Basic Bath and Body Works Type Lotion Recipe

Copyright Mabel White

Making Body Lotion

This is a very important article for those who cannot find fragrance free lotion.  These simple instructions give you a Bath and Body Works type lotion.

Mastering lotion making is probably the most rewarding in all of the toiletry products.  One reason it is, beyond soap, one of the most used. Making lotion has also been one of the few areas I consistently failed at until I read a simple article one night.  I did not believe it could be that easy and was about to trash the instructions.  I just saw no complicated ingredients.  Then decided to give making lotion one more chance.  I have always like the Bath and Body works sweet almond oil based products, but they can be $10 a tube.  You can make your own for under $2 including a nice reusable bottle.  Other sources seem to sell inferior non-oil based lotion, or worse, with mineral oil and alcohol!

Then came Saturday and I made the best lotion on the planet in less than 5 minutes.   The recipe basically said to heat ¾ cup of your choice oil with 2 teaspoons of steric acid (to help keep things firm) and 1 teaspoon of beeswax.  Heat for a few minutes until everything is melted.  I used a glass-measuring cup because plastic ones melted in previous attempts.  Then the recipe said to heat ½ cup of water with ½ teaspoon of Borax (the Mule Team water softener) until boiling. 

I boiled the water and borax in the same plastic pour mouth bowl I intended to whip the oil in.  While everything was still hot, the recipe said to slowly add the oil to the water while mixing it with a hand mixer.  Keep mixing until cool.   At this time you can add vitamin e oil, a little color, fragrance, whatever you consider great stuff!  When the lotion seems well mixed, funnel into pretty plastic lotion bottles.  I made my lotions match the color of the cap.  I hate to label everything, so matching caps seems to help me greatly these days.  

If you are going to take longer than a month to use this, I recommend putting a touch of Germaben II to body products; they will tend to form black little microbes after a few months.  *Since then I have also found adding 3% emulsifying wax at the oil stage helps greatly t make the lotion more creamy.  For a cream, add up to 6% emulsifying wax.

Summary:  ¾ cup of oil and ½ cup of water can make you the best lotion you have ever had.  Even 6 ounces of the most unique oils can be purchased for under $2.00 and if your lucky, under $1.