# Need hand cream for daughter



## rjalex (Dec 8, 2013)

Dear friends,
thanks to your help I'm now creating nice CP soaps ! I have a 14 yr old daughter whose hands are dry, get red and aren't smooth now that the winter has come. I'd like to create an hand cream for her to help her skin stay softer and healthier.

I have a few oils such as Olive, Shea, Castor, Palm, Coconut, Hemp, Sunflower, Sweet Almond, Rice Bran and Lard. I do not have but can find beeswax and lanolin, but have no idea on the process / ingredients.

Any sharing of your fav recipe would be very welcome (and also pointers to HOWTO resources since I only have books on Soaps !).

Thanks in advance.


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## lsg (Dec 8, 2013)

If you don't have e-wax, then why not do a whipped butter. Here is the easiest one I have found only I use shea butter instead of avocado butter.

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-b...to-make-whipped-body-butter-on-soap-queen-tv/

If you have e-wax, then here is a good and easy recipe:

5.5 % e-wax
11.8% shea butter
3.9% oil hemp oil
7.9% sweet almond oil
63 % distilled water
3.9% glycerin (If you don't have glycerin, then add 3.9% extra water)
0.8% preservative (I like Liquid Germall Plus)
3% fragrance or EO (optional)





Heat oil phase in microwave until melted. Put in 170*F oven and hold for 20 min. Heat water and glycerin to 160*F and put in 170*F oven and hold for 20 min. (I always heat and hold extra water in another container to replace the water that evaporates, so make sure to weigh your container containing the water and glycerin before heating, and weigh again after removing it  from the oven.  That way you can pour in water to replace the evaporated liquid.) Remove both from oven and let set for a few minutes to cool. Slowly drizzle oil phase into water phase while constantly stick blending. An emulsion should occur, continue to stick blend off and on for about 3 minutes. When mixture has cooled to 105*F or less, add preservative and fragrance and mix well. Pour into sterilized containers. Let cool to room temperature, cap and label.


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## Lin (Dec 9, 2013)

I like using whipped body butters, so I'd recommend that as well. For a super simple recipe use 1/3 solid oil, 1/3 coconut oil, and 1/3 soft oil. So with your current ingredients I would do 1/3 shea, 1/3 coconut, and 1/3 sweet almond. Especially for hands its important for it to be fast absorbing so you aren't transferring grease around, and the best thing for that imo is a light fast absorbing oil for your soft oil. Avocado and sweet almond are good ones for that, and the coconut is fast absorbing as well. 

I don't melt my hard oils or coconut oil if I don't have to, and especially with working with shea repeated heatings or heating it too high or for too long can result in a grainy texture. Its not so bad for a whipped body butter, usually its most noticeable in a lip balm. But I'd put the solid measured or weighed shea butter, solid coconut, and liquid sweet almond oil and whip them up. If you melt them down you have to go back and forth with chilling the mix to harden it and scraping down the sides of the bowl after before whipping again.  Some hard butters like cocoa have to be melted, there's no choice but shea is usually soft enough. You can also add in a little cornstarch or tapioca starch/flour which will help it feel silkier on the skin and less greasy. 

No preservative is necessary if there is no water in the recipe, but if you're making a large amount I'd recommend to either use a clean utensil to scrape out so not to introduce bacteria or mold to the butter as well as melting the butter with body heat in the container, or to have both a large container and a small container. I do it this way keeping the body butter after made in a large jar but have a couple 1/4 pint jelly jars around that I refill with a spatula from the main jar, and I go ahead and stick my fingers in the little jars to get the butter.


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## rjalex (Dec 9, 2013)

Wow thanks to both for the GREAT input. I don't have e-wax nor am sure what I could use for that (maybe soy lecithin ???) that I can find around here. Probablly I'll try the whipped approach Lin wrote about but would love to better understand also the other. Aw BTW I do not have a microwave either


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## judymoody (Dec 9, 2013)

E-wax is a generic emulsifier sold by many soap suppliers.  If you are interested in making a water/oil emulsion, e-wax is necessary to maintain a stable emulsion so the ingredients don't separate.  Beeswax is not an effective substitute.

