Real Life Cost Comparisons.
Let's Make Satsuma Lotion! (The Body Shop)
The Body Shop charges $12 for 8.4 ounces of Satsuma lotion. To be fair, their lotion is pretty decent, a step above drugstore quality. But expensive! At this price, it would cost $182.86 for a gallon of Satsuma lotion.
One of my most expensive and highest-quality suppliers charges $35 for a gallon of their lotion, and the quality is incredible! The first four ingredients are:
- Water
- Shea butter
- Meadowfoam seed oil
- Avocado oil
Well, let's take shipping into account - $14.98 for UPS Ground. And let's add in some Satsuma fragrance ($15.00) and silk proteins ($5.00) to make it extra luxurious.
We're still at $69.98 for an entire gallon of spa-quality Satsuma lotion. I don't think you can get any better than this stuff, and it is almost 1/3 the cost of The Body Shop's average quality.
Let's Make Ginger Scrub!
Origins charges a staggering $25 for 8 ounces of ginger body scrub. It is very luxurious and excellent, but... have you seen what's in it?
Salt. Sugar. Olive oil. Fragrance. That's about it. In fact...
Here, I'm making the exact same stuff for $4.
All right, one more... Bath and Body Works' Aromatherapy Sleep Shower Gel
Vanilla and lavender is such a winning combination, but can you believe that they charge $13 for only 10 ounces of body wash? That would mean that a gallon costs $166.40.
Let's make it ourselves, and we're going to use real essential oils of lavender and vanilla.
This is probably overkill, but the essential oils together cost $17.80 - one ounce of lavender, and half ounce of vanilla.
A gallon of high-quality shower gel base - containing aloe juice and extracts of witch hazel, horse chestnut seed, ivy and arnica montana - costs $33.22, including shipping. All together, we made a gallon of real aromatherapy shower gel for only $51.02. This is higher quality than Bath and Body Works' gel, uses real essential oils, and costs 1/3 what you would pay at Bath and Body Works.
As you can see, making your own products gives you a higher quality for lower cost, one of the major benefits of "making stuff." Even better is that once you have all the ingredients, whipping up a batch only takes about 5 minutes.