Category: Learn 2025

Making great skincare from scratch, is just like making great food from scratch —it’s all about the ingredients.

When you start with fresh, seasonal, beautiful ingredients —everything you make is elevated. It’s more vibrant, more aromatic, more potent and higher quality.

I love making skincare from simple, fresh ingredients like herbs from my own garden, seasonal fruits from the markets… and dehydrating them at home to preserve them at their peak.

The expense in making skincare from scratch this way —is time. But, the quality that I get to enjoy, makes it more than worth it!

If you want to explore making skincare from scratch —I’ll share my tips/methods to dehydrate fresh ingredients so that you can make the very best skincare products!

Why do we need to dry fresh ingredients?

Dehydrating is a preservation method.

By removing the water content in our fresh ingredients, we can make long-lasting, shelf-stable skin care.

This style of skin care making is called anhydrous, aka: waterless, and I wrote more about it here.

Do we need to use a dehydrator?

You definitely do not need a dehydrator. People have been drying and preserving foods long before this technology existed.

I prefer using a dehydrator, because it simplifies the process, making it easier for me to create my own recipes at home. And with controlled heat settings, it delivers more consistent results.

That said, not everyone has access to a dehydrator.

So I’m going show you two methods for drying fresh ingredients, with or without a dehydrator:

1. Curing —using no heat
2. Dehydrating —using controlled heat

Curing

Curing means slowly drying herbs without heat. 

You can simply air-dry your herbs, laying them flat on a plate, or hanging them in bundles. 

Choose a dry space that has low humidity, and good airflow.
Or, if you have it, use a dehumidifier to help pull the moisture out. 

Curing is especially ideal when drying aromatic herbs and flowers to preserve their aroma, color and potency —and to protect their delicate essential oils and antioxidants.

Here is a great, short video explaining this concept clearly: 

Dehydrating

Dehydrating means drying herbs, by applying gentle heat and airflow.  

To dehydrate fresh ingredients, you need a dehydrator or an oven that can go to very low temperatures, between 95-120°F / 35-49°C.

This is so that you can remove all the water content, but still preserve the more fragile compounds and nutrients.

I recommend purchasing a box-style dehydrator because, you can use it when you remove the trays, you can fit jars inside, and use it to make warm oil-infusions. 

This is the dehydrator that I use at home.

Also, look for second-hand dehydrators, on something like Facebook Marketplace. You might get a great price —these machines don’t have a lot of moving parts, so they tend to be hard wearing.

Dehydrating Process/tips:

• You can dehydrate anything from leaves and flowers, to roots and rinds…
• Temperature setting depends on what you’re dehydrating, in general this is what I do:
  • 95° for more delicate and especially aromatic botanicals, like thin leaves and flower petals or citrus rinds
  • 110° for more robust or water-rich botanicals, like ginger root or whole fruits/vegetables
• Dehydration time depends on what you’re dehydrating, how much water content it has, and how you prepare it. Generally, go low and slow.
• Keep all of your pieces as consistent and size as you can. Remove leaves from the stalks. And cut roots or pieces as thinly as you can so that it can dry more quickly and evenly.

Storage tips:

• Store dried ingredients in an airtight container.
• Whole dried herbs, and botanicals keep fresh for up to 1 year
• Powdered herbs, and botanicals keep fresh for up to 6 months
• If you have room, you can also store dried goods in the freezer (it doesn’t necessarily freeze because there is no water content, but it keeps it very dry. For long term storage, use a vacuum-sealed bag to prevent freezer burn.

Inspiration:

Drying your own fresh ingredients —allows you to stock your kitchen with the very best ingredients for making food, and skincare and all the good things that you enjoy.

• When you come across seasonal ingredients at their peak, or organic produce on sale —buy them in bulk, with the intention to dehydrate and preserve for use throughout the year.
• If you have the ability to grow your own ingredients, in the garden or in pots —choose something that you know you’ll enjoy, that can grow well in your area, and plant those seeds!

Last year I set up a spot in my garden and planted 10 tulsi seedlings (zone 8) This is the exact variety I planted…

The more I harvested, the bigger and faster they grew!

I harvested and dried so much Tulsi throughout the growing year (from spring to fall!)I was able to share it with others, enjoy lots of herbal teas, and I made the most incredible tulsi-infused body oil. It was such a joy.

This year, I’m growing lots of calendula for the same intention, and I can’t wait!!

Hello! And welcome to this guide on preservation methods for making skincare.

