200+ DIY natural beauty products & hair care products – made and loved for centuries! It’s easy and fun to make your own DIY natural beauty products at home!
Victorian and Edwardian women wanted to look their best. But makeup and beauty products weren’t always readily available. So they made their own DIY natural beauty products at home.
Learn to make your own makeup, kohl, lip balm, blush, tooth paste, shampoo, hairspray and much more! It’s easier than you’d think to make your own DIY natural beauty products and it’s so much fun!
Are The DIY Natural Beauty Products Safe?
As you probably know, some ingredients that there used in the Victorian era are not good for the skin and are even considered dangerous today! However, I didn’t include beauty recipes with toxic ingredients in this list. I only included recipes that use ingredients which are still considered safe today.
However, even if the ingredients are safe, try at your own risk because you may be allergic to one of the ingredients!
Did You Try The DIY Natural Beauty Products?
Below are links to all the recipes of my ‘Victorian & Edwardian Beauty Series’. Some of the DIY natural beauty products I’ve already tried out – you’ll find a link (-> tried) under the recipes in the blog posts.
If you also try out one of the historical DIY natural beauty products or follow the historical natural hair regimen I’d love to hear your experiences: Please share them in the comments below! 😀
Why Historical?
Most of the recipes are from the Victorian and Edwardian era. The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign in the UK and lasted from 1837 to 1901. And the Edwardian era covers the short reign of her son King Edward VII and lasted from 1901 to 1910. While most historical beauty recipes are Victorian and Edwardian, some are older – from the 18th century – and newer – from WW1 and the 1920s.
Even if the recipes are historical, they are still used today: Most DIY natural beauty products are based on these historical tried and true recipes!
Historical DIY Natural Beauty Products & Beauty Routine
Victorian & Edwardian DIY Natural Beauty Products
– Click on the titles for the blog posts –
Moisturizer & Lotion
Face and skin care was as important in the Victorian and Edwardian era as it is now. So Victorian and Edwardian women made DIY natural moisturizers with fresh cucumber juice, honey, elderflower water, rice starch, gelatin and homemade almond oil.
Cold Cream
Cold cream was a popular moisturizer back then. Victorian and Edwardian women used cold cream for almost everything: as hand cream, as foundation cream before applying face powder and as makeup remover.
Homemade 3-Ingredient Cold Cream From 100 Years Ago!
This homemade 3-ingredient cold cream is the best cold cream recipe I’ve tried so far! A simple & easy recipe from over 100 years ago for a perfect natural homemade moisturizer for today.
Facial Cleanser & Toner
Victorian and Edwardian women cleaned their face once or twice a day with cold cream and soft water or with almond and rice flour. Afterwards they applied facial toners which contained alcohol and rosewater, whisky and milk, or homemade rose petal vinegar.
Tooth Paste & Tooth Powder
To keep teeth white and healthy, Victorians and Edwardians brushed their teeth every day with tooth powder or tooth paste which usually contained calcium carbonate (precipitated chalk), grated olive oil soap, orris root powder and essential oils.
Perfume, Deodorant, Dress Shields & Perfumed Body Powder
The Edwardians were as sensitive about sweat as we are today: In society, sweat should never be seen or smelled. So Edwardian made their own perfume, flower infused oils, perfumed body powder and perspiration powder, and they wore dress shields to protect the dress. Since the Edwardian era, one could also buy antiperspirant.
Shaving Cream
Make your own homemade shaving cream with simple ingredients, such as grated soap, baking soda, honey, almond oil, wax, rosewater and alcohol.
Victorian & Edwardian Homemade Natural Makeup
– Click on the titles for the blog posts –
Face Powder & Makeup
To get a smooth complexion, Victorian and Edwardian women made their own face powders at home: with rice flour, wheat starch, orris root powder, powdered talc, and calcium carbonate (prepared chalk).
Mascara, Eyeliner and Eyebrow Dye
Large dark eyes were the beauty ideal in the Victorian and especially the Edwardian era. So Edwardian women dyed their eyebrows and eyelashes with homemade natural eyeliner pencils – called ‘grease paint’ back then. Grease paint was made with homemade lampblack mixed with natural oils and fats, rosewater and gum arabic.
And you can even make your own homemade natural mascara that really works – I tried it! – with homemade lampblack (or black iron oxide), distilled water and gum arabic!
Lip Balm
Homemade natural lip balm is easy to make. Learn to make a rich, nourishing lip balm with almond oil, cacao butter and beeswax. You can either make white or natural tinted lip balms with alkanet root or carmine. Because Victorian and Edwardian women preferred to use the same color for their lips and cheeks, they often used tinted lip balm as cream blush!
Blush
Edwardian women preferred a ‘strawberries in cream’- look: white skin with pink lips and cheeks! They colored their cheeks rosy with homemade powder rouge, liquid blush and cream blush.
