Do people use lotion bars on the face?

[Garden Gives Me Joy]

Are there circumstances under which lotion bars are either suitable or unsuitable for the FACE, especially oily skin?

For instance, would it safe and advisable if the bars have the following?

• only oily skin friendly fats like jojoba, grapeseed oil and shea butter
• ingredients that reduce stickiness of some fats and control oil like arrowroot &/ clays (like kaolin or bentonite)
• either fragrance-free or minimal amounts of oily-skin friendly essential oils like tea tree, camphor &/ lavender oils, perhaps at around 0.5 to 1%

... or is this something that only people with dry skin would do?

 

[Cat&Oak]

That's a really interesting question! Curious to see what @ResolvableOwl (my hero ) has to say.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Oof, I'm at a loss with lotion bars. Okay when I escalate this to @Zing and the lotion bar gang?

 

[Zing]

Great questions!

For essential oil safe usage rates depending on which product (soap, lotion, etc.), I use Find Free Essential Oil Blends - Essential Oil Calculator . I've been learning that there are several lotion bar recipes online that include essential oils that are NOT good for stay on products because of photosensitivity (and here I thought that everything on the internet was true!!). So I swear by eocalc.

Also, there are great articles on Handmade 101 – Skincare, Bath & Soap Making Resources for formulating recipes.

I do not use my lotion bars on my face. However, my good bud uses my lotion bars on his face daily. My recipe tends to be 1/3 each of beeswax, a butter, a soft oil.

Wish I had more to give you. If you experiment, keep us posted!

 

[Garden Gives Me Joy]

[..] I swear by eocalc.

[...], my good bud uses my lotion bars on his face daily. My recipe tends to be 1/3 each of beeswax, a butter, a soft oil.

Yes, indeed, re EOcalc and the other resources. Thanks.

Re your bud who uses your 1wax-1butter-1oil bars daily, what type of skin and skin conditions does he have?

Will give it a try and let you know. Might be a little while though.

 

[Zing]

Yes, indeed, re EOcalc and the other resources. Thanks.

Re your bud who uses your 1wax-1butter-1oil bars daily, what type of skin and skin conditions does he have?

Will give it a try and let you know. Might be a little while though.

While we are real good friends, I am sorry but I have not delved into his skin issues! In the Minnesota wintertime here, my own skin gets super dry. However, my friend lives in the tropical paradise of Hawai'i so I know dry cold air is not an issue for him!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Depending what ingredients are used & time of year, I may use it on my face.

 

[TheGecko]

My lotion bars contain beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, arrowroot powder and scented with FOs.

I use it on my face starting the end of November until mid-March. Offers protection again the wind and the cold.

 

[cthylla]

I make a serum bar specifically formulated for the face. It’s very heat sensitive because it’s made to not drag the facial skin… so I make it pretty rarely even if it’s a popular product.

It has 0.5% fragrance oil. I use it often and I’d call my skin combination, sensitive, and aging.

 

[Garden Gives Me Joy]

I make a serum bar specifically formulated for the face. It’s very heat sensitive because it’s made to not drag the facial skin… so I make it pretty rarely even if it’s a popular product.

It has 0.5% fragrance oil. I use it often and I’d call my skin combination, sensitive, and aging.

Thanks for sharing. That sounds very interesting. Would you mind sharing a basic recipe please?

From my limited understanding of 'serums', they do not have occlusive ingredients that allow the product to be solid like waxes and butters. I had always thought of serums as being more water-based. Please clarify.

 

[linne1gi]

I don’t know if anyone here follows Marie Rayma of Humble Bee. But she has several solid products (which could be translated into lotion bars) which are formulated for the face. If anyone needs her link, let me know.

 

[lucycat]

I think of lotion bars as a barrier and protectant product because of the beeswax. So, protection against constant water as well as cold and wind is when I want to use them. I wouldn't need or want a lotion bar on my face inside inside my house but if I worked outside in the winter I probably would.

 

[lianasouza]

From my limited understanding of 'serums', they do not have occlusive ingredients that allow the product to be solid like waxes and butters. I had always thought of serums as being more water-based. Please clarify.

https://formulabotanica.com/organic-facial-serum-formulation/
Read number 5, pressed serums.

 

[Gaisy59]

https://formulabotanica.com/organic-facial-serum-formulation/
Read number 5, pressed serums.

Very interesting. I have rosacea, i wonder if this would affect my issue or help it. I will have to give this a try after Xmas as it’s craziness to try before

 

[DeeAnna]

I don't quite see why using a "lotion" bar on the face is such a provocative idea. I routinely use my lip balm (basically a softer version of a "lotion" bar) on my face in the winter. It works well for facial skin, just as it works well on the lips.

Any kind of anhydrous balm/bar/salve can be thought of as a lotion that's had the water-based ingredients and emulsifier removed. That means if you use a lotion on your face, you can use an anhydrous balm/bar/salve on it too if that's what you want to do.

Formulate a lotion bar with ingredients you know are compatible with your facial skin, make it soft enough to apply to the face without dragging on delicate skin, and go for it.

 

[Dawni]

Formulate a lotion bar with ingredients you know are compatible with your facial skin, make it soft enough to apply to the face without dragging on delicate skin, and go for it.

I was gonna say something like this but DeeAnna worded it much, much better lol

I live in a humid climate and surprisingly, faces still get too dry. On the other hand, there are a lot of sticky, oily faces as well lol. Then you have people with combination skin.

I know for sure that one of my cousins uses nothing on her face except my lotion bar. According to her, her Tzone oiliness has reduced, but she gets random dry spots on her cheeks n forehead and those have reduced too.

I have a loyal customer who uses them everywhere else except the face, coz apparently she tried it once and got break outs - says its the cocoa butter coz it's high on the comedogenic scale (yes, I need to do more research on this lol).

Another loyal customer routinely calls it "face lotion bar" when she orders coz that's where she uses it so I asked her how's it different from a moisturizing cream, and she only said "I like that it stays on my face" (go figure lol) and that she noticed her complexion evened out.

So this long post just wants to say is that different ingredients work differently for everyone so it'll help to really do research, and maybe test small batches of different combos. The only downside of this is it'll be on the face, in case of negative reactions....

Do note though that's its said.. A lot of times, oily skin is that way because its actually dry, and your skin is over compensating by producing excess oil.

Oh. My bar has shea, Cocoa, mango butters and grapeseed, sweet almond (lavender infused) oils. And beeswax. I've used it on my face as well, when it feels drier than normal, or as "spot treatment"

It's late and I'm not sure if I made any sense lol