A CBD product doesn’t need a label to be effective—so why not make your own? With a little extra care and some high-quality ingredients, homemade concoctions may be just as effective and potent, if not more so, than CBD products at your local drugstore. Once you master the basics, one bottle of extract could replace anything you were buying off the shelf before—and you get to take charge of your own healing.
There’s no big secret to making a CBD product. Most commercial CBD producers are formulating their creations with extracts like distillates or isolates, and a lot of them aren’t even making their extracts in-house. Once you have a CBD extract you can trust, you can make something in your own kitchen that rivals some of the fanciest offerings on the market.
Any CBD product you make is only going to be as good as the CBD extract that goes into it. It’s worth being picky here—but once you have the right extract, you can use it in multiple recipes. To get you started, here’s a primer on picking the right product and a couple of highly versatile recipes for soothing CBD topicals.
How to choose a CBD extract for DIY recipes
Surya Care is a CBD wellness company that makes all their extracts in-house with gorgeous, sun-grown hemp from their own Southern Oregon farm. They’ve started offering the same triple-extracted concentrate they use in their tinctures, balms, and oils to the public.
“We hope that by offering Sun Drops, the essential component within all of our products, our values of purity, integrity, and transparency come through,” says Indigo Donaldson, herbalist and founder of Surya. “Humans truly need what CBD has to offer at this precarious time on the planet.”
The extract, called Sun Drops, checks all the boxes for what you should be looking for in an extract:
- They’re grown and manufactured in a closed loop—so one company bred the seeds, planted them, harvested the hemp, and bottled the extract. You get a much better handle on quality this way, and since it’s not shipped around too much before it gets to you, it’s better for the planet.
- Sun Drops are full-spectrum, not an isolate. This is an important detail to watch for: Isolates are missing crucial plant compounds that work in tandem with CBD to bring out hemp’s full benefits. These include minor cannabinoids similar to, but distinct from, CBD, as well as natural plant compounds like terpenes. This helps your CBD function more as it would in nature as part of a whole plant—all these elements make each other stronger in what’s called the “entourage effect.”
- The team at Surya are longtime herbalists and permaculturists that have been working with hemp and CBD for a long time, and they’re not about to cut any corners.
- Third-party lab tests for each batch of Surya products are posted online, so you can verify exactly what’s in every bottle.
DIY CBD recipes perfect for summer
CBD extract is versatile and can be used in plenty of recipes, from bath bombs to tasty treats. If you’re already a seasoned DIYer, try integrating CBD into your favorite crafts! But if you’re not sure what to make, or need a little creative inspiration, the expert formulators at Surya Care have a couple of great ideas for you—and guidance on how to make it your own.
Sun Drop Cooling Mist Spray
Ingredients:
- 2 oz grain alcohol
- 1 gram Sun Drops extract
- 3 oz aloe vera gel
- 4 oz rosewater
- 10 drops rose geranium essential oil
- 2 4-oz glass or plastic spray bottles
Instructions:
Heat water in a pan on your stove to create a hot water bath. Pour grain alcohol into a double boiler, a measuring cup, or a metal bowl and heat over the water bath. Add Sun Drops, stir until dissolved, then remove from flame and set aside to cool. (Take care to keep away from open flame, as the mixture is flammable.)
Once your mixture has cooled completely—mixing too early can cause your extract to crystalize—divide 1 oz each into your two 4 oz spray bottles. Add 1.5 oz aloe vera gel, 2 oz rosewater, and 5 drops of rose geranium essential oil to each. Shake well.
To use:
Spray liberally over face and body for a cooling, calming, moisturizing mist. Can also be sprayed on sore, stiff muscles and joints or any other inflamed areas of the body.
Make it your own:
Try swapping out the rose geranium oil with different essential oils for a variety of effects. For a calming spray, try lavender, chamomile, jasmine, pure rose, or helichrysum. To make a more uplifting and stimulating spray, use rosemary, sage, peppermint, eucalyptus, juniper, or fir.
DIY Rejuvenate Balm
Ingredients:
- 4 oz coconut MCT oil (not palm oil)
- 1 gram Sun Drops extract
- 1 oz beeswax
- 6 drops Vitamin E oil
- 14 drops essential oil of choice
- Two 2-oz jars or one 4-oz jar
Open your jar(s) and set them nearby.
Heat water in two different pans on your stove. Pour coconut oil into a double boiler, a measuring cup, or a metal bowl and heat over one of the water baths. After the water is boiling and the oil is hot, add Sun Drops and cover to let it melt. After a few minutes, uncover and stir. Don’t let any water droplets get into the mixture—it could cause your balm to mold.
Melt beeswax over your second water bath, then mix into the hot oil and extract infusion. Keep over heat and stir together until you have a uniform, liquid mixture, then pour into your jar(s). Immediately add vitamin E oil and essential oils and stir in with a chopstick or other stirring stick. If the beeswax solidifies before you can mix the oil in, re-heat the jars over the water bath.
To use:
Depending on essential oils in the final product, the balm can soften skin, soothe inflammation, or be used as a lip balm.
Make it your own:
Choose an essential oil for your desired effect. For a cooling balm, try eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint, or sandalwood. For a warming balm, try frankincense, rosemary, ginger, wintergreen, black pepper, or juniper.
For a harder balm, add a little more beeswax. For a softer balm, add a little less beeswax.
While MCT oil has wonderful properties, many oils, including olive oil, almond oil, grapeseed oil, or apricot kernel oil, could be swapped out in this recipe.
More than just Sun Drops
Of course, if you don’t have the time to make your own CBD products Surya has other high-quality tinctures, pre-rolls, and topicals available for you—not just their Sun Drops. Check out their website for more information, CBD & cannabis education, and a full gallery of images for both recipes.
