craftgrrl | Body Care Gifts for Christmas

I make natural body care products for my friends and family. I've made some nice things in the past, but I've been doing a lot of education during this past year and I'm really excited about some of the offerings I'm planning.

This topic came up in a recent post about bath salts, and I wasn't sure if

craftgrrl was an okay place to post stuff like this, since it's not crafts like sewing, beading, etc., and there are some communities devoted to this kind of stuff. Several people expressed interest, though, so I will be posting recipes in a week or two, and pictures of my packaged gift baskets once I'm done.

It's hard for me to know what people will enjoy, though. You guys are all cool, and I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind voting on which products sound good to you. Either ones that you personally would like to receive or that you think that others would like to receive.

Here are some descriptions of the items I'm polling you on. I won't be including every item in every basket-- they'd be customized for the recipient. I'm just curious about general interest in each item.

Sugar Scrub: An abrasive rub that you use in the shower to exfoliate and moisturize the skin. It leaves your skin feeling fresh, soft and brand new. I'll almost certainly be including this. The one I'd give out is made from brown sugar, sweet almond oil and is scented with powdered orange peel and a touch of essential oil of clove.

Salve: The salve I make is a wonderful treatment for wounds, dry skin, burns or any skin ailment. It's a blend of olive oil, apricot kernel oil and sweet almond oil, infused with comfrey leaf and root, calendula, St. John's wort, lavender and plantain, with the added benefit of jojoba oil, vitamin E and essential oil of lavender. (Also, this is the only product that I already have instructions up for-- they can be found here.)

Conditioning Hair Mud: This is a new one for me. It's a thick conditioner that uses the nutritive and cleansing power of "mud" (Kaolin, French Clay) with some other lovely ingredients to give a deep condition and shine. I'm still working the recipe out, so I'm not sure I'll have it ready in time for Christmas, but I've used some commercial products like this and I *love* them.

Lip Balm: Still not sure what EOs or herb infusions I'd use, but it'd just be your basic, high quality, made with love lip balm.

Lotion: This is also a new one for me, but I have high hopes on getting a rich, nutritive goat's milk lotion worked out in time for Christmas. I've used a locally made product like this, and it's the best lotion I've ever used. I plan on making mine a bit richer than their standard lotion, so that it would be suitable for using as a facial or body moisturizer.

Bath Tea: Muslin bags filled with lovely bath ingredients. I'll probably do a couple different kinds, each filled with some good bath herbs like lavender, chamomile, rose, loveage, calendula, etc., dried milk, either ground oats or ground sunflower seeds, nutritive oils and some essential oils.

Bath Salts: Always a favorite.

Shimmering Dusting Powder: A decadent dusting powder, consisting largely of starch, ground dried blossoms and essential oils with some mica for shimmer and shine. Perfect for a special evening out.

Aromatherapy Hot Oil Treatment: This is one that I'm not sure if folk would like. A hot oil treatment is great for the hair *and* scalp, providing conditioning, shine and bringing valuable nutrients to the hair. It's made of some good nutritive oils augmented with some EOs indicated for healthy hair and scalp. To use you place the bottle in hot water until the oil is warm, massage the oil into the hair, then wrap your head in a towel (preferably a warm towel) and let it set for 15 minutes. I don't know if that would be too much work for people, though it could always be used as a massage oil if they didn't want to use it on their hair.

Aromatherapy Cold Care Oil: My special cold care recipe, gentle enough for use on children but powerful enough to kick butt on colds and flues. It's a favorite of everyone I've ever given some to. It not only helps to oust the cold, but it makes you feel better at the time, which is no small feat. It's not very pampering or Christmasy, but I might include it anyway.

Coconut Foot Creme: I'm still working out the recipe on this one, but it's a knock off of Burt's Bees' Coconut Foot Creme, which is heavenly. It's a thick, coconut and peppermint scented, liquid glycerine based salve that you slather onto your feet before you go to bed, cover with cotton socks and wake up in the morning with feet so soft you wouldn't believe it. It's a winter staple for me. I think I might add vanilla to mine.

*Whew*! On to the poll:

[Poll #196881]

Thank you for your time. Comments are always welcome.