I like essential oils. I add them to a homemade beard balm to make my face smell nice all day. I like prescription drugs, too. Weird to mention those two in the same sentence, but OK.
There are plenty of essential oils that smell really nice, and are nice to have in soaps or candles or whatever, but I just can't bring myself to give money to any of the companies that make them cause they all support crazies and pseudoscience. If there's a company that doesn't, I'd love to hear about it.
I like a couple of drops in shea butter for my skin and in a bath with Epsom salts for relaxing tight muscles and the scent relaxes the mind and makes me smell good.
I always try to point out that "alternative" means it's something different than. Like an alternative to something that helps. You wouldn't eat "alternative food." Because it's not food.
3 oz beeswax
2 oz coconut oil
1 tsp essential oil or beard oil
In a double boiler, melt coconut oil and wax.
Stir until thoroughly mixed.
Remove from heat and allow the mixture to begin to cool.
Before the melted mixture begins to solidify, add essential oil and stir thoroughly.
Pour into containers and allow the mixture to harden.
To use, scrape a pea-sized amount with the back of your thumbnail, and rub it between your palms to melt.
Rub the melted wax into your beard, starting at the follicles and comb through with your fingers.
Shape and style as desired.
Reapply as needed.
Sure, I do roughly 3:2 ratio of beeswax and coconut oil by weight. I have a long, curly beard and a long mustache, so I like to have a little bit of hold to it. My beard is naturally soft, so it doesn't really get scratchy or oily, but it will tangle if I don't brush it frequently. The wax helps me look like less of a crazy homeless person.
Melt them both in a double boiler (I just use a metal bowl that fits in our small saucepot). After it is thoroughly melted and mixed, I take it off the heat and stir in about a teaspoon of essential oils. Heat can denature or evaporate the flavor compounds, so you don't want to cook them. Then just pour it into a jar and let it cool. I've kept a bunch of old Oui Yogurt jars and bought lids, and I also bough a 48 pack of tiny plastic lip balm containers for portability. Those are great because I can put different flavors into different containers and try smaller quantities without wasting a bunch of wax.
I've also received a few different gift sets of various scented beard oils, which in my experience are often too strong, so I've used those to flavor the balm.
For essential oils, I like citrus like lemon, bergamot, or grapefruit, sometimes I use tea tree or eucalyptus and mint, and my wife really likes sandalwood, vanilla and bourbon. I am not a huge fan of cedar or oak, or the floral scents like lavender or rose. It's going to be on my face all day, so I want it to be something that I like to smell, but not overpowering. Nobody on the subway should be able to smell my beard.
I think overall I spent about $50 on beeswax, organic coconut oil, and essential oils (not including the gifts) and have been using it almost daily for about 2 years.
The coconut oil did pass the "best by" date a few months ago, but I keep it in a cool, dark place and it doesn't smell off yet. I'll probably buy some fresh this fall.
The balm will develop an "off" smell if you leave it in the sun. I usually make fresh balm every 6-8 weeks. The small plastic jars last about a week, and the yogurt jar lasts about a month.
Edited to add the recipe up front. I realized I did that recipe blog thing that I hate where you have to read a journal entry to find the actual recipe.
I love how "snake oil" literally became a shorthand for a medical scam that does nothing. Then millions of people one day just decided the "snake" part was the only problem.
"I went through seven years of medical school and residency so I can listen to some asshole yoga mom on Facebook who maes measles a thing again!" Said no pediatrician ever.
In Germany such doctors are all over the place and embedded within the statutory health care system. It was a huge shock to me, when I first arrived here. Their health care system has been a huge let down, in general, but this was beyond crazy to me. Sometimes, if you are not careful you go to a pharmacy or a doctor's clinic and you get prescribed snake oil voodoo medicine, if you are not careful.
the issue is that most of the worlds' placebo homeopathic globoli production happens in one region of Germany, and these industries have yes money to lobby shit, at least if you avoid the doctor's offices that look like a 70s new-wave nostalgia trip you can be sure to avoid 90% of these idiots
Several years ago at my kids’ pediatrician’s office they hired a new doc. As soon as she started advocating raw milk I knew that was the last time we’d be visiting that office.
I've had raw milk twice in my life, once straight from the tank at the dairy. I hate how astronomically delicious it is. I wish we could have it safely cuz damn. I can't even credibly compare it to pasteurized when it comes to taste.
Crackpot theory: pictured poster is trying to do a twin study, giving one twin medical care in accordance to generally accepted best practices and the other almond mom style care but they want to control variables by having them see the same doctor. I look forward to reading their study when they publish it in 2-18 years depending on if the one participant survives
PSA: keep essential oils away from your cats. Don't pit them in them, and especially don't use those vaporizers. Most of those oils are toxic to cats. If you want your house to smell nice, burn incense.
If you don't have cats, go wild; there's nothing wrong with the oils themselves, and they smell nice. But many are toxic to cats, and it can be hard to get a complete list of which.
Neither are going to protect or cure you of anything (except, perhaps, a cat infestation), but scent can be nice.
So, of course there's absolutely preference, but there's only one hard rule about incense: you have to be the inner burning it. Walking into a room full of incense that someone else picked and burned is rarely fun. Strong scents like that depend a lot on mood to be pleasing. It's like a curry at the office: if you're the one having it, it can smell great, but walking into a break room filled with the smell of someone else's curry they just heated in the microwave can be nauseating.