‘101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health & Home’ offers simple instructions for turning your homegrown, fresh herbs into personal care products.
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Have you ever flipped through a new recipe book and ‘oohed and awwed’ over the lip-smackingly gorgeous photos? And you can imagine tasting and smelling each recipe as though it were right in front of you?
That’s what happened to me when I picked up 101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health & Home. As I flipped through the recipes in the book, I found myself wishing I could try each and every one.
Master of Homemade Products
I’ve been following Jan Berry’s work through her blog The Nerdy Farm Wife. Her homemade recipes for herbal products are always beautiful (thanks to her eye for photography). She thoroughly researches and tests all of her recipes. I fell in love with Jan’s ebook Natural Soap Making because of her easy-going communication style that simplifies a process that could otherwise seem confusing or intimidating.
She’s done the same in her new book. By using simple language, she has convinced me that I can make these homemade products. The idea of me making my own hair care products, health remedies, and household cleaners is incredible! In like manner, I feel confident that my preparations will actually be safe and effective.
I thought DIY Skin Care would be Too Expensive. I was wrong!
For me, one of the challenges of making my own homemade products has always been the outrageous list of ingredients that usually accompanies an online recipe, and which seem expensive and hard to find.
I want recipes that allow me to use the herbs that grow right in my own backyard. I’ve experimented with making my own herbal salves, herbal infusions, and other herbal preparations. But my imagination only takes me so far. Jan has opened up my imagination and a world of possibilities with her book.
I was excited to discover that most of the herbs she uses in the recipes are ones that I grow myself, and that she tells me exactly how to use these fresh-from-the-garden herbs.
Plus, no fancy equipment needed!
chamomile lip scrub (Recipe is in the book!)
Your Homemade Spa Treatment
Jan walks you through an explanation of ingredients and equipment for making your own homemade products. For example, I especially appreciate the explanation on how to make blocks of beeswax easier to use—I always wondered!
She also explains how to substitute candelilla wax or sunflower wax for the beeswax, to accommodate vegans and others who can’t tolerate bee products. She gives the proper measurements of substitution for each.
The book then takes you on a stroll through a vast collection of herbal skin care recipes, including salves, balms, body butters, creams, and lotions. I was mesmerized by the recipes for Peppermint Pine Headache Salve and Dandelion Body Butter.
If you didn’t feel pampered enough, you’ll feel like you entered a spa as you stroll through the next section of bath soaks, salts, melts, and scrubs (I can’t wait to try the Garden Herbs Bath Soak).
Lip care (Daisy Vanilla Lip Balm!) and hair care is next, followed by homemade soaps.
Home remedies like Lavender Dandelion Pain Relief Oil and the nontoxic Lavender Fabric Softener stand out for me. Even the dog can be pampered with the Peppermint & Parsley Fresh-Breath Dog Treats!
Don’t Give Up Your Herb Habit.
In spite of my jungle of a garden, I still can’t resist buying or growing new varieties of flowers and herbs as I discover them. Rather than give up my compulsion, I’ve made it my mission to see how creative I can get in using those plants that surround me.” ~Jan Berry, author of ‘101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health & Home‘
She gets me.
Nurture Yourself
Our skin is our largest organ, and many of us know that our store-bought skin care products—with their toxic ingredient lists—are just not cutting it. Jan’s simple instructions and explanations leave me no more excuses: It’s time for me to make time to nurture my own health and wellbeing (and that of my family) by making more of my own homemade products.
This book will join my ‘frequently used and referenced’ collection of books.
Check out 101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health & Home, and be sure to tell me about your favorite recipes below!
Jan says
Hi Amy,
Thank you so much for writing such a nice review of my book! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed reading it.
I really appreciate you sharing it with your readers! 🙂
Amy says
My pleasure, Jan 🙂 I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.
JessB says
This book looks awesome! It’s on my amazon list for my next gift-receiving event! Glad Mother’s Day is just around the corner.
Amy says
Good idea! Happy early Mother’s Day 🙂