A few weeks ago, I posted a picture on Instagram showing some supplies I was using while making my homemade lotion and I got quite a few requests to post the recipe, so here it is!
This lotion is super luxurious without being greasy. Like the frittata formula post I wrote, this lotion recipe can actually be used as a formula. Use what you have or can find locally! Use what ingredients work for your skin. For example, when I make this lotion for my sister, I omit coconut oil because she is allergic to it. I have tried to make that clear in the recipe below as well. Just make sure you use the correct total amount of the solid and liquid oils, and you will be fine!
Making your own lotion is about more than just something fun to DIY. When you make your own body care products, you know exactly what goes into them - no chemicals. Your skin is the biggest organ of your body! Having healthy skin is important to your body for many reasons, including detoxification and regulating our body temperature.
I have included some tips on ingredients to use to help this lotion last longer in the recipe as well. There are no "preservatives" in this lotion, but there are things that can be done to help the shelf-life such as keeping the lotion in the refrigerator or using specific ingredients for their antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties.
The recipe will make about a mason jar's worth of lotion, which is a lot. A little bit of this lotion goes a long way! So if you have some smaller jars on hand, you can give some away as gifts!
This recipe may seem a bit long, but it is because I have tried to be as descriptive as possible so that everyone from beginners on will be able to follow the directions. I have also included links below to help if you don't know what a specific item is, or if you don't already own the item. Please read the blurb at the bottom of the post, or click here for more information about these links.
Tools you will need:
steam basket to fit into sauce pan, with central post removed (if you don't have a steam basket you can use a large lid of a jar to elevate the jar from the bottom of the pan - see middle photo above)
quart size, wide-mouth mason jar
a way to measure ounces by weight
a way to measure ounces by volume
Ingredients you will need:
1oz beeswax (measured by weight)
10oz room-temperature distilled water (measured by volume)
1/2 tsp. vitamin E oil
Measure the beeswax into a 1-quart wide-mouth mason jar by placing the jar on your scale, tare the scale so that the scale reads zero, and pour in the beeswax until your scale reads 1 oz. Place the steam basket into a sauce pan and fill with water until the pan is about half-full. Place the pan onto your stove and turn the heat up to medium-high. Put the jar into the pan with water (the water will come up the sides of the jar, but the jar doesn't have to be completely submerged) and heat until the wax is melted. Don't place a jar directly onto the bottom of the pan, use a steam basket (or jar rings if you can your own produce) to avoid scorching the wax and butters.
While the beeswax is melting in the pot, place a small bowl onto the scale, tare the scale to bring it to zero and measure your 3 oz of solid oil. This can be an individual oil such as shea butter or a combination of solid oils as listed above. I would recommend using at least .5oz of coconut oil - not the liquid fractionated kind - to take advantage of it's antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties to help preserve the lotion. Once the beeswax has melted, add the solid oils to the jar and place the jar back into the pot of water. Don't bother stirring the contents of the jar with a spoon, eventually everything will just melt together. However, if you would like to speed things up, you can pick the jar up (be careful of getting burned by the steam, though!) and slowly swirl the jar to cover the solid oils with the warm beeswax if things aren't melting quickly enough.
While the solid oils are melting together with the beeswax, measure 6 oz of the liquid oil into your liquid measure. Again, this can be an individual oil or a combination of oils of your choosing. Once the solid oils and the beeswax are melted together in the water bath, add the liquid oil to the jar. When you add it, the liquid will solidify again but don't worry! Just let the jar heat in the pan again until it has become completely liquid again.
While the oils are all melting together, measure 10 oz of room-temperature distilled water (don't use tap water!) into your liquid measure. Place this near where you will be using the immersion blender to have it ready for mixing.
Once everything has melted completely together, take the jar out of the pan and let it cool for a few minutes, just until you can tip the jar a little to the side and a slight film forms where the liquid has touched it. Don't let it cool too much.
Next, put the immersion blender stick into the jar, turn it onto the slowest setting and very slowly start adding the water into the jar. Once all the water has been added and the mixture has thickened a bit, turn the immersion blender off and add 1/2 tsp. vitamin E oil. Next, get out your essential oils. You can leave it unscented if you'd like too but I like to at least add 10 drops of tea tree and 20 drops of lavender to help with the preservation of the lotion. You can also add any other scent you think might be nice. For a scented lotion you would add a total of about 40 drops to the jar. Once you've added what essential oils you'd like along with the vitamin E oil, turn the blender to high and blend it all together until it is creamy but not bubbly. Try not to over-blend otherwise the lotion will become hard.
Now the lotion is done! You can transfer some into a clean, smaller container to keep out to use daily (say what you might use in a week or two), but keep the big jar in the fridge to help it last longer. Just let it come to room temperature before filling your smaller jar again to make it easier to transfer to a smaller jar. This lotion doesn't have "preservatives" so if you don't keep it in the refrigerator, it will go bad and start to get moldy fairly quickly. I actually keep my smaller jar in the fridge in the summertime too which is extra nice on hot days.
Let me know if you make my lotion, I always like to hear about what scents and oils people choose to use!
A note on the links used in this post: I think it's always best to support your local community by buying items from a locally-owned store like a hardware store or a local kitchen supply store, but I understand that you can't always find what you need or don't always have time to shop around, so I have included the links above for your convenience, and as an example of the item if you don't know what it is!
I'd also like to let you know that most of the links I use are affiliate links. This just means that if you end up buying something that you like by clicking one of the links, this blog makes a small commission. You can read more about how these links work and why I use them by clicking here.