Recipe For Soft Skin

One of my other hobbies includes creating my own cosmetics from scratch. Partly its a frugality thing because you can make a huge jar of cream for cents. And partly it's a I want to know what I'm putting on my skin thing. So here is a basic body lotion recipe for you to enjoy. It's cheap to make, unscented and you can add whatever you want to it. Even zinc oxide if you want to use it as a sunscreen. I find it soaks into my skin very quickly and use it over my whole body after showering. If you live in a hot climate this recipe will be more liquid than solid. In cold weather it will become a light creme.

Ingredients - makes approx 100gms of body cream

Quantities listed are approximate (for shopping purposes) as I don't use very scientific measuring methods but still seem to have consistent results.

80mls Sweet Almond Oil - obtainable from any health food store

40mls Virgin Coconut Oil - should have a strong coconut scent otherwise it's been bleached and processed. Best to buy it from a good health food store as the cheap stuff in Asian food stores has been processed. Of course if you hate the smell of coconut oil then use a processed one by all means. It still behaves the same way in the creme.

50gms Unprocessed Bees Wax - should be a deep yellow colour and smell of honey

100mls Floral Hydrosol - don't pay a fortune for this in a cosmetics store, head to a middle eastern food store and buy it there for next to nothing. Be sure to check the label, it should say pure distilled floral water. Otherwise it's a mix of tap water and artificial essence. I buy mine from my local Supermarket and use Cortas brand. It's pure floral water and costs about $4 per bottle.

Vegetable based emulsifying wax - this is a specialty item and you'll need to buy it from a cosmetics supplier. Be sure to purchase the more expensive olive-derived version rather than the cheaper stuff. It does make a difference and a small amount lasts forever. You'll only need about half a teaspoon of this for a big tub of creme so buy it in as small a quantity as you can find. It's possible to make a creme using beeswax and borax. But from what I've heard it's difficult to get the quantities right. You also have to buy specially pure borax, the supermarket variety shouldn't be used because of chemical impurities. And it just seems like a lot of hassle to me. Emulsifying wax is very easy to use by comparison and hard to make a mistake with.

Tools

Kettle for boiling water
Some plastic mixing bowls and containers for storing your creme in. I use small tupperware, works just fine for storage.
Teaspoon and a desertspoon
Whisk
Cheese grater
Small saucepan for using as a bain marie

Method

Grate up 1 and 3/4 heaped desertspoons of bees wax. I heap my spoonfuls quite high, there's a lot of air in grated wax. Melt the wax in a plastic bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of emulsifying wax, 8 desertspoons of sweet almond oil, and 4 level desertspoons of coconut oil. Be careful not to go overboard with the coconut oil, in the right quantity it makes your creme lush and creamy, too much and you get an oil slick. I melt the wax by placing the bowl in a saucepan of boiling water over a medium heat setting on the stove.

Caution Always heat waxes and oils in a saucepan of water and never in the pan over direct heat. Cosmetic waxes and oils have low flashpoints and you could end up with a fire very easily.

It should take between 5-8mins to completely melt and fully combine. Use a spoon to lift a bit of the mixture out and examine it. The emulsifying wax is usually the last thing to melt and you could still have tiny unmelted chips of it in your mixture. Once it's fully combined remove the saucepan from the stove and place it on a chopping board, leave your melted mixture in the saucepan for the time being. Begin stirring the mixture with a whisk. One spoonful at a time add the floral water (8 desertspoons worth) mixing in between to ensure it fully combines. Your mixture will begin to turn opaque and white. It will take a few minutes to add all the floral water.

Remove from the saucepan and let it cool to room temperature continuing to stir while it cools. If you don't keep stirring it there's a chance the oil and water will partially separate as it cools. So you'll get a thick creme with a lot of water in the bottom that will not emulsify again. The creme cools rapidly and you can stop mixing it when it takes on a thick custardy texture. At this stage add any essential oils or additives then put into your storage container.

This creme has no preservatives in it and I'd had no problem with any of my cremes being stored at room temperature for up to 2 months without spoiling. Generally I use it all up before it gets that old anyway. You will read advice to store such cremes in the fridge, out of direct sunlight etc. Sweet Almond and Coconut oils are both very stable oils that keep a long time without going rancid. Yet the possibility of bacteria growing in the creme is present with anything containing water. If you do store it in the fridge it will become more solid and probably similar to cold creme, which incidentally is ideal for cooling down on hot summer days.

For scenting one of my favourite essential oils is Rose Geranium. It's very cheap to buy, has a floral and leafy scent all in one and is non-sensitising for most skins. Smells very pretty. Just be careful not to put any photo-toxic essential oils in your creme (like Bergamot), which may cause your skin to hyperpigmentate.

The initial outlay for supplies seems like a lot of money to make a creme at home, yet a small amount of these ingredients make a large amount of creme so it does work out economically especially for things like body cremes and butters which are expensive to buy and you use them in quantity. Plus I get satisfaction from making my own.

Enjoy.