Homemade Lotion Bars
Hi gals! I’m Brandy, the girl behind the keyboard at Gluesticks. I am really looking forward to sharing monthly craft projects and recipes with you!
If you are like me you don’t just suffer from dry hands only in the winter. You have bouts of it year round. This could be for many reasons, but for me it has to do with the fact that I wash my hands a billion times a day! My mom sent me a lotion bar that she had made for Christmas and it has been amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I decided to make more. After two days I noticed a softness in the tops of my hands and knuckles that wouldn’t have graced these hands in February otherwise.
Making lotion bars is incredibly easy to do and only takes a few ingredients. I love making beauty products and already had a lot of the supplies in my cupboard from when I made lip gloss and melt and pour soap last year.
You will need equal ratios for this recipe, so that is easy to remember. I went with 2 oz. ratios.
How to Make Lotion Bars
By: Brandy www.gluesticksblog.com
Makes 3 2″x3″ bars
2 oz. coconut oil
2 oz. shea butter (or cocoa butter)
2 oz. bees wax pellets
2 capsules vitamin E
essential oils for scent (optional)
soap mold (plastic or silicone)
microwave safe bowl (disposable works great too)
I ordered my shea butter, wax pellets and essential oils from ebay and etsy. The coconut oil and vitamin E were purchased at Walmart. I have a thing for citrus scents, especially lemon. I love the fresh fragrance, but you can use whatever oils you’d like.
Melt your shea butter, bees wax and coconut oil in the microwave in 20 second intervals.
It will take a couple of minutes. Here it is after 60 seconds. Just stir well after each interval. Below is what it will look like when it is completely melted.
Cut the tip off of the vitamin E capsule and add it to your liquid mixture.
Add lemon and lime essential oils, to your liking. As a reference, I used about 15 drops of each. Stir after adding the oils. If your mixture is lightly scented, add a few more drops and give it another whiff. If it smells just right, add a couple of more drops as it sometimes seems to lose potency when it has hardened.
Pour your mixture into your molds.
Allow to sit until tops start to look solid (about 15 minutes). Carefully move to the refrigerator and allow to set completely, about 30 minutes.
Pop your lotion bars out of the molds.
2 oz. of bees wax will make a nice firm bar. If you’d like a softer bar that reacts to the heat of your skin quicker, you can lower the amount of bees wax to 1.5 oz. or even 1 oz. The beauty of the melt and pour method is that if you don’t like the consistency you can change it! If it is too hard, remelt it and add a more coconut oil or shea butter and let it set up again. If it is too soft for you liking, add a little more beeswax. It’s completely up to you. Just use my measurements as a starting point.
To use, wrap your fingers around your bar. The warmth from your skin will activate the oils and leave a soft and smooth residue. A little bit goes a long way. Rub into your hands and allow it to absorb. Your hands will thank you!
For other uses for your beeswax and coconut oil, check out my homemade melt and pour lip gloss.
Have you made Lotion Bars before? Do you hands get dry during the winter?
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Stop by tomorrow {Valentine’s Day} for a HUGE giveaway!
Brandy
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Thanks for this…love this idea!
I think this would be great for travel, especially now that they are disallowing most liquids on planes. They didn’t allow ANY liquids at all on planes going to the Olympics. I wonder how they would do if left in the car – would the Florida heat melt them? Or can I just increase the beeswax to overcome it? I definitely want to make some, and I’m not above a little experimentation, LOL!
I was wondering if we can use a different kind of oil. I have a friend who is allergic to coconut of any form.
Hi Dana, you can use any oil you’d like. Olive oil would work too! If your bars seem too soft, just add melt down again and add a bit more bees wax to compensate and then mold again.
Brandy
Where did you get your mold? I’ve looked everywhere!! Help!
Hi Amanda!
My silicone mold came from Wholeport. I’ve used it many times and love it. I have a link to it in my other soap post here: http://gluesticksblog.com/2013/04/homemade-poppy-seed-soap-recipes.html
Hope that helps! :)
Brandy
Thanks for sharing! Definitely going to do this! I wanted to share what I’ve found for rough hands. I knit/crochet daily, and as a genealogist shuffle paper like you wouldn’t believe. My hands are like sandpaper in the winter. For Christmas I made some felted soap to give away as gifts, but made one for me to try first. After painting, I was looking for something to get paint off my hands before rushing off to a meeting. Grabbed the felted soap. The next day, my fingertips were so different, I use the felted soap everyday! It’s not recommended for handmade soaps though. I would use this recipe for lotion soap after a good scrub down with the felted soap – I need all the help I can get! Headed off to the kitchen to try this! Thanks again! Yours in crafting, PJ
This sounds like a great idea. Do you know if another oil besides coconut? I’m allergic so I wonder if something else would work. Thanks!
