Not only are homemade beauty supplies less expensive, they’re better for you and for the planet. Try these DIY beauty recipes!

Conventional beauty products often contain harmful additives to increase lather or give the product a creamy texture. Ingredients like Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate (SLS), for example, are in pretty much every skin- and hair-care product. SLS is a known mutagen and skin irritant and is even a suspected carcinogen! Even many natural products even contain some of the more toxic beauty industry chemicals. You can keep harsh chemicals off of your skin and out of the environment by making DIY beauty supplies at home!

1. Instead of buying plastic razors or toxic hair removers, you might give sugaring a try! Sugaring is an inexpensive way to remove unwanted hair that isn’t as painful as wax removal.

2. You can exfoliate and moisturize with this home made sugar scrub. This recipe is fun because it’s really flexible! You can experiment with different base oils and essential oils for all sorts of great-smelling outcomes! Check out the comments for a really festive alternative that you might want to crib for the holidays.

3. Pioneer Thinking has a great, simple shampoo recipe. I gave this DIY beauty recipe a whirl and found it really easy to adapt. The only ingredient you don’t want to mess with is the veggie glycerin. You can use different teas for different results, like a peppermint tea to make it more invigorating. Instead of the pure soap flakes, I grabbed all those useless, tiny soap ends that had accumulated in our shower, tossed them in the blender, and those worked perfectly! You can also add essential oil, like tea tree or sandalwood, to this mix. Not only does it work great as a shampoo, I’ve been using it as a face and body wash. Since it doesn’t have chemicals to make it frothy, you will need to use more of it than the conventional shampoo. It’s so much cheaper than store bought, though, that you still win in the end!

4. It’s really easy to make your own perfume! Just mix around 40 drops of your favorite essential oil in a 2 ounce spray bottle full of rubbing alcohol. To turn this into a deodorant recipe, use oils that have antiseptic qualities, like tea tree or sage.

Do you make any of your own bath and body products? Share your DIY beauty tips in the comments!

Image credits: How to Wash Your Hair – Creative Commons photo by Gregg O’Connell;Poolside Salon – Creative Commons photo by meaduva