Lotion Bars are sticky

[sarahlockard]

I had gotten a recipe off online for lotion bars. It was equal parts bees wax, coconut oil, oil and 1 tsp. Vitamin E. I made them, and when I put them on my skin, they feel sticky? Is this normal? How can I change it?

 

[Genny]

Instead of using coconut oil and another oil, I'd use 1/3 beeswax, 1/3 oil and 1/3 butter.

 

[sarahlockard]

1/3 cup? and could I use the coconut oil as the oil in the recipe?

 

[Genny]

1/3 as in a third of the recipe. (1 part beeswax, 1 part butter and 1 part oil) I'd do small recipes at first so you don't end up wasting ingredients on batches that you don't like.
Yep, you can use the coconut oil.

 

[Flameflightcc]

Yes definitely add a butter...it keeps it softer and melts into your skin better.

 

[sarahlockard]

Okay I just tried the "Sticky" Lotion bar I made on my skin right after the shower and it didn't glide on at all. Should I keep the vitamin E in the recipe also? And I just got some Shea butter to put into the new batch! Also I was doing 3oz of each ingred. in the last recipe (3oz bees wax 3oz oil and 3oz coconut oil) Should I keep that same oz. in the next batch?

 

[Lindy]

You can keep the vitamin e in it but as the others have said you need to make this 1 part beeswax, 1 part butter (and it should be a soft butter like shea or mango - cocoa butter is really hard and you would need to reduce the amount of beeswax used) and then 1 part soft oils which can be your coconut oil and vitamin e.

Does that make sense? If you do want to use cocoa butter then you would need to have your formula look like this:

• 20% Beeswax
  30% Cocoa Butter
  50% Soft Oils

Cheers

 

[sarahlockard]

Thank you guys so much! I re melted the bars i already had and added the Shea Butter and they are great! Thanks lot!!

 

[treegirl75]

(Not trying to hijack), but I made a test batch lotion bars using 1oz. beeswax, 1oz. shea butter, 1oz. coconut oil, and 1 vitamin E capsule and mine is sticky too. I was thinking that it may be the shea butter, and was considering adding another ounce of beeswax and coconut oil. Any thoughts?

 

[ClaraSuds]

Its the beeswax. Beeswax has a tacky texture like crayons that will prevent glide and also make your bar too hard to melt easily on contact with the skin. I always keep beeswax under 20% of any formulation. If your bar is too soft you need to add a hard butter, not beeswax. Beeswax is best used as a stiffener that prevents formulas from melting at room temperature rather than a main ingredient.

I find cocoa butter to be incomparable for assisting glide. It creates a very creamy feel on the skin and glides like silicone.