DIY Summer Soothers: 12 Masks, Mists & Balms to Make Yourself

Summer sun and warm breezes can be fabulous things, but they can also be damaging to your skin, lips, and hair. Protect yourself with deliciously scented sunscreens and balms, refresh yourself with invigorating facial mists, and recover from an accidental overdose of sun with easy and all-natural DIY remedies.

Take your lip care a step further with this two-part tutorial: coconut oil, beeswax, and sugar exfoliate wind/sun-chapped lips, while coconut oil, beeswax, honey, zinc oxide, and raspberries soothe and protect them.

Apparently, “Many seed and nut oils offer natural sources of SPF,” so this recipe involves combining a low-SPF oil (olive, coconut, avocado) and a high-SPF oil such as carrot seed oil or red raspberry seed oil. Fascinating.

Here’s how this lovely spritz works: “The herbs in this recipe [calendula, lavender, cleavers, and green tea] are great at drawing out the heat before using an oil or cream. Since oil acts as a protective barrier on the surface of your skin, it can actually hold in the heat that you want to cool. This is why using tannic astringents is an important first step!”

Heal your sun-kissed skin with fresh aloe vera, coconut oil, and grapefruit essential oil—and you’ll smell delicious!

This spray—a mix of equal parts water and apple cider vinegar—is possibly the simplest DIY possible, but can provide “instant relief. Vinegar has antiseptic properties that kill germs, calm inflammation, and alleviate painful, itchy skin.” And apple cider vinegar is so cheap!

Spoiler: the two ingredients are Kool-Aid and petroleum (or non-petroleum) jelly! As someone who always loved and wanted to eat Kool-Aid-based playdough, I find the concept of this lipgloss irresistible.

Combine an avocado, raw honey, rosehip seed oil, and tea tree oil for a soothing—and delicious-sounding—sun recovery face mask.

This is ingenious! Freeze aloe vera gel in ice cube trays and you’ll have cooling sunburn relief at the ready all summer long.

This recipe promises to protect and nourish hair, while bringing out highlights and locking in those coveted surfer waves (assuming you have highlights and waves). Chamomile, lemon juice, lavender essential oil, Epsom salts, and argan/coconut oil reportedly protect your locks from the harsh rays of the sun.

I LOVE using spritzes during the summer whenever I’m feeling hot, sweaty, and/or bedraggled, so I had to include a few face mist recipes. First up, here’s a rosy version made of aloe vera, Vitamin E oil, argan oil, witch hazel, various essential oils, and rose water. So many store-bought face mists involve rose (which I hate), so here’s the DIY version.

This super-simple spritz is just green tea, but you can customize it with witch hazel, jojoba oil, or the ubiquitous rose water.

The reason I don’t currently own any facial mists is because they tend towards the pricy—for example, this mist is a DIY take on a $18/ounce French beauty elixir. All you need is witch hazel, tea tree oil, and drugstore toner to give your skin that healthy summer glow.