Lotion bars & arrow root powder

[mrskanaka]

Hello,
My name is leanne,
I'm new to trying to make lotion bars, I've had a few attempts by following recipes on line, but im not having much luck,
they either come out feeling sticky/tacky when applied to skin or they wont set solid.
I wanted to add arrow root powder (or cornflour) to make them a little less tacky feeling, but when I pour them all the powder settles at the bottom?? Any ideas where I'm going wrong? How do you get it to stay evenly through the bar?

Also can you make lotion bars without using a wax and only use cocoa butter as the main ingredients like the ones from "lush" and if so what percentage of cocoa butter to any other oils would work best?

Many thanks for any help or advice

 

[TheGecko]

A recipe I have used is 70% Cocoa Butter, 15% each Shea Butter and Beeswax, and about 1 tea Arrowroot per pound.

I make sure to sift the Arrowroot a couple of times to break it down to where it is very 'powdery'. I then stir in the scent and Arrowroot until the wax and oils start to cool and get cloudy before I pour and then put them in the frig to cool even faster...this keeps the Arrowroot suspended better. I also cure my Lotion Bars for about a month. which makes them less 'oily' than if I sell them right away.

The thing is, they are always going to be 'oily'...it's just the nature of them since they are made with butters (and oils for some recipes). I have some that I made two years and they are still that way.

 

[mrskanaka]

Thank you, I will try that.

I like the slippery feel of the oils,
But I find when I add bees wax they have more of a sticky feel instead of silky/slippy one.

So i'd like to try making them without bees wax or other waxes (I've tried soy wax to but found that to have that same thick tacky feeling)

I've also just tried a experiment of melting 10g of cocoa butter with 1g of sweet almond oil to see if it would set hard but again it has came out like the consistency of butter?

It has a lovely silky light feel with lots of slip to it which is what I'm aiming for, but the second I add even the tiniest amount of a liquid oil it won't set hard at all.
It's had 6 hours to set, it looked solid until I touched it (I've attached a photo)

It all looks so easy on YouTube.

 

[Kiti Williams]

I answered your other post in the welcome thread. I am a 33.33% oils/waxes/hard oils maker. Mine are meant to go in your purse with no leakage. Nothing is grosser than reaching into your bag and finding lotion all over everything.