In Shower Lotion Bar

[soaring1]

I love these for a quick moisturizer after my shower. Just rub your skin while wet and towel off.
Made with Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Emulsifying Wax, Meadow Foam Oil, Argan Oil, Mango Butter and Essential Oil. I am calling this Lavender Dream's using Lavender 40/42 and Ylang Ylang.

 

[IrishLass]

They look very inviting! I love in-shower lotion bars, too.


IrishLass

 

[PrimDawg]

Soaring1, I'm hoping to attempt my first in shower lotion bar. I love the Lush Buffy bar, but not the scent or price! My current recipe calls for equal parts shea, Coconut Oil and beeswax. I'm not sure that will be terribly moisturizing. I'd love some tips as your bar sounds heavenly!

 

[DeeAnna]

PrimDawg -- If you aren't opposed to using an emulsifier, I'd strongly recommend it for an in-shower lotion bar. From a safety point of view, the emulsifier ensures any oils that don't stay on the skin also don't make a slick spot on the shower floor. But the emulsifier also helps the oils to coat the skin more effectively and evenly. The emulsifier blends with the water on the skin, essentially making an instant lotion.

 

[kchaystack]

PrimDawg -- If you aren't opposed to using an emulsifier, I'd strongly recommend it for an in-shower lotion bar. From a safety point of view, the emulsifier ensures any oils that don't stay on the skin also don't make a slick spot on the shower floor. But the emulsifier also helps the oils to coat the skin more effectively and evenly. The emulsifier blends with the water on the skin, essentially making an instant lotion.

I second this. I make what I call a conditioner bar, which is mostly BTMS-50 with avocado oil, cocoa butter. I use a preservative since it gets wet and a little tea tree or peppermint EO for scent.

 

[PrimDawg]

PrimDawg -- If you aren't opposed to using an emulsifier, I'd strongly recommend it for an in-shower lotion bar. From a safety point of view, the emulsifier ensures any oils that don't stay on the skin also don't make a slick spot on the shower floor. But the emulsifier also helps the oils to coat the skin more effectively and evenly. The emulsifier blends with the water on the skin, essentially making an instant lotion.

I'm not opposed to anything as of yet. So what is an emulsifier and where do I get it lol.

 

[DeeAnna]

An emulsifier is what allows oil and water to mix and stay mixed. A lotion is an example of an oil and water mixture that is held together with an emulsifier.

Many bath and beauty suppliers carry basic emulsifiers. I recommend BTMS or conditioning emulsifier (the generic version of BTMS) or what's called emulsifying wax (e-wax). They are all dependable, basic emulsifiers that work well for most crafters.

Try lotioncrafter.com or brambleberry.com or theherbarie.com in the US. If in Canada, try Voyageursoapandcandle.com. In the UK, I'm not at all sure, but I'd check gracefruit.com

 

[PrimDawg]

Thank you so much! I did a bit of reading and can order the btms, plus I found this on amazon. So do I replace some of the beeswax with the e wax?

 

[DeeAnna]

Just want to start out by saying e-wax (emulsifying wax) is not really a wax like beeswax. It really shouldn't have "wax" in the name because that confuses people.

Moving on, there are many possible recipes. For recipes of this type, some people include some beeswax or other real wax as you are proposing. The "real" wax in the recipe allows one to use a higher % of liquid oils. If that's the direction you want to head, then you'd reduce the beeswax and add some e-wax.

The amount of beeswax should be in proportion to the % of liquid oils in the recipe. You don't want so much beeswax that the bar is too hard and plastic-y but enough so the bar isn't too soft and smeary. I don't have a good recommendation for you about how much to use -- it's a trial and error thing.

Others like myself do not use real wax in this kind of product. In that case you would want to make sure your using mostly fats that are solid at room temp. The e-wax will firm the bar up, so you can use ~some~ liquid oils, but not as much as if you were using real wax. If that's what you want to try, take out all of the beeswax. Add e-wax until you get the performance you want -- hard enough as a bar, but melty enough on wet skin.

I'm making a first trial run today. No beeswax. Mostly solid fats -- tallow and coconut -- with a smidge of avocado. I am using a ratio of 7 parts fats to 1 part emulsifier. I decided on using emulsifying conditioner rather than e-wax, but I'd use the same ratio in either case for this first try. Don't know if this will work for me or not, but it's a good place to start.

 

[PrimDawg]

Thanks so much, DeeAnna! I guess my best bet is to just dive in and try! I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your trial run.

 

[DeeAnna]

Yep, you just need to dive in. Even if I shared a recipe that I was totally happy with, I'd expect most people would want to tweak it from there. That's the fun of making your own stuff.

 

[Susie]

Please share any recipes that you care to? I have kinfolks requesting them.

