Anti-inflammatory and nourishing to the skin, cucumber extract is a useful ingredient for homemade cosmetics. It's simple to make and provides numerous benefits to skin and hair.
Clean and peel the cucumber and cut it into slices. Further cut the cucumber slices into smaller pieces that will easily fit into your jar.
Add the cucumber pieces to a clean jar. Cover the cucumber with vegetable glycerin. (Add enough to fully cover the cucumber pieces.)
Cover the jar and leave it alone overnight. The next day, shake the jar or open it and stir the cucumbers and glycerin. This helps ensure the cucumber pieces are fully covered in glycerin, which will help prevent microbial (mold, bacteria) growth. At this point, the cucumbers will already have shrunk slightly and the glycerin will begin to take on a cucumber flavor.
Straining the extract
After a few days, the cucumber won't change much in appearance anymore. At this point, you can strain out the cucumber by pouring the glycerite through a strainer into a clean jar or bottle below.
Optionally, add a cosmetic preservative to your cucumber extract.
Cover the jar or bottle, and store in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months.
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Notes
The amount of glycerin used will depend upon the amount of cucumber obtained and the size of your jar. Fully cover all cucumber pieces with glycerin. Yield will vary depending on the water content of the cucumbers used.If only using for cosmetics and not for food purposes, consider adding a preservative (lower dose) to extend the shelf life of your finished extract. For self-preservation, the amount of glycerin should ideally be above 50%. Weight the amount of glycerine and compare it to the amount of cucumber extract obtained to calculate the approximate percentage of glycerin in the final product. Cucumber extract can be used in place of glycerin in a variety of cosmetic recipes. Dosage: Up to around 5% of a recipe.