I want to help you explore the craft of making safe, shelf-stable skincare —using only whole food ingredients and natural preservation methods. 

You’ll learn the difference between anhydrous and self-preserving.

And how to use these techniques to make all-natural skincare —that can keep for months, up to years! 

Preservation matters

Using skincare made with nourishing, whole food ingredients feels gratifying in a way you just don’t get from most commercial products. 

It feels natural —like eating real food, cooked from scratch. 

That’s why, even people who aren’t typically ‘into skincare’ are becoming interested in learning how to make it.

But, one of the biggest questions and challenges in making natural skincare —is around shelf life: 

How long does homemade skincare last? Doesn’t it go bad quickly? Do I need to use a preservative?

These are all great questions! 

Let me share two categories of skincare you can confidently make at home without worrying about it spoiling quickly—or needing any specialty cosmetic ingredients, like preservatives.

Anhydrous Skincare & Self-Preserving Skincare 

Let’s start with anhydrous skincare, which means waterless. 

Anhydrous skincare is made with no water —no added liquids like tea or fresh aloe. And no fresh ingredients, that contains water —no fresh fruits, fresh herbs or fresh botanicals. 

It’s skincare made with only waterless ingredients —like plant oils, dried herbs, dried (freeze-dried) fruits, milk powders, sugar, salt, grains, oils…

And its a great category for homemade skincare because, without the water content —it won’t spoil quickly. 

Why you might love making anhydrous skincare:

• You don’t need to use synthetic, cosmetic ingredients, like preservatives for example. When a recipe contains water, it also requires specialized cosmetic ingredients to stabilize it—thickeners for texture, solubilizers to prevent separation, and preservatives to stop bacteria, yeast, and mold that can harm the skin.
  
  Whereas, you can make anhydrous skincare with very simple ingredients, and kitchen techniques. 
  
• It has a long shelf life (just like dried goods in your pantry). Water-less skincare can last anywhere from 6 months- year!! 
  
  That said, personally, I prefer to make small batches to use up every 3 months —that way I know it’s fresh, and safe, and I like switching things up seasonally. 
  
• You don’t have to refrigerate anhydrous skincare. It can be kept in your bathroom, bedroom, you can travel with it —so it’s really convenient. 
  
• And, it’s incredibly potent. Because there’s no water to dilute things, your skincare is packed with only active ingredients, in their highest concentration. You will definitely feel the difference. 

Types of anhydrous skincare you can easily make from home: 

• Balm & Salve 
• Face & Body oil 
• Exfoliating Scrubs
• Powdered Masks/Cleansers (which you hydrate with water to activate)  
• Whipped Body Butter 
• Solid Moisturizer
• Lip Balm
• Deodorant 
• Bath Salts
• Bath Melt
• Bath & Shower Bombs 
• Perfume Balms 

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Another great category for DIY, homemade skincare —is self-preserving.

This is skincare, made with ingredients and methods, that naturally keeps itself preserved.

Much like pickling, or salting…

Making self-preserving skincare follows a lot traditional food-making skills, that go back centuries when people long ago found natural ways to extend the shelf life of food. 

Many of our traditional herbal medicines —like tinctures, glycerites, oxymels, elixers —are self-preserving because people had to learn how to make remedies that can keep for long periods. And we can use many of these same  techniques, for making herbal skincare remedies.  

I love bringing simple, traditional approaches – into modern skincare making because it means that we’re able to make skincare and natural remedies – that are safe and long-lasting. 

Here’s why you might love making self-preserving skincare:

• You get to make skincare in ways that reconnects us with traditional food and medicine making skills
  
  These are old skills that we’ve lost touch with, but they allow you to be sustainable and self-sufficient and to create beautiful, nourishing preparations that you enjoy. 

• If you grow your own ingredients in the garden —you can use these “self-preserving” methods to preserve a fresh harvest and enjoy its benefits and nourishment for a very long time.

Types of self-preserving skincare you can easily make from home: 

• Anhydrous skincare 
• Infusios: Alcohol, vinegar, honey, glycerine and oil 
• Hydrosol 
• “Flavored” salt (in terms of skincare, use these for baths/scrubs)
• Enflourage

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If you’re interested in making homemade, natural skincare, I hope this article inspires you and gives you the confidence to create beautiful recipes using simple, natural ingredients.

You don’t need to venture into cosmetic chemistry or rely on synthetic additives to make something effective and nourishing. Start with what feels approachable!