Lotion Bars Melted? Sale in 2 days!

Zelda Rose · Dec 11, 2013

I made lotion bars and everything went well. Let them sit overnight in the fridge. Used one this morning and it was great! Put it in a small zip lock bag and 2 hours later it's mush!!
Used 1/2 cup each of coconut oil, bees wax and home made cacao butter from cacao beans and 1 tsp Moringa oil. Thank goodness I only made 2 of them. I have weather similar to Florida. It's 74 degrees today and not humid at all. I'm wondering if my cacao butter needed more refining. It's hard as a rock though in the container... Any suggestions anyone?? I added 15 drops of Orange EO and 5 drops Peppermint EO. They smell like the orange flavored chocolate sticks they sell for Xmas. Wonder if I should try the store bought Cacao butter and see what happens. Any ideas from anyone would be appreciated. This was my first attempt;(

dixiedragon · Dec 11, 2013

Is it 76 degree coconut oil? At the temps you are talking, I would consider it a liquid oil and not a solid when making calculations.

Zelda Rose · Dec 12, 2013

Yes it is and at best it gets sluggish in the bottle but never solid. I guess it's very obvious I'm not the "Sharpest Pencil in the Pack"!! I will stick to body butters and liquid lotions from now on

Thanks

The Efficacious Gentleman · Dec 12, 2013

My lotion bars are shea and cacao butter - solid enough, but slides on well (or so The Admirable Lady tells me)

DeeAnna · Dec 12, 2013

It's not the humidity, it's the recipe. Your current recipe is going to be a soft lotion bar even here in wintery Iowa.

Try something more like 1 part beeswax, 2 to 3 parts cocoa butter, and 1 part liquid oils. Adjust the amount of cocoa butter to get the desired consistency -- less CB will give you a softer, more greasy product. More CB will make the bars harder and drier feeling You'll just have to experiment to get what you like. And don't evaluate the consistency right out of the fridge -- be sure to let the product reach normal room temp.

IMO, a lotion bar takes a day or so of "cure" time before it has a "normal" texture and skin feel, whatever normal is for that particular formulation. Before that, the lotion bar can feel a little greasier than it will after "curing".

But I can get a pretty decent sense of the consistency and skin feel by putting a drop of melted product on a cool plate or tile countertop. Peel up the drop and apply to the skin. The lips are a pretty good spot to test for skin feel, so I often will apply the product to my lips even if I don't intend it to be a lip balm.

shunt2011 · Dec 12, 2013

You could also try adding a bit more beeswax to make it a bit firmer. I prefer mine a bit softer but only sell them during the cold and winter months so I don't have to worry about melting.