Hi Teila!
You could use olive oil, or any other oil you’d prefer! You may have to add a bit more beeswax to get the same consistency, but it is easy to play around with. If it is too soft, add a bit more wax, melt and then mold again!
Brandy
I made these bars today and I LOVE them! I ended up using cocoa butter, a vitamin E skin oil (because that’s all my Wal-Mart had), and I used perfume for the scent. They worked out so well! I used a silicone muffin tin for my mold. I poured them a little small because I wanted to make multiple scents. My husband and I both love them. Just know if you buy cocoa butter it will smell like cocoa powder (which I like). I just chose perfumes that combined well with the chocolate scent. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!!
Wonderful! Thanks for following up! So maybe a minty scent would compliment the cocoa butter :) The one my mom sent me was “unscented” but since she used cocoa butter, it did have that light cocoa powder scent. I liked it too! Have a wonderful week!
Brandy
http://www.gluesticksblog.com
Is shea butter or cocoa butter required to make this? I can’t find any anywhere!
Check ebay or Amazon {http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D9NV2D4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00D9NV2D4&linkCode=as2&tag=craftahanonym-20}
Great recipe! One I’ll try. However, I’m curious if you understand that microwaving beeswax, Shea butter or anything for that matter completely destroys the healthy moisturizing reasons to make your own skin care products. Not to mention extremely high radiation levels. I would like to suggest a re-do of this post using a double boiler or a pot with an inch of water and a mason jar to melt your products. Essential oils don’t lose their healing properties until they reach about 212 degrees so melting over the stove is a good way to go for any product where you might be concerned about maintaining the highest healing integrity. Heat to melt, don’t boil. Much better than a microwave. :) Thanks for sharing!
I agree with this. You should NEVER microwave your ingredients!!
I agree, never microwave, melt in a double boiler.
LOVE this idea! I posted your post on my Young Living essential oil Facebook page and got a TON of activity on it this week! :) Can’t wait to try making these. Thanks for the recipe!
These look fabulous!! Do you know how long one bar typically last and what the price per bar or ounce is? Thank you!!
Did you use unrefined Shea Butter?
Hi! Sorry I’m just now seeing this. I was a contributor for the site last year and haven’t been notified of comments that are still coming for this post! Yes, I used unrefined shea butter. Feel free to shoot me any more questions using the email listed above or by visiting my site where I have the recipe listed as well.
Love this! But what do you store them in? Especially after the first use?
A small soap dish (with a lid) works great! Sorry for the late comment. I was a contributor for the site last year when I shared the recipe here. I haven’t been around lately to see that comments were still coming in for this post over a year later. Have a great weekend!
Wondering why when I popped them out of the molds the cocoa butter cream was totally separated from everything. It was still soft and everything else was formed:(
Hi Michelle! I’m sorry I’m just now seeing this. I was a contributor on the blog last year and shared this recipe and wasn’t notified that there were still comments coming in for it! It’s been months now, but I did want to ask—did you buy cocoa butter cream or cocoa butter? One is a lotion, the other is in more of a raw form. You want the second one for the bars. Not the lotion/cream. That may have been why it separated? I had a friend use lotion on accident and hers did the same thing. Hope that helps! Sorry it’s way after the fact.
Next time you make these, could you weigh out the Vit E for us? Many of us buy Vitamin E oil in a bottle for projects such as this. Thanks!
This is a brilliant idea! I found it @ Affimity, and I am in love! I love the versatility of your recipe :) I’d never thought of making lotion bars amongst making soap, and now that I think about it, it’s a no brainer! I definitely need to make these for my family; my husband is also a big fan of homemade beauty products as well. Thanks, I am saving and sharing!
We made these bars at an Essential Oil Craft Night and I used lavender in mine. I stated using it around my eyes morning and night and it made a big difference. People even started telling me I looked younger. I’m going to try to make them for my friends and family as gifts. I love it!
OMG!! Please, please, please do -not- ever use the microwave to melt your Shea butter , cocoa butter, beeswax, or coconut oil. Especially your Essential Oils.
When you use the microwave, you’re nuking almost all of the beneficial nutrition from these items you’re trying to get the most from. The best way to do this is in a double boiler, or use 2 pots one slightly smaller than the other.
I hope this helps others get the most out of their work.
~Be Blessed
Glad you posted this……..not everyone knows this. It should be added to the “recipe” instructions instead of microwaving.
Hi there i have a son which has nut allergies can you still make the soap without the shea butter.
When you cut the tip off the vitamin E and added it did you just squeeze out the vitamin E into the mixture or did you add the capsule??