Another option would be a solid lotion bar (1/3 liquid oil/1/3 solid oil/1/3 beeswax).  This does not need a specialized emulsifier or preservative and you apply it on the skin kind of like you would a lip balm.  If you prefer a looser formulation (a salve) you could diminish the amount of solid oil until you get a consistency you like.  No preservative needed for this either because there is no water in the recipe.  The wax forms a nice barrier to keep the skin from getting too dry.

For more information on lotions, try swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com


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## rjalex (Dec 9, 2013)

Thanks Judy. I was not asking about beeswax as an e-wax but rather soy lecithin (which if I'm not mistaken is an emulsifier).


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## rjalex (Dec 9, 2013)

Lin said:


> I like using whipped body butters, so I'd recommend that as well. For a super simple recipe use 1/3 solid oil, 1/3 coconut oil, and 1/3 soft oil. So with your current ingredients I would do 1/3 shea, 1/3 coconut, and 1/3 sweet almond.



Thanks a lot Lin. I'll definitely try your recipe. I also have some pure lanolin ointment (I bought it for my wife when she breastfed our baby). I could use that in place or as a partial substitute of shea, right ?


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## judymoody (Dec 9, 2013)

rjalex said:


> I do not have but can find beeswax and lanolin, but have no idea on the process / ingredients.



I was responding to this.  

A lot of people when they are first starting with lotion think that beeswax can hold a lotion together because there is all sorts of inaccurate information posted on the web.  So I thought I'd deal with that from the get go.


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## DeeAnna (Dec 9, 2013)

And to also deal with using lecithin as an emulsifier for lotions:

"...Lecithin can't be used as the sole emulsifier in an oil in water lotion like product. Don't get me wrong - I love lecithin as an emollient and as a water absorber in a few of my mostly oil based products - but it isn't a full emulsifier on its own for a lotion.... 

"...If you're new to making lotions, please go buy an all in one emulsification system like Polawax, Incroquat BTMS-50, Ritamulse SCG, Ritamulse BTMS-225, and so on. Please don't start by creating your own emulsifiers! And please don't start off by making your own recipes! Use something tried and true that works well...."

Source: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2013/02/question-how-to-use-lecithin-as.html


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## Lin (Dec 10, 2013)

lanolin is a soft wax, its not a substitute for a hard oil like shea. If you want to add in some lanolin, I'd just add it in addition to the recipe without changing any of the base. Since its a soft semi solid it shouldn't affect the stability of the base. If you wanted lanolin to be a major part of the base, I wouldn't make a whipped body butter (I never have with lanolin) but a balm. Personally I do not like balms or hard lotion bars for hands, they last too long on the skin which means you can transfer grease over to things you touch. For my hands I only use the whipped body butter or a straight light fast absorbing oil like my favs avocado and sweet almond. 

However this is somewhat preference. My boyfriend HATES lotion, has always hated it his entire life and can't stand it. To the point where when I used to use it he didn't want to be near me putting it on or touch me until it had completely absorbed. However, he really likes both my solid lotion bars and my whipped butters and has no problem using either now. He really enjoys the solid bar for his hands, but it feels too greasy for hands for me. 

Interestingly, I now dislike the feel of lotion! I use lotion on my hair still for naturally wavy/curly hair. I hate the feel of it as I'm putting it in my hair and tend to rub my hands with the towel really well after I'm finished.


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## rjalex (Dec 10, 2013)

Thanks a lot Lin ! Your boyfriend did not touch you if you used lotion ? :shock: Did you consider returning him to the warehouse as defective and as for a replacement ?


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## Lin (Dec 10, 2013)

Haha, well don't worry all is good now. He even enjoys helping me apply my whipped body butter


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## rjalex (Dec 10, 2013)

Lin,
tried your recipe with a little cornstarch. Made a quart approx. (600 grams total plus the air trapped by whipping). It feels good but it came out quite grainy, but after a few seconds on the skin it melts and feels ok. Would have anything changed if I kept whipping for more time (used an electric handheld thingy of which I don't know the English name).


