Help formulating solid lotion bars?

[Rachel M.]

Hello, I'm trying to formulate a recipe for solid lotion bars with what I already have ingredient wise and without buying the more expensive butters.
I have:
Beeswax
Shea butter
Coconut oil
Palm oil
Sunflower oil (not high oleic)
Castor oil
Apricot kernel oil
Avocado oil
Jojoba oil
Olive oil

I was thinking of probably trying to use:
Beeswax, Shea butter, Apricot kernel oil, and Avocado oil. Just trying to keep my recipe simple. I also read about adding arrowroot powder in lotion bars, is it necessary?

 

[DeeAnna]

Your choice of fats will depend on how you want this to feel on the skin. Rub a tiny bit of each fat on your skin -- see how you like it. Then if you want a mix of fats, try a drop of one plus a drop of another and check how it feels. If you don't like how the plain fats feel on your skin, chances are you won't like them in a lotion bar.

My notes suggest avocado, olive, sunflower, palm and castor are all on the side of being oily or greasy feeling. Shea can sometimes feel greasy too. Jojoba, coconut and apricot are lighter feeling on the skin.

The liquid oils will make a bar softer and melty-er, all other things being equal, but you can offset the low melt temp by using more beeswax.

Plan also for shelf life -- lotion bars and lip balms often knock around in a purse or desk drawer for ages and it's icky to pull out a balm and realize it's gone rancid.

Jojoba will have the longest shelf life, followed by coconut, castor and shea. All of your other fats are tolerably shelf stable, however, especially if you mix them with another longer lived fat.

A finely powdered starch like arrowroot puts a thin layer of powder on the skin, so it tends to make the product feel less greasy. Adding this is a personal preference thing. Try a sample with and without and see what you think.

 

[Rachel M.]

Your choice of fats will depend on how you want this to feel on the skin. Rub a tiny bit of each fat on your skin -- see how you like it. Then if you want a mix of fats, try a drop of one plus a drop of another and check how it feels. If you don't like how the plain fats feel on your skin, chances are you won't like them in a lotion bar.

My notes suggest avocado, olive, sunflower, palm and castor are all on the side of being oily or greasy feeling. Shea can sometimes feel greasy too. Jojoba, coconut and apricot are lighter feeling on the skin.

The liquid oils will make a bar softer and melty-er, all other things being equal, but you can offset the low melt temp by using more beeswax.

Plan also for shelf life -- lotion bars and lip balms often knock around in a purse or desk drawer for ages and it's icky to pull out a balm and realize it's gone rancid.

Jojoba will have the longest shelf life, followed by coconut, castor and shea. All of your other fats are tolerably shelf stable, however, especially if you mix them with another longer lived fat.

A finely powdered starch like arrowroot puts a thin layer of powder on the skin, so it tends to make the product feel less greasy. Adding this is a personal preference thing. Try a sample with and without and see what you think.

Okay. That actually helps a lot. Does it need to be arrowroot or would another kind of starch work as well? Could I possibly test it with corn starch do you think?

Thank you!

 

[DeeAnna]

Corn starch might work perfectly fine. If that's all I had, I'd give it a whirl as a small test batch.

I think it's less about the exact kind of starch and more about the particle size. I vaguely seem to remember someone found their corn starch was too coarse and it felt gritty in the salve or balm they were making. It has to be fine enough to feel silky on the skin. Maybe if they'd tried another brand, it might have been fine.

Rice starch or potato starch might be other options to look for. To be honest, arrowroot powder is pretty "high class" for my local grocery stores, but I can find corn starch easily and keep it in my kitchen most of the time, so I can see why you'd want to try it. Rice and potato starches are a little harder to find, but do-able.

When I've made balms like this, I make a smallish "main" batch without any starch, refine that blend to get the right skin feel, and then add in varying amounts of starch to several small portions split off from the main batch.

It's possible you might need to tweak the proportions of fats if the starch changes the skin feel, but I can't say adding starch changed the skin feel a lot when I've experimented with it.

Another thing I seem to remember (it's been awhile) is that it seemed like the skin feel of the balm changed a bit for a day or so after making it. Give the testers a day or so to mellow before you make a final decision about which ones you like and don't like.

 

[TashaBird]

Corn starch might work perfectly fine. If that's all I had, I'd give it a whirl as a small test batch.

I think it's less about the exact kind of starch and more about the particle size. I vaguely seem to remember someone found their corn starch was too coarse and it felt gritty in the salve or balm they were making. It has to be fine enough to feel silky on the skin. Maybe if they'd tried another brand, it might have been fine.

Rice starch or potato starch might be other options to look for. To be honest, arrowroot powder is pretty "high class" for my local grocery stores, but I can find corn starch easily and keep it in my kitchen most of the time, so I can see why you'd want to try it. Rice and potato starches are a little harder to find, but do-able.

When I've made balms like this, I make a smallish "main" batch without any starch, refine that blend to get the right skin feel, and then add in varying amounts of starch to several small portions split off from the main batch.

It's possible you might need to tweak the proportions of fats if the starch changes the skin feel, but I can't say adding starch changed the skin feel a lot when I've experimented with it.

Another thing I seem to remember (it's been awhile) is that it seemed like the skin feel of the balm changed a bit for a day or so after making it. Give the testers a day or so to mellow before you make a final decision about which ones you like and don't like.

What %PPO of EO do you use?

 

[DeeAnna]

I normally scent products like this fairly lightly, but it's definitely a preference thing. Maybe 0.5% to 1% based on the total weight of the product. If the scent is pungent like mint or patchouli, I'd err on the light side. If the scent is milder such as citrus or lavender, I'd maybe use more.