Thursday, September 19, 2013

Tips For Making Body Lotion


About a year ago I started making my own body lotion. I wanted to know what was going into the lotion that I was using. Searching the web I found a recipe, and just with food recipes, I revamped it. The first batch came out great, great texture, looked great, and smelled wonderful.

I like to change out my butters, and oils, and all the sudden I was left with a crumbling mess with liquid on top. Determined I continued to try, with the same results each time except when using the original recipe I started with.

Then one day while on Mountain Rose Herbs' web site I noticed emulsifying wax. Hmm what is this? Turns out it helps to bind the water, and other liquids (oils) together in lotions. I ordered some, and gave it a try yesterday. Not sure if I needed to add less or more I searched YouTube, which inspired me to write this post.

For the most part bees wax can be used to create body lotion, but if you are like me, and want to change it up emulsifying wax works great. Personally since I used the emulsifying wax, I will not go back to bees wax. The texture is way better, and the time involved is alot less.

One of the videos I watched said to heat up the oils first. Well I guess you could if you want to lose the healing properties in them. She also heated up the water, oils, and bees wax separately however, she did get the recipe from a book.

I put the water in with the bees wax or emulsifying wax, and heat them together. I find if you are using bees wax, and add the water later, the bees wax starts to harden. Hardening I feel will create clumps in the lotion that I don't want.

Also if you add essential oils, this should be done last. I put it in after my lotion has completely cooled so not to lose the healing properties.

Do you make your own body lotion?






3 comments:

  1. I do make our body lotions in our household. The recipe I use required: beeswax and a carrier oil such as olive oil, coconut oil or grapeseed oil. I also add oatmeal to ours because several of us in our family have sensitive skin. Some websites say to grind the oatmeal into a powder. For me personally, it made the lotion too gritty. So I make 1/2 c of oatmeal and 2 c of water. Once its cloudy and kind of thickish, I remove from heat and strain. I add the oatmeal liquid, the oil and beeswax mixture into the blender. After mixing it all up, I add a few drops of my favorite essential oils. I store it in the fridge for preservation purposes.

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  2. By the way, if using coconut oil, you need to melt the oil first since it comes in solid form.

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  3. I may have to try your recipe. I'm always up to try new recipes for things and for cooking. Thank you for sharing it.

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