Coconut Oil in Lotion?

[sandman_max]

I just got a big tub of virgin coconut oil and was thinking about using it in some lotion but I don't see a lot of recipes using it. Is it not a normal lotion oil? If it can be used, it the aroma overpowering?

The recipe I was thinking about modifying uses 4 oils, so the coconut would be 25%. It also has 25% shea butter. Would it be too thick if I used that much fixed oil? I wanted something that's thicker than my last batch but didn't want to use up my shea butter on one batch (since I have so much coconut oil now. )

 

[IrishLass]

Yes, you can use VCO in lotion, or just about any oil you wish for that matter (heck, I use lard in one of my lotion formulas. And yes, it comes out great. And no- it doesn't smell piggish ).

I haven't used VCO in my lotions (yet), but I do use it at 21% in one of my lip balm formulas, and I've never had the lovely coconut scent remain or come through in the finished balm.

The recipe I was thinking about modifying uses 4 oils, so the coconut would be 25%. It also has 25% shea butter. Would it be too thick if I used that much fixed oil? I wanted something that's thicker than my last batch but didn't want to use up my shea butter on one batch (since I have so much coconut oil now. )

The highest I've ever gone on my total oil/butter amount is 35% (with a 52% water amount), and that was using CindyM's emulsified body butter recipe. It came out very thick (which is what I wanted). How thick? Much too thick for a pump or squeeze bottle.

My usual total oil/butter amount for my other lotions varies anywhere from 15% to 26% depending on the recipe.

But thickness also depends on how much water you add, and also if you add any thickeners such as stearic acid or cetyl alcohol, etc...

What does the rest of your recipe look like?


IrishLass

 

[MychelleC]

I love coconut oil in lotion, especially VCO! It lends excellent emollience and barrier protection, with the added bonus of thickening. 50% oil is too much for a lotion. You will need at least 12.5% emulsifier at that rate, and being that you are using solid oils this will most likely make a very thick, draggy cream/sludge. And you are treading into water-in-oil emulsion territory here, making the whole thing more complex. I keep my oil phase (including emulsifiers and thickeners) at 35-40% in my thickest creams, and have never gone over 5% coconut oil in a lotion. I would re-vamp your formula to reduce the oils in total, and replace a good amount of the shea with a liquid oil. HTH!

 

[sandman_max]

I'm so sorry - I totally confused everybody... I was just talking about the oils. My recipe is roughly 17.5% oil, 4% stearic acid, 4% e-wax, 68% water, 4% hydrovance, 0.7% optiphen and a couple of ml FO. It should make about 12 oz. (I rounded fractions - it's actually fairly even on the grams.) The 50% fixed oil I was talking about was of the 17% - half solid, half liquid. The recipe is a modified version of MMS's Jubilant lotion from their blog.

I have used 4 oils in the past, with only one of them being fixed and it makes a nice body or hand creme but my oils were almost 19%, water 65%. I was trying to cut it in half without having to weigh really crazy amounts which is why the percents are a little different.

EDIT: if I'm calculating this correctly, coconut oil would be 4.25% of the total. (15 gr of co, 352 total gr in recipe)

 

[sandman_max]

Just going thru my supplies and realized I also have brand new bottles of apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, castor oil, and evening primrose oil. And plenty of shea butter. Maybe I shouldn't mess with my formula quite so much for the first variation and just stick with 3 liquid oils and one fixed oil. It's nice as it is, plenty thick and still leaves nice, greasy fingerprints all over my phone. I used grapeseed, mango butter, jojoba and almond oil in it originally but I'm almost out of jojoba and low on almond.

IrishLass - I wish I could say the same for lanolin... it stinks when it starts and it stinks when it's done.

Margaret

 

[Rossd]

Coconut Oil in Lotion

Here's the oils and butter I wan to use, shea, mango butter and olive oil. I have the beeswax as well. I made one with cocoa butter ( I am out of that now) with equal amounts of beeswax, olive oil, and cocoa butter and it seems a bit greasy. Would mango butter cut down on the greasy feel or maybe increasing the beeswax amount? I made one that I love with mango butter, coconut oil and beeswax, it has about .5 oz more coconut oil, the mango butter and beeswax were the equal amount. I want to make one without the coconut oil for those with sensitivities to it, But can't get it right for the feel of it.
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