Share your favorite bath and body recipes!

Share your favorite soap or bath and body product recipe with us!

 

Detoxifying Bath
You'll need:

* 2 drops of Geranium
* 2 drops of Rosemary
* 2 drop of Juniper Berry
* 2 drops of Lavender

Mix together in an amber bottle. Then add 5−8 drops to bath. You might want to mix a larger quantity so you can use on a weekly basis.

Recipe adapted from Aromatherapy Handbook for Beauty, Hair, and Skin Care by Erich Keller

 

The oils will just float on top of the water and stick to the side of your tub unless you put them in a salt first, epsom salt is great.

 

I just like fine, white Dead Sea Salts and regular sea salt beads from Walmart measured out in equal amounts. Very easy to color but you have to find scents that don't morph in bath salts. I've found a few that stay true blue. I use about 1/4 teaspoon of scent per 4 oz of salts or sometimes just a few drops more when it's a lighter scent.

 

I am making a lotion similar to Shea Terra's which has distilled water, shea butter, e-wax, stearic, and a water preservative. The shea is at 20%, water at 79%. How much stearic, e-wax, and water preservative do I need?
Also, I'll be making a lighter version with 15% shea, and 84% water. What percentages of stearic, e-wax, and preservative do I need for this version?

All my thanks in advance.

Cheryl.

 

I don't know where you got these recipes but the percentages in both add up to 99% which only leaves 1% for the remaining three ingredients. I highly recommend you read SBN's blog on lotion making. http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/

She also generously posted an article titled "Making Your First Lotion" which you will find helpful. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1020026/lotionm ... torial.pdf

 

Hi Hazel,
The 85% should have read 80%. Thanks for the two addresses for tips on making lotion.
Che4ryl

 

The percentages are still too high. You have 5% left which isn't enough for stearic acid, ewax and a preservative.

 

I made these lotion bars for people for Christmas last year and my SIL really liked them as a baby lotion for her son.

They are SUPER simple...

1 part beeswax
1 part shea butter
1 part jojoba oil
20-40 drops FO depending on your preference.

Melt the beeswax in a jar holding the bottom in a pan of water over the stove, then when its mostly melted add the shea butter and heat until it is just melted(DO NOT over heat... if you heat it up too much it tends to crystalize). Take off the heat add in the Jojoba oil. Add fragrance oil and stir. Pour into mold. Once cooled and hardened it can be used immediately. Keep in an airtight container. I never found that I needed to add any kind of preservative. But I've also never had one last for longer than 3 months.

I love lotion bars, they are soooo easy to make yet SO luxurious!

You can also make bath melts with cocoa butter, melting it down and adding fragrance or essential oils. Then you just put them into candy size molds and let cool. That way when bathtime comes around you can just throw in one or two. I like using these for baby bathtime with lavender oil.

 

I just realized that I put drops instead of percentage of fragrance oil. T'm not sure of percentage. But I think usually lotion bars have about 1-2% FO

 

Easy lotion bars!

1 part beeswax
1 part cocoa butter
1 part coconut oil

Melt in double boiler or for easy clean up use a canning jar and submerge in a pot of water. The beeswax will take the longest to melt. Once all have melted down carefully pour into soap molds, candy molds, ice cube trays...what ever you like! Allow to harden and pop out of mold! They smell wonderful with out fragrance! The best part is that you can use this as lip balm if you use cosmetic grade butters/oil.

I make a bar of this and use it as soon as I have toweled off from a shower. Since I have curly hair I scrunch my hair directly after moisturizing and the oil gives me great frizz control!

 

Favorite salve
1 part beeswax
1 part Shea butter
1 1/2 part liquid oil like olive, almond, avocado, etc.
1/2 part oil like neem, macadamia nut, rose hip or evening primrose
Melt it all together, then drizzle in Vitamin E oil and any EOs. Then I whip it with a hand mixer as it cools. Normal people would find this too greasy but I have painfully dry skin. :cry:

Favorite lip balm
1 part cocoa butter
1 part beeswax
1 part oil
Melt together, add Vitamin E oil and EOs and pour into containers

Favorite body scrub
http://www.heygorg.com/2012/04/diy-body ... favor.html
This scrub allowed me to <3 my feet again!!

 

My new favs are the Bramble Berry recipe for lotion bars (I can sub butters and oils) I don't use color or fragrance. And Nature's Garden recipe for Dream Cream. Both recipes are on their sites.

 

I love the body butter from Swiftcraftymonkey's blog. Here is the recipe I use:
Heated Water Phase
52% Distilled Water
10% Aloe Vera Liquid
2% Glycerin or Sodium Lactate
Heated Oil Phase
5% Walnut Oil
5% Hazelnut Oil
10% Cocoa Butter
5% Shea Butter
6% Polawax
3% Cetyl Alcohol
Cool Down Phase
1% Optiphen
1% Fragrance Oil

I often switch out the oils to try others such as jojoba, avocado, and so on.:smile: I also really enjoy her lotion recipe!

 

My favorite is a simple body spray that I make for myself.

4 ounces vanilla infused FCO
7 drops of lavender eo

Smells heavenly!

 

That sounds wonderful, but how much epsom salt?

 

I do not see recipes on their site but it did have links to other sites is that what you mean?

 

Do you use the Lotion Bar Love recipe? I like that one! I use the amount of shea as cocoa and then the amount of cocoa as shea as I like a harder bar and they're really nice! I also leave out the green tea extract (because I don't have it). I pour them into guest soap molds and put them into tins when they're hard

Soapqueen blog post for lotion bar love: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lotion/lotion-bar-love/

 

In the shower, or after you've towel-dried your hair?

 

Jenny, I'd take a stab at saying (sorry if I'm wrong!) that she probably moisturizes with the bar then whatever is left on her hands she scrunches into her hair for the frizz control.