With summer in full swing (Happy August long weekend!) a refreshing and simple Sweetgrass After Sun Body Mist sounded like just the thing to add to my skincare arsenal. This lovely mist works to hydrate and soothe skin after sun exposure, or whenever you’re feeling like a bit of extra moisture would do you some good. It’ll also help cool you down on hot days—even more so if you store it in the fridge!

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In keeping with our sweetgrass theme, we’ve got a lovely, smells-like-sunshine-on-warm-grass sweetgrass hydrosol bringing its fragrant, astringent goodness to the mix. Up next, some soothing aloe vera juice is an after-sun classic for its anti-inflammatory, skin-soothing, moisturizing goodness.

I’ve included some sodium lactate as well—it’s a fabulous humectant, with twice the water-holding ability of glycerin! Sodium lactate occurs naturally in our skin’s NMF (natural moisturizing factor) and is second only to hyaluronic acid in its humectant-y power (though by a pretty wide margin). Cool, eh?

Last but not least, some panthenol, aka vitamin B5. Panthenol is fabulous for after-sun applications as it is soothing, moisturizing, and anti-inflammatory. It also boosts healing, so in the event that you got too much sun, it’s got your back.

This mist comes together in a jiffy, no heat required. You can make it in a wee beaker or right in the bottle—just measure, mix, et voila! You now have a fragrant mist of hydrating, anti-inflammatory goodness for your sun-kissed skin. Enjoy!

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Sweetgrass After Sun Body Mist

20.75g | 41.5% distilled water
15g | 30% sweetgrass hydrosol
10g | 20% aloe vera juice
2g | 4% sodium lactate
2g | 4% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
0.25g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)

Weigh all the ingredients into a small beaker. Stir to combine. Transfer to a 50mL (1.69fl oz) bottle with a mister top and you’re done!

Alternatively, you could just weigh everything directly into the bottle, cap, and shake to combine.

To use, mist over skin that could use a bit of extra love and enjoy the soothing, refreshing goodness.

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this body mist contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.

Substitutions

As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.

• As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 50g.
• To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
• Instead of sweetgrass hydrosol you can use a different hydrosol or more distilled water; this will obviously impact the scent of the final product.
• You can replace the aloe vera juice with more distilled water or witch hazel distillate (this will impact the scent of the final product)
• You can use a different humectant instead of sodium lactate; propanediol would be my top choice, though vegetable glycerin could also work (you may find it to be a bit sticky).
• Read the encyclopedia entry for panthenol for substitution suggestions.
• If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this page.