Up first - Homemade Hand Lotion! With the wood stove going non-stop to keep us warm, the air in the house is so dry. On top of that the cold outside doesn't do wonders for the skin either. Everyone seems to have dry itchy skin this time of year and the result is we go through LOTS of lotion. So when I stumbled on a recipe for homemade lotion, I just knew I had to give it a try. The first batch was lovely, but not a thick and creamy as I would have liked so I have tweaked it a bit.
You will need:
- olive oil
- water
- emulsifying wax
- essential oil of our choice (optional)
We are going to make about 2 cups of lotion. I haven't tried to double this yet, but I think I will soon.
First put 1/4 cup olive oil in a glass measuring cup. Add a rounded 1/4 cup of the emulsifying wax. Melt either in a hot water bath on your stove top or in the microwave.
To the oil and wax mixture add your essential oil, about 20-40 drops depending on the oil and the strength of the scent you want. So are we have made lavender and peppermint. Both are lovely.
Heat up 1 1/8 cups of water. You want your water to be around 120-130 degrees. Pour the water into the oil and wax mixture and watch it turn a creamy white.
Pour the white liquid into a pint canning jar and let it sit over night. In the morning you will have homemade lotion. Really it is that easy! And as for cost. I found a great deal on olive oil not too long ago so a quarter up cost me $.16 and the quarter cup of emulsifying wax cost $.43. The essential oils can vary a lot, but I don't think the cost is all that much. So two cups of lotion cost about $.65.
I hope you enjoy this lotion as much as we do. Next up homemade lip balm . . .
This looks too easy! I am going to have to try making some for my hands.
ReplyDeleteI would love to send you face and hand a recipe of Rosemary Gladstars, it's the best I have used. How I love the products from mountain rose herbs, amazing quality.
ReplyDeleteYour chicken coops is cute, it's wonderful to have fresh farm eggs. We just had 8 chicks hatch a couple of days ago. Nice to come across your blog. Your followers box doesn't show up??
I've never heard of emulsifying wax...where did you find it? What is it?
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of it either, but Amazon sell it!
DeleteElizabeth, thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteTake care
Linda
Where do you buy the essential oil? I would love to try this out!
ReplyDeleteSounds lovely and you picked a great scent! I have generally stuck to coconut oil and cocoa butter based lotions with beeswax. Never tried using an emulsifying agent. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great post! I have been wanting to make my own hand cream/lotion and this looks so easy and fun too!
ReplyDeleteI linked to this post on my blog:
http://www.liverenewed.com/2011/01/green-your-weekend.html along with other recipes/tutorials for homemade beauty products.
Yeah for homemade body care products! I've been making so many different products lately and I don't think I'll ever go back. It's much less expensive, non-toxic and what I'm able to create in my kitchen is so much more luxurious and quality than anything I've ever purchased. And oddly enough, I just made lotion this morning! It's a rosemary, peppermint and sage lotion with several different oils. Thank you for this recipe!
ReplyDeleteAfter a year, I finally made it. So ridiculously easy!
ReplyDeleteKaty
Ooh, sounds good. Would beeswax do as well as emulsifying wax?
ReplyDeleteBeeswax doesn't really work in this recipe. The emulsifying works well to hold water and oils together. It is vegetable based and makes a fluid lotion. Substituting beeswax would, in this recipe, create a lotion that is too hard. Hope this helps.
DeleteYour blog is my new favorite! Thanks so much for all the hard work you have put into this blog and sharing your talents!
ReplyDeleteI've been making this lotion for awhile now (tweaked it a bit) and I love it, but I'm wondering how to prevent it from molding? Has anyone tried citric acid?
ReplyDeleteRe: do not use citric acid! Just tried it and my face is burning like crazy. Such a bummer. I've loved making my own lotion but I can't figure out how to prevent it from getting moldy.
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