Have you ever made lotion?

I did one more project this morning before I give in to my cold and just sleep the rest of the day away! I made a couple of batches of lotion. I started making lotion and soap several years ago. I do it primarily because of my severe allergies. My soaps and lotions have no colorants, no fragrances and no preservatives. Today I needed a new supply of lotion so I though I would share my recipe and show you just how easy this is! Lotion is so incredibly simple to make (much simpler than soap) and it's incredibly economical!

I buy my supplies from Majestic Mountain Sage. I'm not affiliated, I just get consistently great service and they have every possible supply for soaps, balms and lotions. She has a page of recipes too but I don't experiment much - I use the same lotion recipe because I love it.
Here's what you need

- A scale that measures at least in 1/4 ounce increments
- a blender (yes, I use my kitchen blender)
- a bowl for the ingredients
- a small funnel that will fit in the bottle necks
- bottles and caps - sterilize these by running them through the dishwasher before using them
- Ingredients
    - 14 - 20 ounces of  distilled water - you MUST use distilled because this recipe has no preservatives, the lotion will go rancid quickly if you use tap water
    - .25 ounces citric acid
    - 1.25 ounces of liquid glycerin
    - .75 ounces stearic acid
    - .75 ounces emulsifying wax
    - 2.5 ounces coconut oil (this is used in soap making too)

Measure the ingredients into the bowl. My scale allows me to reset to "0" after each measure so that I can just add everything to the bowl all at once. Adjust the water amount to the desired thickness. 14 ounces of water makes a nice hand cream, 20 ounces makes a light lotion. I have really dry skin so I usually use around 14 - 15 ounces of water.

Place the bowl in the microwave and microwave at 30 second intervals until everything is melted. Be careful because you can burn the crap out of yourself with this hot mixture! After the ingredients are melted, pour the mixture into the blender and pulse blend for about 10 seconds to get everything mixed up well.

Pour the blended mixture into the prepared bottles. Use a funnel that will fit into the neck of the bottles and be very careful - the mixture is still very hot. You'll see in the photo that it's really important to spill some on the counter too!

And here's the finished product from 2 batches (except the small bottles).

I use the small bottles for hand cream (these are from a previous batch). I set 3 of them in a coffee mug to fill them. The lotion mixture is so hot that you can't hold a bottle while it's being filled. Majestic Mountain Sage also carries bottles and bottle caps. As the bottles cool shake them every 5 - 10 minutes to keep the ingredients blended. Once cooled, store them in the refrigerator. This lotion does not have preservatives so it will go rancid. It doesn't happen very often but it will occasionally happen on a opened bottle. Lotion is incredibly inexpensive and very fast to make! This is two batches and I did everything - getting out the ingredients, making the lotion, taking photos and clean up in about 30 minutes and I think all of it costs about $3. But best of all, I'm not allergic to it!

Comments

[Debra Spincic]

Another nifty idea from you!

[Judy]

Hey Vickie...it's Judy from our Silk Fusion group....I am fascinated by the lotion recipe and am going to have to try it. Both my husband and I have very dry skin and use lotion by the gallons during the winter...even here in humid Georgia, which is not so humid in the winter! Thanks so much for posting the entire process. I'm off to order supplies.
xo
Judy

[Elaine]

This is awesome! I NEED that lotion but I just can Not do another hobby!!! I'll bet is smells and feels divine!

[Marie]

Lets see ... Sarah and I had the same problems when we wer dyeing here and we both agree that the temperature is crucial. Shes uses a heating blanket to batch now - and I use the micro - or heating pad in this weather. Also for some of the colors (turquoise and black are notorious I think) I double or at least one and half times the amount of dye powder called for.
Second - where are you getting you skin care supplies? I use NaturesGift.com often but am always interested . I like the sound of your recipe too !

[Alyson]

Snowdrift Farms has better pricing on bottles and jars. MMS has better pricing on everything else.