I’ve had quite a few requests for a micellar water over the last couple years, and with hot(ter) temperatures finally upon us, I thought I’d give one a go. But first I had to find out what micellar water is.
It turns out it’s an emulsifier powered cleanser, in the form of a rather diluted solution that’s mostly water. Wikipedia defines it as “surfactant molecules dispersed in a liquid colloid“. A micellar water cleanses your skin in the same way soap does, really—one end of the molecule grabs onto oils on your skin, and the other hitches a ride down the drain with some water, taking those oils with it.
A lot of the storebought ones I looked at used ingredients like Polysorbate 20 or PEG-6 as their surfactant, but I wanted to see if I could go all natural. I decided to roll with a combination of yucca root, which contains natural saponins, and Turkey Red Oil (sulfated castor oil that somewhat magically self-emulsifies in water).
From there, I wanted to add some other skin goodies. The majority of the cleansing water is aloe vera juice—the pure, clear juice, not the bright green goo from the drug store. I steeped that with white willow bark, a natural source of acne fighting salicin (grandfather to salicylic acid).
I also added some acne fighting essential oils—black pepper and lavender. If you don’t have those on hand please feel free to use other acne fighting essential oils. Or, if acne isn’t an issue for you, feel free to choose an essential oil or two that combats whatever ails your complexion.
The final product is a pretty bottle of gentle micellar cleansing water, with an added anti-acne kick. Because this is mostly water you should either make it in very small batches, store it in the fridge, and use it quickly or add a broad-spectrum preservative.
Yucca & Aloe Micellar Cleansing Water
½ tsp yucca root
1 tsp white willow bark100mL aloe vera juice (not the weird green gel!)
10mL/2 tsp vegetable glycerine5mL/1 tsp Turkey Red Oil
black pepper essential oil
lavender essential oilMeasure the herbs out into an empty tea bag, tea ball, or tea strainer.
Measure the aloe vera juice out into a glass measuring cup and add the herbs to the juice. Let steep for at least an hour. If you want to speed this up, gently warm the aloe vera juice and do a warmer steep for 15–20 minutes.
Once the aloe water and herbs have steeped, squeeze out the herbs and discard them. Add the vegetable glycerine, Turkey Red Oil, and essential oils, and whisk to combine. When you add the Turkey Red Oil the mixture will go milky, this is exactly what we want.
Transfer the water to a 125mL/half cup bottle. To use, pour some on a cotton pad and swipe it across your face. Repeat if necessary.
This sounds heavenly. I was wondering which preservative you used in yours and how much you used. I can’t wait to make some of this. I have very sensitive skin so I just use my homemade soap and then witch hazel. This sounds like it would be so much better for my face. Keep sharing and I still love your site. It is one of my top favorite sites that I follow daily.
Hi Virginia! I’ve got an FAQ article here on my favourite (and just generally) preservatives 🙂 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
This looks like such a nice cleanser! I’ve seen micellar waters at the store and they always seemed like chemical voodoo to me. It’s nice to have a recipe that explains all the ingredients and their purpose. I might have to try making this for those nights when I just can’t bring myself to go through my full cleansing routine. Is it safe to use around the eyes (without the essential oils)?
Turkey Red Oil is known to be irritating in high concentrations, so I’d proceed with caution when using this around the eyes, and perhaps consider something more gentle, like polysorbate 20 (though less natural… pick your poison, I suppose?). Enjoy!
Hi Marie,
I have been reading your site for months.
Your information on oils,and deodorants,
and everything else I love. And i have been using!
Your sense of humor is great. I have fun reading your posts.
Thank-you,
Kacey
Hi Kacey! Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me 🙂 Your support is hugely appreciated!
Thoughts on if this could be frozen into small cubes and thawed one at a time to get around the short shelf life?
Great idea! I’m not sure how the emulsion would hold up, but I’ve found this style of emulsion re-integrates with a good shake, so it probably doesn’t matter that much. Let me know if you try it 🙂
I’d never heard of micellar water before this post, so I had to look it up 🙂 how do you like this compared to other face cleansing methods?
I’d say it’s pretty close to the cleansing level of toner 🙂
Any substitute for turkey oil or can I leave it out? Also for the willow bark?
If you don’t have the Turkey Red Oil you can use Polysorbate 20, though it’s not as natural. You could use a smashed up aspirin tablet as an alternative for the willow bark 🙂
Do you have any current sources for pieces of yucca root? All I’ve been able to find is powdered yucca, and that seems to give this a very short shelf life even with the preservatives (plus, it takes a lot of effort to strain the little bits of powder out of the liquid).
Even with those challenges, I love this product — it’s my go-to morning cleanser after a thorough evening scrub.
I found some! Here we go. I’m not convinced the infusion with the larger pieces will improve the shelf life at all, though—you’re still adding most of the same botanical matter to the water (assuming your straining efforts have been reasonably successful, at least). Let me know if it does help, though, that would be a very interesting piece of data 🙂 And I’m glad you’re enjoying this—it’s always fun to hear which recipes “stick”!
Thanks for the reference!
Yeah, I’m interested to see if it does improve the shelf life. I know that with canning food, purees are the hardest to preserve because all the particles are so fine (or something; I read about it like three years ago, and decided that canning purees was too hard, so I’ve just done jams and pickles and stuff). So I’ve a theory that all those little yucca bits might be acting like a puree in that sense.
I haven’t had the same problems with your Willowbark toner, which is a pretty similar infusion except without the little bits, so we’ll see. But then again, it could be the aloe…
Either way, I’ll be sure to keep you updated!
I suppose it’s the same as with ground beef vs steak—more surface area = more potential for spoilage. I look forward to hearing your results!