One day I was looking at the Sephora website looking for an all natural face cream. They were all so expensive, I was sure there was a cheaper way. I started googling homemade lotions… I was amazed at all the how easy it looked and the variety of recipes to choose from. The hardest part appeared finding the ingredients. I found most of them at a local health food store.

I’ve used it both as a hand and foot lotion. On my feet, it’s taken away all the dryness on my heal from sandal weather. On my hands it’s made my cuticles look so much better!

My first foray into making my own lotion, I decided to try the following recipe. I have made many different lotions since this first recipe, and have adjusted the recipe a bit since my initial experiment. However, I still get requests to make this initial body butter recipe.

52g coconut oil
55g almond oil
3/4 tablespoons beeswax (optional)

115g shea butter

4g isopropyl myristate (optional)
1 Tbl zinc oxide (optional)
1 Tbl vegetable glycerine
1/2 tsp vitamin E oil
10 drops of lavender or other essential oil of choice

Put the coconut oil, almond oil and beeswax into a glass container. Boil water in a pot large enough to hold the glass container. Once the water has boiled, reduce the temperature to low and put the glass container into the boiling water. Leave it in the water until the contents turns to liquid. Add the shea butter and stir until it melts.

Leave it on the counter until cool, then leave it in the fridge for about an hour.

Add the vegetable glycerin, vitamin E oil, zinc oxide, and isopropl myristate and whip with a hand mixer for about 5 minutes. You may have to mix and put it in the fridge between whips until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Spoon into a container for storage.

Options:
zinc oxide
This ingredient is optional. It adds additional sun protection by creating a barrier for the skin and is not absorbed into the skin. Because zinc oxide and the other most common physical sunscreen, titanium dioxide, are not absorbed into the skin, they are nonirritating, nonallergenic, and non-comedogenic. It is the broadest spectrum UVA and UVB reflector that is approved for use as a sunscreen by the FDA. However, please note that this recipe is not to be used as a replacement for sunscreen. Remember to use proper sun protection when going out in the sun.

Isopropyl Myristate
This is used to reduce the greasy feeling and give it a fast absorbing and light slick feel rather than oily. For more information take a look at this blog.

Beeswax
The beeswax helps the butter to maintain it’s consistency in warmer temperatures.