Homemade Body Lotion...?
Posted by veganhippie on Jul 04, 2010 · Member since May 2008 · 5810 posts
So, I've been trying to reduce the things i buy and save myself some money by making it on my own. I've had success with pretty much all my products, but one thing i haven't made on my own is body lotion. Do any of you make your own body lotion? What do you use?
also, do any of you make your own sunscreen? or is that something im still gonna have to buy?
Thanks!
I've made lotions a few times, but have as yet to get great results. The recipes I used are from a book called Earthly Bodies, Heavenly Hair. I subbed the beeswax for candelila (sp?) wax.
You're basically just taking plant oils, water/herbal infusions, and melted wax and blending them and adding whatever essential oils or other scents as well. I might try again sometime and hope for a better end product - I had trouble with the wax beading in one batch (due to temperatures being wrong) and then some water separation in another.
You might just do a search for homemade vegan lotion recipes and see what turns up.
As for sunscreens, no experience here but I've looked a little bit into it. I found that you could possibly add titanium dioxide or zinc oxide powder to the lotions you make for sun protection. Both of those sound a little scary, but there might be other options out there as well.
can you make any without the wax? like just melt like cocoa butter and coconut oil together and mix it? or is the wax needed?
I have a question about making homemade lotions and things. I have really been wanting to make homemade massage bars, copying the style of the ones at Lush. ( http://www.lushusa.com/shop/ ) One recipe that I found called for Cocoa Butter. I googled where to get some, but I don't know which is the best kind to get. Or what is the most pure. I am very new to DIY type things, but I love playing around with essential oils and things like that. Thanks in advance! :)
I make my own lotion by melting shea butter, coconut oil and olive oil together and adding a few drops of essential oil. The exact amt is about 1 to 1 to 1 but it is totally personal preference. It is semi solid at room temp, but melts as you warm it in your hands and glides on, works good for massage too. MY kids and I all have excema and it works good.
Here's a post on another forum about making body butter that seems really simple.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=181837.0
GOING TO MAKE THAT.
Weird, because I go back and forth from coconut oil to cocoa butter as a moisturizer, I always wondered about mixing the two.
thanks courth and gfvegmom! it looks awesome. i think im gonna make that for christmas presents.
can you use vanilla extract instead of oil in that? probably not right?
what about an actual vanilla bean?
I believe you can use both actually. Vanilla bean would need time to infuse into the coconut oil though.
It says not alochol based. Aren't those? It doesnt mix I guess?
Idk. I bought a jar of coconut oil and a bunch of cocoa butter and I got a few little containers so I might try it with orange oil and vanilla or almond extract to see how it works.
If I don't fall asleep I'll do it today. haha.
So I made some. One with almond extract for foodz, it did not mix in, it had no alcohol but water. But it just sat on the bottom in a little cave of almondy goodness. The other used orange essential oil and it smells really yummyyy.
I probably had my measurements off, I didn't really measure anything. I fell asleep while it was in the fridge setting, so its like super rock solid now. Haha. But I just popped it out of its container and just rubbed it on like a bar of soap and it got melty right when it touched my skin, and it feels nice. I'm excited to see how it is when its not totally solid hopefully. Haha.
thats awesome!! yayy
Its pretty neat. Like one of the posts said. Its semi solid/creamy-ish and basically melts when it touches your skin.
I'm gonna make more.
I used cocoa butter from CVS, its a dollar an ounce. Perdyyy cheappp stuffs to makeee.
Last minute gift ideas? Yes.
haha courth, yeah i'm making it for all my sisters. :D
I used cocoa butter from CVS, its a dollar an ounce. Perdyyy cheappp stuffs to makeee.
Did you buy the solid stick kind?
i did
Yeahhh, the stick thing is the only/cheapest form of pure cocoa butter i can find.
You can buy pure cocoa butter from here: http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/butter/butter.php#but_but_c
I would try http://www.elementsbathandbody.com because they seem to carry just about everything that you could hope for for making your own lotions, cosmetics and soaps. I've found them to be a great source for fragrant oils too and they sell nice packaging that I use for my goofy natural remedies. I love their little bottles and jars too.