Lotion Making Experiment

Last night I attempted to make my own lotion/body butter. This was brought on by a couple of reasons, but mostly because
A. I’ve always had dry skin issues, and with my diet changes, it’s gotten considerably better…but still on the tad bit dry side, nonetheless.
B. The “good” lotions are expensive! 
C. I put on lotion from head to toe, every single day.
D. After doing some research I’ve decided that if I’m using lotion every day, I want to make sure it’s natural and that I can pronounce everything in it since skin is the largest organ on our bodies. I’m not really comfortable with the idea of putting something on it every day that might not be good for me.

So after reading some blogs on natural living (dang, I sound like I’m turning into a hippy!)…I sort of bought a whole bunch of lotion making supplies on an impulse from Mountain Rose Herbs.

The lotion recipe I used came from here: Wellness Mama Lotion Recipe, but I tweaked it a bit. Since I had several different oils/butters I decided I’d just use them all in this recipe and see how it turns out. For the carrier oils I used mostly Coconut Oil, a couple of wafers of Cocoa butter, a few teaspoons of Kukui Nut oil (LOVE that stuff), and some Vit. E oil. Then I used a little beeswax for the emulsifying effects and some water to thin it a little, and some Lemongrass essential oil to give it a scent. 

I actually took photos of the whole process, so enjoy!

The ingredients (minus the coconut oil)

Make-shift double boiler

Love coconut oil- I cook with it almost every day

When I opened this it was IN YOUR FACE chocolate smell! I was a little worried about covering up the smell, but you can't smell it at all in the lotion. I may or may not have licked one to see if they tasted like chocolate too...

It's the bees knees.

Here I have the cocoa butter, coconut oil, beeswax melting in the double broiler. I added a few tablespoons of kukui nut oil at the last minute.

...and it's melted.

After my concoction melted I added warm water to the food processor and started blending in the melted oil (with the essential oil and Vit. E that I added after everything else melted)

At the beginning it looked pretty gross. The oil wasn't really combining with the water very well, and it seemed like there was a lot more water than what I needed. But I kept pulsing and stirring, and pulsing and stirring, for about 10 minutes,and finally the consistency turned into what I wanted.

Finished product - the consistency is sort of like a whipped body butter

There would be some things I would change for my second batch. I used toooo much of the essential oil, so I'm walking around smelling like a big ol' field of lemongrass! As the day has gone on the smell seems like it's not nearly as strong as it was this morning...I'm not sure if I'm just getting used to it, or it is just fading. My co-workers haven't mentioned anything, so hopefully the smell just faded :). And the second thing I would change is the amount of oils/butters I used. I would definitely cut back just a little, as this is a little more greasy than what I'm used to. It's only greasy when you first put it on though, it actually soaks in pretty nice and my skin is suuuuper soft today. Yipee! So I'm going to keep experimenting until I get it exactly how I want, maybe try different types of butters and oils, maybe shea butter, jojoba, etc...and I want to start blending some essential oils to come up with my own scents!

One thing I can say, is that I used this on my face today and it worked wonders! I normally use Aveeno Face Moisturizer (Ultra-Calming). I've been using it for years and often find myself having to apply it twice because it soaks in so fast leaving my face feeling dry and tight. The homemade lotion I used today worked really well and my face feels awesome, and it was a really good base before applying makeup. Anywho- that's all for now! Maybe I'll try making some beeswax lip balm next :)