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## Lin (Dec 10, 2013)

If the problem is grainy time wouldn't matter, thats either from your shea or your coconut. Like I mentioned before, shea can become grainy very easily and sometimes with shea if its been "damaged" with repeated heatings, heating too high/long etc there's nothing you can do about it. However sometimes the grainyness can be something else, like for example melting and then re-solidifying too slowly. 

If you wanted to give it a shot you could go ahead and melt down your whipped butter and then re-whip it with the repeated chillings in the freezer to harden the oils and see if that fixes it. Otherwise, next time I'd say to go ahead and check the ingredients first such as shea and coconut and see if they're grainy. With coconut its super easy to just melt it down and use the fridge or freezer to solidify it quickly so everything is consistent throughout. It feels grainy because of "clumps" that take slightly longer to melt. Shea can also become grainy from being melted and re-solidifying too slowly, so if thats the issue with either ingredients melting it down and re-doing it will fix the problem. But if its an issue with the shea having been melted too many times or too high of a temperature etc (which could have happened before you ever got the shea) it won't fix the problem. There's no need to fix it though if you don't want to go through the trouble. I used to use straight coconut oil after a shower, and in the summer from the house being hotter plus of course higher humidity in the bathroom my coconut would frequently melt all the way and re-solidify too slowly causing the graininess. I wasn't going to mess with re-melting and using the fridge once a week so I just ignored it


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## rjalex (Dec 10, 2013)

Thank for sharing your wisdom Lin !


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## Lin (Dec 10, 2013)

No problem, glad to help! I'm a newbie soaper but I've been making my own moisturizer and other body products for a couple years.


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## rjalex (Dec 11, 2013)

Ok hopefully a last question  This morning the whipped cream showed some degree of separation between ingredients. Is this normal ? For the graininess I was thinking if I could try to use the stick blender, ever tried ?

This is what I used:






This is what I could try to "chop up" the graininess:


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## Lin (Dec 11, 2013)

I've never seen separation, thats odd. A hand mixer like that is fine for making whipped body butters, though I personally use a stand mixer. I'm not sure if the stick blender would help with the grainyness, you could give it a shot. If it doesn't help or makes things worse you can always melt everything down and then re-whip with the hand mixer while chilling periodically.


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## elmtree (Dec 21, 2013)

I know this is a few weeks old but I've always put my whipped butters in the fridge for 20 min  after melting and mixing for a bit. This is supposed to prevent the graininess. Also, coconut can very drying to some people. If it were me, I would use shea butter, or avo butter, or any other soft butter with a third liquid oil of
some type. I use shea oil. If you use shea butter with another soft butter and some oil you can whip them cold and not heat them at all which will completely prevent the graininess.


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## lsg (Dec 21, 2013)

I don't even melt my butters, just let them get to room temp. and whip with other ingred.  No problem with graininess that way.


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## Obsidian (Dec 21, 2013)

lsg said:


> I don't even melt my butters, just let them get to room temp. and whip with other ingred.  No problem with graininess that way.



My mom made a body butter with shea and coconut that way and its really grainy. It could be that the shea wasn't quite room temp and didn't whip up all the way.
Would remelting at low temps and whipping again fix it?


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## Lin (Dec 21, 2013)

He did originally whip them without melting them, he said he followed my directions which was to not melt them. The melting advice was to try and correct the graininess in case it was from the coconut oil. (and I've never heard of coconut oil being drying by itself, only once made into soap) Shea can become grainy from being overworked and if the shea is the problem it could have been overworked before he bought it, when being rebatched into smaller containers and such. 

I think I said this before but I test my ingredients prior to making it, because coconut frequently gets grainy if it melted and solidified too slowly. So thats why the suggestion to re-melt everything and whip it again using the freezer to chill it. I've had mildly grainy shea before, but it wasn't noticeable in my whipped butter on my body only when I put it on my lips.


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## lsg (Dec 21, 2013)

I have never had a problem with grainy shea when I used the method I mentioned.   Maybe it was grainy when you got it.


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## Lin (Dec 21, 2013)

Thats most likely the problem if his graininess was caused by the shea and not the coconut. If it was the coconut oil remelting and whipping with chilling in the freezer would fix it. 

rj, did you go ahead and melt and re-whip? If so, how did it turn out?


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