Body Butter Or Lotion With These Ingredients?

[DeeAnna]

Borax (sodium tetraborate) it acts as the emulsifier. Borax is a naturally found mineral.

It's also a staple ingredient to almost all natural laundry detergent recipes.

It's borax + beeswax that is the emulsifier. Not borax alone. And not beeswax alone. The borax-beeswax emulsifier is unstable and prone to failure, which is why few people use it since there are more reliable emulsifiers available to home crafters.

Borax works as a water softener when used as an additive when for washing clothes, but washing soda is more effective than borax. Washing soda breaks down over time when included in a water-based mixture, however, which is why borax should be used, rather than washing soda, if a person has her heart set on making a liquid laundry soap mixture.

I know, I know -- washing soda, borax, and often baking soda are all included in a ton of the laundry soap mixes out on the internet, both wet and dry, but washing soda is the single best choice of the three, especially for a dry mixture. You can also use washing soda with a water-based soap mixture -- just add the dry washing soda separately. It's the combination of time + water that is the downfall of washing soda.

Save the baking soda for baking and the cat's litter box -- it's really not useful in a laundry soap mix.

 

[Nanditasr]

On the subject of beeswax, does anyone have a weight:volume conversion for beeswax? I have a solid block, and I found this stick deodorant recipe that calls for 2 tbsp beeswax pellets. I just plan to cut off a piece, chop it fine and melt it. Roughly how many ounces or grams would 2 tablespoons be?

 

[Nanditasr]

On the subject of beeswax, does anyone have a weight:volume conversion for beeswax? I have a solid block, and I found this stick deodorant recipe that calls for 2 tbsp beeswax pellets. I just plan to cut off a piece, chop it fine and melt it. Roughly how many ounces or grams would 2 tablespoons be?

I had been scouring the internet for a while, but just after posting the above question, I found this website: http://blog.andrewkoebbe.com/blog/beeswax-conversion. Hope this helps the others here.

And perhaps you can also share the results of your experiment: 1 cup pellets = <how many> grams.

 

[Laurabolyard]

I make body butters, lotion bars, and Lotion for personal use.

Body butter is essentially a butter and an oil melted and whipped together. Beeswax can be used as a thickening agent. Heavier oils tend to feel really oily, but adding arrowroot powder helps. These are highly preference dependent. My favorite is mango butter with grape seed or rice bran oil with arrowroot powder.

Lotion bars are beeswax and oil. I use them sparingly as they feel very greasy and take a while to absorb into my skin. They last forever and therefore won't use up much inventory. They make great gifts.

Lotion needs an emulsifier and a preservative. I originally tried a beeswax recipe--sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't. Most recently, I have used BTMS-50 with shea butter, avocado oil and aloe vera gel. It's to die for, but it also wouldn't do much to use up your inventory.

Have you considered liquid soap? It would use up a lot of your castor and olive oil.

Thank you!! Great info, I'll be giving these a try!!