Homemade Lotion Recipes

Homemade lotion recipes are a healthy way to nourish your skin while saving money at the same time.  The face moisturizer recipe as well as the cleansing cream recipe, both listed below, also make great gifts.

Did you know your skin eats? 

The lotions you put on your body, the lip balms you wear, the make up you put on your face and the shampoos and conditioners you use are all absorbed into your skin and consumed by your body.

Once you realize that, it makes you think twice about the "bargain" skin care products you are tempted to buy to save money.  But the high quality, "all natural" products are so pricey they're scary. So what can you do?

Make your own, of course. What self-respecting self-reliant homesteader wouldn't be tempted to try one of these homemade lotion recipes at least once? So here is one of those homemade lotion recipes with healthy ingredients including coconut oil and cocoa butter. All of the ingredients can be found at your local health food store or online. Enjoy!

By the way, if you are looking for a skin softening balm, you can find one here.

While both of these recipes are designed to be face creams, they are affordable enough to use for your whole body.  Plus you have the reassurance of knowing every single ingredient that went into them.

Homemade Cleansing Cream Recipe

I got this cleansing cream recipe from a wonderful book I stumbled upon recently that has changed my life. This wonderful book, titled Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles is loaded with great homemade lotion recipes, including the one I have included here.

If you are wondering where to find the ingredients for these homemade lotion recipes, I have listed online links for your convenience.

Homemade Lotion Recipes
Step One:  Heat the Oils

Warm the base oils, beeswax, cocoa butter, and lanolin in either a small saucepan or double boiler until the cocoa butter and beeswax are just melted. Meanwhile, in another pan, warm the water and vegetable glycerin. Then add the borax and stir until the borax is well dissolved.

Allow the Mixture to Cool

Remove both pans from the heat and allow both to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, to almost body temperature, until the beeswax/oils/lanolin/butter mixture just starts to thicken and becomes slightly opaque. The mixture will be very soft and loose.

Put it in the Blender

Immediately put the mixture into a blender. Use a scraper to get every last trace of the mixture from this cleansing cream recipe. Put the lid on the blender, but remove the lid's plastic piece. Turn the blender on medium and slowly drizzle the water/glycerin/borax mixture through the center of the lid into the fats as the blender is running.

Watch closely: the lotion will begin to thicken almost immediately. Blend for 5 to 10 seconds more. Then turn off the blender and check the mixture for its consistency. The texture should be smooth. If the mixtures are not mixing properly, turn off the blender and stir it with a spatula a few times to free up the blades. Then replace the lid and process for 5 to 10 seconds more. Then repeat if necessary.

Add the Essential Oils

Turn off the blender and add the essential oils to your cleansing cream recipe. Stir it manually a few times to mix the oils. Then turn the blender on again and blend it completely for another 5 or 10 seconds, until the lotion is a smooth and pale yellow.

Put into Containers and Cool

Pour the finished lotion into containers and cover lightly with paper towels. Allow the mixture to cool for 30 minutes before capping. If, after a few days (or hours!) water begins to separate from the lotion, don't worry, according to Tourles. This cleansing cream recipe takes practice. Stir it and use it anyway.

How Long Will This Lotion Last?

If you use this within 30 days, you don't need to refrigerate it. If you keep it in the fridge, use it within three to six months. Use between 1/2 to 1 teaspoon to cover your face and throat and more for your body. This wonderful lotion is nongreasy and is a deep moisturizer. It will leave your skin feeling incredibly soft with a slight orange scent.

Rose Pink Moisturizer

No collection of lotion recipes is complete without a rose-scented lotion, and this recipe comes from the book The Herbal Home Spa by Greta Breedlove.  The process to making this is similar to making homemade mayonnaise or almond spread.  You will need both a double boiler and a blender to make this lotion.  This recipe is enough to make 15 ounces of lotion.

In a double boiler, melt the grapeseed oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, and alkanet root.  Once the beeswax is melted, strain out the alkanet root using cheesecloth.  Pour the oil mixture into a glass measuring cup.  Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.  It should take about an hour.

Place the rose water, distilled water, aloe vera gel, vitamin E, and essential oil in your blender and blend it on the highest speed for about two minutes. Then slowly drizzle the cooled oils into the vortex of waters in the blender while the blender is still going.

When the blender starts choking, the water and oil have properly combined.  Place in your jar.

You can find more great back to basic recipes here

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