Victorian & Edwardian Natural Beauty Routine
– Click on the titles for the blog posts –
5-Step Nighttime Skincare Routine From 100 Years Ago
Like today, Victorian and Edwardian women wanted to look beautiful. That’s why they followed a simple natural nighttime skincare routine.
12-Step Morning Routine
Follow this simple and healthy 12-step morning routine from the Victorian and Edwardian era for a beautiful glowing skin!
Wrinkles & Facial Massage
To keep the face looking young into old age was the aim of Victorian and Edwardian women. So here you’ll find tips how they prevented wrinkles: from daily facial massage to wearing glasses and not going on a diet to not to frown in anger.
Hands & Nails
Victorian and Edwardian women had to do the housework. However, they still took care of their hands because, like today, they preferred beautiful, well-groomed and manicured hands and nails.
Edwardian ‘Shower’ & The Problem Of Hard Water
Even if the Edwardians couldn’t take a daily shower, they nevertheless were very cleanly: they washed the whole body at least once a day. But hard water was then as now a problem: It’s less cleansing for body and hair and coarsens the skin. The Edwardians advised to always use soft water for the skin or to make hard water soft.
20 Tips For A Healthy, Happy Life
Like today, Edwardian women knew that only a healthy person can be beautiful. If you want to become beautiful, get enough sleep, eat a healthy diet, drink enough water, protect your skin from the sun, exercise and be optimistic!
How To Be Graceful
‘The girl who knows how to sit, stand, and walk gracefully possesses a beauty asset of a very desirable kind’. Therefore, Edwardian mothers taught their daughters and sons from an early age how to be be graceful and how to exercise to become more graceful.
Historical DIY Natural Hair Care Products & Hair Care Routine
Victorian & Edwardian DIY Natural Hair Care Products
– Click on the titles for the blog posts –
Homemade Natural Shampoo
Long, smooth and glossy hair was the beauty ideal of Victorian and Edwardian women. The precious locks were usually cleaned with homemade shampoo. Shampoos were made with castile soap and soda, with natural cleansers, such as egg, salt or wheat bran, and with saponin-containing plants, such as quillaia bark. Wash your hair like a Victorian lady!
Pomade & Hairspray
To cleanse the hair and make it smooth and glossy, Victorian ladies used flower scented hair pomade. And to set curls, Victorian and Edwardian women already knew hairspray – called ‘bandoline’ back then.
Victorian Flaxseed Hair Gel
This easy 2-ingredient flaxseed hair gel is based on a Victorian recipe from 1886!
Quince Seed Hair Gel
Another easy homemade hair gel, this time from the Edwardian era and made with quince seeds.
Victorian & Edwardian Natural Hair Care Routine
– Click on the titles for the blog posts –
How To Make Your Hair Grow
Doesn’t everybody want beautiful hair? Read on to find out what was recommended in the Edwardian era to make your hair grow!
Night-Time Hair Routine
To keep the hair healthy, Edwardian women brushed and braided their long hair each night before retiring.
My Hair Care Routine For Healthy Long Hair
How I care for my waist-length hair: A simple, old-fashioned, natural hair care routine for healthy long hair.
About Brushing The Hair
Combing and brushing the hair thoroughly once or twice a day was considered important in the Victorian and Edwardian era to keep the hair and scalp healthy and clean.
How Often To Wash The Hair
Hair shouldn’t be washed too often to keep it healthy. Do you know how often Victorian and Edwardian women washed their hair?
How To Clean Your Hair Brush
Victorian ladies used a boar bristle hairbrush instead of a hairbrush with metal bristles. If you use a modern boar bristle hairbrush or if you bought an antique silver hairbrush, it’s easy to clean boar bristle hairbrushes with just two ingredients!
History Of The Nightcap
Edwardian women wore silk nightcaps while sleeping to keep their hair tangle-free and to make the hair glossy. Learn how to make a silk nightcap for yourself!
Heat, Hair & Hair Color
Do you know how Victorian and Edwardian women protected their hair from the sun and what hair colors were fashionable in the Victorian and Edwardian era? Read on to find out!
Cutting Vs. Singeing The Hair
While Victorian women grew their hair as long as possible, even if the hair was thin, Edwardian women favored short and thick hair. To keep the hair healthy and beautiful, it was necessary to trim split ends from time to time. But should the hair be cut or singed to trim split ends?
Conversion Table
Conversion Table
For US, UK, and metric system units of measurement.
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I came across your article and most of the info I still do to this day thank you for sharing with the world and for staying true to thy self
Thank you so much! 😀
Wow! So much information!
Planning an event on vintage beauty, and this is so much help! Beautifully done! 💗🌸
Thank you! 😀 Glad you found it helpful!