Hand Balm for Working Hands, Cinnamon salve recipe for dry, cracked skin.
Hand balm for working hands and dry, winter-cracked skin. The majority of the men in my life have notoriously dry skin. My dad’s hands are so dry they literally crack and bleed in the winter time. My cousin is a mechanic and with all of the constant washing and scrubbing etc. it really leaves his hands desperate for any kind of moisture. This hand balm would be wonderful for winter dry and cracked skin too!
Last month you saw how I made a men’s hand scrub and, honestly, following that scrub with this cinnamon salve is a match made in Heaven! I did some searching online and found a recipe that included beeswax, shea butter and almond oil. I didn’t have any almond oil on hand so I substituted castor oil. I made a small tester batch and immediately knew I was going to change some things. The hand balm I made that night worked great but it got REALLY hard and I couldn’t understand why coconut oil was never used in any of the hand balms I read about online. So, I got to work on my own recipe.
Firstly I wanted to cut back on the beeswax, the recipe I found called for an equal amount of beeswax and shea butter and it felt kinda waxy. I wasn’t going to go buy almond oil when I already have castor oil and coconut oil on hand so I substituted there as well. With a couple of test runs this is the recipe I ended up with and it is totally man approved!
3 tablespoons Shea Butter (This is what I use)
1 tablespoon Beeswax (This is what I use)
1 tablespoon Castor Oil (This is what I use)
1 tablespoon Coconut Oil (This is what I use)
10 drops Cinnamon Oil – optional (This is what I use)
This is a very easy to make recipe, just use a double broiler and melt all of the ingredients together. Transfer to a glass container that is easy to pour and mix in your essential oils and then just pour in whatever container you would like to keep it in!
I went ahead and used Cinnamon oil because when I went looking for a good container to put this in the cinnamon tins at the Dollar Store were just perfect! There are lots of essential oils out there that are considered good for dry skin however, like I mentioned before, it is not at all necessary to add essential oils as this recipe is jam packed full of seriously good stuff already.
This is the perfect recipe to follow the men’s hand scrub that I make earlier this year. You really don’t need much, just concentrate it on the worst places. I also use it from time to time after a shower. I’ll rub it into my feet, put on a pair of soft socks, head for bed and then, by morning, my feet feel just wonderfully soft and smooth.
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I’m Tarah!
It’s been a hell of a ride since I started this blog and renovated and moved into this old farm house back in 2015. I got married, divorced, lost my doggo soul mate, spent two years as a single gal, remodeled everything, threw my back out countless times and was even found by an amazing guy in my own backyard! (The story behind Storyhardt Farm.)
Around here we’re totally fearless when it comes to bettering our home. We love to refinish old furniture, re-purpose old pieces, build it from scratch and totally renovate anything that needs it! If we can do it – so can you. We’ve got some serious plans for this old farm and, for first time ever, I have a real partner!
This is gonna be so much fun!
You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!
This probably works well. My hands have been drying out a lot this year so I may try it as well. Thanks,
Thanks for coming by Carol!
Thanks so much for this!! My hands have been so dry the past few weeks. Can’t wait to make some.
Thanks for coming by!
My dry winter overworked hands need this in their life. What a great recipe.
Thanks Leanna!
This sounds very soothing! I can’t wait to give it a try -thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Lynda I learned this week that it also works pretty good as chapstick!
Thanks for sharing this great recipe with SYC. Winter weather is so hard on our hands!
hugs,
Jann
Thanks Jann!
I love the little tins. I’ll be looking for those or similar at the dollar store. Thanks for the lovely useful post.
Thanks Angie for coming by, these were a hit with the guys this Xmas!
I’m very happy to see this article. The last couple of days I had been thinking about making my own body lotions and hand creams.
Hi Sandy, thanks for coming by, this salve makes a pretty good lip balm too!
Mr.Furry uses O’Keefe’s Hand salve. Don’t get much for about $7 so if I could make this would be great for both of us. Our water here is very hard and the climate is very dry so in winter we both get painful cracks on our fingers. Would help if I used gloves to wash dishes, always forget.
Hope I can find some of those little containers like you used, Mr.Furry didn’t save old containers from O’Keefe’s salve to put this in.
Good to know this can be used for lip balm as my lips get so dry all the time, not just Winter.
Hope you had a great Christmas
Happy New Year
Hi there, yup doing dishes can be really hard on your hands for sure! I really like this recipe, it seems to work well though I guess I can’t compare it to O’Keefe’s as I’ve never tried it. Let me know if you do try this though and if its comparable! Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well, Happy New Year!
Tarah, our weather here has been really cold lately, and my hands are suffering. So this post is really timely for me! Thanks for giving us such specific instructions for making this hand balm.
And thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I’m featuring you this week!
Hi Richelle, I hope it helps you as much as it has helped us! I’ve been using it on my mouth and lips as well because it has been incredibly cold here too!
Dear Tarahlynn,
I am so very happy to have stumbled upon your blog. Your ideas are beautiful and a few of them I will be tackling no matter what I think of my chances.
I am allergic to coconut oil. YUP, left out in the cold when it calms to balms and creams, LOL. Is it possible to just use almond oil in your recipes or will it interfere with the “set”?
Thank you kindly,
Lindy
Hey Lindy, you could definitely use almond oil instead! Just add a little more beeswax and you’ll be good to go!
Hi!
I don’t like the smell of coconut oil, and was wondering if it would be better to sub a butter (like mango or kokum) for it or something liquid (jojoba or pumpkin seed oil)?
Melissa, I think that’s a lovely idea and should work great! Coconut oil is very firm when it cools so you may have to add more or less of some of the other ingredients to make it a balm.