential oils are potent plant medicine. “Natural” does not mean “use as much as you want.” A few drops can be plenty.

Tips and tricks when working with essential oils to make body care products:

• Dilute appropriately, usually to around 3% of the total volume, in drops – less for the face, keeping to a maximum of 1.5%. For children, sensitive skin, pregnancy, and daily leave-on use, go lower. Proper dilution reduces the risk of skin irritation, sensitization, and other reactions. (9)
• Keep blends to a few oils, usually sharing similar or complementary benefits.
• Disperse essential oils into 190-proof alcohol or a lipid before adding water (oil and water don’t mix!). For aromatic sprays, high-proof alcohol can help solubilize essential oils when used correctly. (10)
• Store all products in sterilized glass containers.
• Make small batches to tweak your formulas and use them before they go bad. For batches containing water-based ingredients (water, hydrosols, aloe vera gel, etc.), we recommend making batches weekly and keeping the finished product in cold storage.

6 Body Care DIYs to Start With

Making your own body care products can be rewarding, empowering, and, dare I say, addictive. Try a few of these basic formulas first to get your feet wet and confidence built.

1. Soap

Hand washing was one of the great turning points in modern medicine. In the 1800s, doctors did not routinely wash their hands between patients, autopsies, childbirth, and wound care, a practice that helped spread deadly infections. Unfortunately, we quickly took things a tinge too far, with antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers coming on the scene in full force.

Because in everyday life, the goal is clean hands, not sterile hands.

For most families, plain soap and water are still the gold standard. They remove dirt, grease, and microbes without relying on unnecessary antibacterial chemicals. That matters because the skin is not lifeless. Our hands carry a diverse and constantly changing microbiome, and healthy skin depends on more than simply killing every germ in sight. (11, 12)

The bigger concern is that many antibacterial products have added chemicals that do not offer meaningful benefits for everyday home use. The FDA has ruled that several common antibacterial soap ingredients, including triclosan and triclocarban, can no longer be marketed in consumer hand soaps and body washes because manufacturers failed to prove they were safe for long-term daily use or more effective than plain soap and water. (11)

That does not mean handwashing is bad. It means we should practice wise, targeted hygiene. Wash after using the bathroom, before eating, after handling raw meat, after caring for someone sick, and whenever hands are visibly dirty.

For everyday use, choose a gentle, plain soap with clean ingredients. If you prefer a homemade soap, essential oils can be used for scent and botanical support when properly diluted, but the foundation should still be simple: wash well, rinse well, and avoid unnecessary antibacterial chemicals.

Use essential oils in an organic homemade soap base to fight dangerous microbes while preserving the balance that the body needs.

A simple soap can be made by adding essential oils into a high-quality melt-and-pour soap base.

DIY Essential Oil Soap Recipe

Author Mama Z

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Ingredients

• Melt and Pour Soap Base
• Peppermint essential oil per base instructions

Instructions

 

• Prepare the melt-and-pour soap base you chose according to the label instructions.
• Play with the oil blends, using citrus, tea tree, and other gently antimicrobial essential oils. Add them into the soap base immediately before pouring into the soap molds of your choice.
• Pour into your preferred soap molds and allow to cool according to your soap base label instructions.

2. Toothpaste

Oral health is much more than cosmetic. While whitening products are best-sellers in the commercial market, gingivitis remains a dangerous and widespread health risk. Varying levels of mouth disease are linked with diabetes, heart disease, and more. Cavities aren’t all we have to worry about!

The World Health Organization describes oral health as essential for eating, breathing, speaking, confidence, well-being, and overall health. (13) Put simply, your mouth is not separate from the rest of your body.

What’s worse is that conventional oral health treatments aren’t always much better. Some antiseptic mouthwashes can be overused, and research has raised concerns that regular antiseptic mouthwash may interfere with the oral nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway, a pathway that matters for vascular function and blood pressure. (14) Doesn’t that defeat some of the purpose?

Check your toothpaste and mouthwash for questionable ingredients like triclosan and controversial fluoride. Especially with children who will likely swallow some of the paste, it’s important to avoid toxins and potential risks as much as possible.

Check out my article on essential oils for oral health if you are stumped on which oils to use, then add them to these ingredients:

Homemade Essential Oil Toothpaste Recipe

Author Mama Z

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Ingredients

• Equal parts baking soda AND coconut oil extra-virgin AND unrefined (¼ cup each is good to start with)
• 1-2 teaspoons sea salt, ground
• 5-7 drops essential oils
• optional: 1-2 teaspoons each powdered stevia OR bentonite clay

Instructions

 

• Mix and place in a small jar or a squeeze bottle. Use a spoon or disposable wooden scoop to get the paste out and avoid contamination.

3. Shampoo

While products that go into our bodies or soak onto the skin are more often the priority for shifting to natural ingredients, shampoo can’t be overlooked – especially since it’s so easy to make.

Hair care products are manufactured en masse, and so often, that means corners are cut. The quickest, easiest chemical concoction to strip hair “clean” does the trick, not to mention all of that ambiguous fragrance added to it.

If toxic additives aren’t enough, most shampoos strip all of the oils from your hair and scalp, which then conveniently “requires” a conditioner. Meanwhile, your scalp compensates for the loss by creating even more oil, so you need to wash more frequently, which means you buy more shampoo! Tricky!