 

[Rusti]

Please share any recipes that you care to? I have kinfolks requesting them.

I too, would like to see any recipes that you wouldn't mind sharing.

 

[kchaystack]

HEATED PHASE
72% Incroquat BTMS
10% cetyl alcohol
10% cocoa butter
05% avocado oil

COOL DOWN PHASE

02% essential oil
01% preservitive

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I love these for a quick moisturizer after my shower. Just rub your skin while wet and towel off. Made with Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Emulsifying Wax, Meadow Foam Oil, Argan Oil, Mango Butter and Essential Oil. I am calling this Lavender Dream's using Lavender 40/42 and Ylang Ylang.

Yowser Wowser! I'll take a dozen! I'm serious. PM me.

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm glad I didn't share my trial run recipe. The 7:1 fat to emulsifier ratio is a big bust for a number of reasons. Suffice to say it's totally not working. I based this trial recipe on an emulsifying sugar scrub I make. As a scrub, a 7:1 ratio is fine. As a lotion bar, not so much.

KC's recipe has about 1:2.9 fat to emulsifier ratio. (I'm including the cetyl alcohol as a "fat") His recipe is similar to a solid hair conditioner bar that I make and like a lot for my fine wavy hair. I have used this conditioner bar on wet skin, and it leaves a light lotion-y film on my skin. Pretty nice.

I wanted a bit more lotion and a different blend of fats for my skin, however, but the scrub recipe is too much of a good thing. WAY too much fat and not enough emulsifier. I will tweak the conditioner recipe instead -- it has a 1:2.6 ratio of fat to emulsifier. I used conditioning emulsifier aka generic BTMS in this recipe too.

HEATED PHASE
72% Incroquat BTMS
10% cetyl alcohol
10% cocoa butter
05% avocado oil

COOL DOWN PHASE

02% essential oil
01% preservitive

 

[kchaystack]

I'm glad I didn't share my trial run recipe. The 7:1 fat to emulsifier ratio is a big bust for a number of reasons. Suffice to say it's totally not working. I based this trial recipe on an emulsifying sugar scrub I make. As a scrub, a 7:1 ratio is fine. As a lotion bar, not so much.

KC's recipe has about 1:2.9 fat to emulsifier ratio. (I'm including the cetyl alcohol as a "fat") His recipe is similar to a solid hair conditioner bar that I make and like a lot for my fine wavy hair. I have used this conditioner bar on wet skin, and it leaves a light lotion-y film on my skin. Pretty nice.

I wanted a bit more lotion and a different blend of fats for my skin, however, but the scrub recipe is too much of a good thing. WAY too much fat and not enough emulsifier. I will tweak the conditioner recipe instead -- it has a 1:2.6 ratio of fat to emulsifier. I used conditioning emulsifier aka generic BTMS in this recipe too.

Cant take much credit. This is from swiftcraftmonkey, it is her solid conditioning bar - but I took out the various proteins, silicones, and humectants. She says in her directions that you can just increase the BTMS-50 for everything you take out. I did not want to buy a bunch of stuff - so I reduced as much as I could.

 

[DeeAnna]

I get overwhelmed pretty fast with the additives too, so I tend to adapt her recipes into much simpler ones. Partly the cost involved, partly I'm not sure I'll like them, and partly just feeling overwhelmed.

I have tried panthenol, and that's nice for both hair and skin.

I also have been experimenting with a "silicone alternative" called hemisqualane. I got it to see if it would help my hair not be so frizzy in the summer. It works well -- makes hair easier to comb when wet, less frizzy, and softer feeling. Not sure Susan has tried that one but she uses 'cones quite a lot.

 

[IrishLass]

Here's mine (it was inspired by Earthchild's recipe which she very generously shared over at the Dish a handful of years ago):

26.5% cocoa butter
26.5% kokum butter
15% Polawax
6.8% ButterEZ
5% mango butter
5% jojoba oil
5% virgin coconut oil
5% candelilla wax
3% cetyl alcohol
1% Phenonip
.7% Fragrance
.5% vitamin E T-50

It makes a nicely firm bar with excellent glide that holds up well in a dish that sits on the shelf of my shower door (out of direct spray). At the end of my shower (just before I turn the water off) I roll it around in my hands under the water like I would a bar of soap, place it back on its dish, then run my hands all over my arms and legs and lightly rinse.


IrishLass

 

[soaring1]

Soaring1, I'm hoping to attempt my first in shower lotion bar. I love the Lush Buffy bar, but not the scent or price! My current recipe calls for equal parts shea, Coconut Oil and beeswax. I'm not sure that will be terribly moisturizing. I'd love some tips as your bar sounds heavenly!

PrimDawg, Been out working on the farm so sorry. DeeAnna answered your question very well on the emulsifier.