Preserving homemade skin care products

by Maria, Alexis and Sue

Maria, NY:

I would like to make my own facial masks but I am not sure how long I can use them for. What is the shelf life of a homemade skin product?

Hi, there,

Shelf life of natural products from scratch is about 2-3 days in the fridge. I do the smell test, just like with food!

Best in health,
Nili Nathan

Note: I have to agree with this one. Be careful with ingredients such as eggs and milk. Not only they can spoil, they are allergens, and can cause a bad skin reaction. If it smells bad, don't use it!

Alexis:

I was looking over your stuff since I'm getting ready to have a baby shower in November and I'm making all homemade shower / bath stuff for my guests to the party .. my question to you is if I were to make the Brown sugar body scrub how long will it last if in a sealed container ... I don't want something that will spoil or anything like that ... I'm also making homemade bath salts and shower gels but i need to know if it will be OK to make a lot and then put it in my party favor bags...

Hi, Alexis:

That brown sugar scrub will last a couple of weeks. To ensure freshness, add a teaspoon of sea salt to the mix. With your oils, a natural preservative is vitamin E oil. You can puncture a vitamin E capsule and squirt the liquid into your blend.

Have a wonderful baby shower!

Nili Nathan

Sue:

I want to make sugar scrubs for gift baskets are there any thing that will make them last longer than a couple of weeks? I have a recipe for a brown sugar scrub soap are these as good as the sugar scrubs an will these last longer for gift
baskets?

Dear Sue:

Add a little sea salt to the mix as a natural preservative.

Nili Nathan.