A tip from my friend Dr. Axe, this recipe uses the gentle base of castile soap and adds nourishing natural ingredients:

Homemade Essential Oil Shampoo Recipe

Author Mama Z

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Ingredients

• 1½ cups (1 can) coconut milk, organic
• 1½ cups organic unscented liquid castile soap
• 40 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions

 

• Mix well (a blender might work best!) and add to a BPA-free squeeze bottle. Store no more than a week in the fridge before using or replacing. Shake before use.

4. Skin Moisturizers

We all could stand a little more moisturizing to take care of the skin that works so hard for us. But products like lotions, creams, and body butter are not just applied to the skin. We rub it in and make sure it’s all absorbed well!

Water-based ingredients like lotions and creams are hard to duplicate in the home without more hard-to-come-by ingredients, and what you can find in the store typically has mile-long lists of chemicals. As an alternative, we suggest an easy, in-home DIY, moisturizing body butter.

Look for all of the basic warning ingredients (parabens, fragrance, phthalates, formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, etc.) when replacing your standard lotion, but take a stab at making your own body butter, as well. Not only can you keep the ingredients reliably safe, but you can also choose essential oils for their health benefits as well.

Lotion-making techniques vary from simple to complex. Here’s an excellent starter DIY recipe from my good friend Jill at The Prairie Homestead. Simply combine a few ingredients:

Essential Oil Hand Cream Lotion Recipe

Author Mama Z

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Ingredients

• ¼ cup unrefined shea butter
• ⅛ cup sweet almond oil
• 1 tablespoon organic beeswax pellets yellow or white

Instructions

 

• Carefully melt, then add 20-30 drops of essential oils. Stir, then pour into sterilized jars. Adjust the amount of beeswax for a firmer or softer body butter. Try nourishing oils like lavender, chamomile, citrus, and myrrh.

5. Cosmetics

Women around the world apply toxic, synthetic ingredients to their faces, including around mucous-membrane eyes and mouths, daily. The chemicals are blinked into eyes, seeped into pores, and accidentally licked into mouths daily, accumulating over a woman’s lifetime.

Don’t you want to know if those ingredients are safe?

The first stop is the EWG database to identify products that are made without toxic chemicals, fragrances, and preservatives. Often, this is the only step someone will consider because it’s hard to believe cosmetics can be replicated at home. This simply isn’t the case – you can DIY cosmetics just like any other topical formulation!

DIY lipstick is nothing more complicated than a jazzed-up lip balm. Here are the main ingredients:

DIY Essential Oil Lipstick Recipe

Author Mama Z

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Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons sweet almond oil OR coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon organic beeswax pellets yellow OR white
• 1 teaspoon Cocoa butter OR unrefined shea butter
• Organic beet powder (optional)
• Organic Ceylon cinnamon (optional)
• Organic turmeric (optional)

Instructions

 

• Finally, remove from heat and stir in a drop or two of essential oil for fragrance and nourishment, like peppermint, lavender, sweet orange, or lemongrass. See more information on how to make homemade lipstick here.

Citrus Oil Safety

Note (as a word of caution about citrus essential oils): some citrus oils are phototoxic, meaning they can increase the risk of burning or skin damage when that skin is exposed to UV light. The biggest concerns are usually expressed citrus oils rich in furanocoumarins, while distilled citrus oils are generally not phototoxic because those heavier constituents do not carry over significantly in distillation. (15)

If you choose to use citrus in your lipstick, be careful to only use 1 drop and stick with the list that’s considered safe according to the classic text, Essential Oil Safety:

• Bergamot Oil (FCF) – Bergaptene/Furanocoumarins is removed
• Blood Orange Oil
• Lemon Oil (Steam Distilled)
• Lime Oil (Steam Distilled)
• Mandarin Oil
• Sweet Orange Oil
• Orange Leaf Oil
• Satsuma Oil (Cold/Expeller Pressed)
• Tangelo Oil
• Tangerine Oil
• Yuzu Oil

Download our free how-to-dilute essential oils guide for more information.

6. Deodorant

Last but not least, we cannot forget the daily topical product that we rub thoroughly into the skin, right near lymph nodes! Deodorant and antiperspirant products can contain aluminum compounds, synthetic fragrance, preservatives, and other questionable ingredients – the fragrance is a given, right?

Deodorant is also a product we’re not easily convinced to eliminate. No one wants body odor to be the first thing that signals a natural lifestyle!

Instead of spending a fortune on safe products or foregoing the use of deodorant and losing friends, simply make your own homemade deodorant.

Another recipe formulated by my buddy Jill at The Prairie Homestead will keep you clean and fresh without the toxic overload.

Essential Oil Deodorant Recipe

Author Mama Z

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Ingredients

• ⅓ cup coconut oil, extra-virgin AND unrefined
• ¼ cup baking soda
• ¼ cup arrowroot powder
• 4 tablespoons organic corn starch
• Essential oils-try tea tree sweet orange, lavender, frankincense, etc.

Instructions

 

• Combine the dry ingredients first, then add coconut oil and up to 10-15 drops essential oils. Add more dry or wet ingredients as necessary for consistency; store in a jar or roll-up tube.

Which of the DIY body care products are you going to make first?

Want to learn more tips for making essential oils part of your everyday life?

Check out our Essential Oil Lifestyle Library.

References: