Lotion snob

One of my friends, who will remain nameless, is begging me to get a new addiction.  Pinterest.  She loves it.  I refuse to use it.  I need another addiction like I need a hole in my head.  But today I went to the website.  Ssshhhhhh! Don't tell her.  I didn't go to get involved.  I went to see if I could find any new lotions ideas.  What I found was that... I am a snob.

Some time ago I started making my own lotion.  I don't buy lotion.  I don't use lotion.  I have skin that doesn't require it.  And then I adopted Ladybug.  I was told over and over that I would need to learn how to care for her skin and hair.  And like most typical new adopted parents of children from Ethiopia I spent years buying new products and trying them then shoving the rest into the the back of some cabinet.  And then I got on this "natural" kick.  I was surprised that on Pinterest every recipe included either wax (who puts wax on their skin) or just shows people who to combine other commercial lotions into their own jar.  I want to actually make lotion.

I discovered that most commercial lotions have a ton of crap in it.  And the natural stuff is way too expensive.  So now I make my own.  And it is all natural.  And people will be getting it for xmas this year.  We made lotion today.

We started with this...

Please note that all these ingredients are pure.  That means the vitamin E oil is only vitamin E.  The Shea butter is only Shea butter.  No need to buy a bunch of things with lots of other ingredients in it.  The one exception is the fragrance oil you see in the front... but that was also bought at a health food store and is all natural.

We (because Ladybug helped out with this whole process) put all the Shea butter in the mixing bowl.

Actually that was only half but I later doubled the recipe and used it all.

Then add the oils.

I ended up doing 8 Tablespoons of olive oil and 4 Tablespoons of vitamin oil.  I used both bottles of the fragrance oil.

Then add the coconut oil.  This got tricky.   I was suppose to use 8 ounces for a double recipe.  My jar was 14 ounces.  So I pulled out my kitchen scale.  But the battery was dead.  So I guessed.  I think I used more than 8 ounces.  But this recipe is forgiving.

Blend until smooth.  Just set on high and walk away.

The lotion is very runny.  It needs to chill and set.  But I thought it would be best to get it into the jars first.  First I tried by using a funnel.  It worked but was really slow.  I ended up putting it all into a ziplock bag, cutting a corner off, and squeezing like a pastry bag.  Quick and simple.

This is what we ended up with.

And they are now chilling in the fridge.  15 jars. You can easily modify the recipe with whatever oil you like.  Add jojoba, or caster, or cocoa butter, or whatever you want.  Add your favorite fragrance.  It can be used on skin.  It can be made lighter or diluted to use on hair. 

Mean Mama