The following post is from Emily of Live Renewed: 6 Ways You Should Be Using Glycerin at Home
Glycerin has always been one of those mystery products to me. I’ve heard about it a lot in natural living circles — “Oh, glycerin is a great natural health and beauty product!” — but didn’t actually know what to do with it.
I’ve actually had this bottle of glycerin just hanging out in my cupboard for a while now, but I only use it for making homemade foaming hand soap (see more below!). And while it’s an important addition to the soap, I really like the products I use to be multi-functional, so I decided I needed to find some other ways to use up my glycerin.
I’m excited to try these new uses for glycerin over the next few weeks:
Table of Contents
1. Homemade Foaming Handsoap
The reason I have glycerin is to add it to my homemade foaming hand soap. Just a squirt into the bottle does the trick; a little really does go a long way.
I added glycerin to my original recipe of just castile soap and water because I found that my hands were really getting dried out in the wintertime using this soap and had heard that glycerin was good for moisturizing. And as a bonus, it makes the soap smoother and glides more easily on your hands when washing.
2. Homemade Toothpaste
I’ve been thinking about jumping on the homemade toothpaste wagon for a while. It seems so easy, frugal, and so very healthy and natural to be able to pronounce all of the ingredients in your toothpaste. But on the other hand, I’ll be honest that it weirds me out a bit. I don’t know why. I’ve tried a homemade version of just about every other personal care product that I use on a regular basis, but for some reason just not toothpaste. I think that’s going to have to change though.
This recipe at Crunchy Betty is all of those things I mentioned — easy, frugal, and healthy. And I love that it uses ingredients I already have on hand, including glycerin. I’m putting this one on my list of homemade products to try soon! I have also read that homemade toothpaste is good for people with gum diseases such as receding gums. They use special electric toothbrushes for receding gums and pastes with additives such as propolis, lemon balm, or oak bark.
source: Intentional by Grace
3. Homemade Herbal Tinctures
Making my own herbal tinctures has long been on my list of new natural living things to try. I think they can be such a great addition to a natural medicine cabinet. I really appreciate Leigh Ann’s step-by-step guide to making herbal tinctures with glycerin and am looking forward to making some tinctures with herbs from my garden this summer. Especially an echinacea tincture because we have plenty of echinacea flowers growing in our flower beds!
4. Revive Dried-Out Play Dough
This is an interesting one that I’m excited to try out because it always feels a little bit sad to me to throw out homemade play dough just because it’s dried out. I always wished I had a way to moisturize it and make it like new again. Glycerin to the rescue! Beth at Red and Honey shares how to revive your playdough by adding a bit of glycerin and kneading it in.
5. Homemade Bubbles
My kids love bubbles and can go through bottles and bottles of bubbles in the summer. Although bubbles aren’t expensive to buy, I hate to throw away — or even recycle — all of those plastic bubble containers, so we like to make our own homemade bubble solution.
To make homemade bubbles, mix 1/4 cup natural dishwashing detergent, 3/4 cup water, and 5+ drops of glycerin to help the bubbles form and keep their shape.
6. Homemade Moisturizing Hair Spritz
I’ve read a lot about how glycerin is a great hair moisturizer, especially for curly hair. In the summertime, my usually straight hair becomes almost, not quite wavy because of the humidity. I can scrunch it with a lot of mousses and get it to look a little bit curly, but I’m wondering if using a hair moisturizer with glycerin will help it to be even more curly. I’m excited to try it over the next few weeks!
Mix one part glycerin with two parts water (distilled or rose water are preferred) in a spray bottle and spritz onto hair. Use once per day on hair as a moisturizer/refresher.
These are a few of the ways I’ve found to use glycerin. What are your favorite uses for glycerin around your home?
| Emily McClements is passionate about living with compassion and caring for creation in a way that will impact the world. She is a blessed wife and mama to three young children, and blogs about her family’s journey toward natural and simple living at Live Renewed. | |
