My first lotion bars!

[PrimDawg]

So much fun. My girlfriend and I are learning this together for fun. We made a couple of batches for experience mostly. Basically equal parts beeswax, coconut oil and shea butter with a bit of fragrance oil.
Overall pretty pleased but have a few questions. The bars are fine for moisturizing but a bit "melty". I would like to make these more solid, so they will hold up in the shower.
First question, I used beeswax, but also have ewax. Is one better for creating a harder bar?
I'm thinking of upping the wax to more like 50%. Should I then take the butter and oil to 25% each?
Is there a butter that will end up harder, like maybe cocoa butter?
Anyway, just want to thank everyone for getting me this far, we had a blast.

 

[IrishLass]

They look lovely!

Instead of increasing the wax, I would decrease the oil and increase the hard butter portion. If it helps, my in-shower lotion bar contains only 10% oils (jojoba and virgin coconut), 60% butters (cocoa, mango and kokum), and the rest of the 30% is a mixture of Polawax, cetyly alcohol and candelilla wax, and they do wonderfully in the shower.

For butters that are harder than cocoa butter, look no further than kokum butter and/or also illipe butter.


IrishLass

 

[PrimDawg]

Irish Lass, thanks so much for the input! So it is the butter that makes it harden up? Gotcha.
I don't know what Polawax or candelilla wax is so will look into those.

Oh, and the brown you see in the green bars is ground up adzuki beans. We tried three different grinds to see which works best. So interesting how each came out.

 

[dixiedragon]

Looks good! I'm actually surprised you find a bar that is 33% beeswax and 33% shea butter too melty. Where do you live? Is it very hot?

 

[PrimDawg]

Looks good! I'm actually surprised you find a bar that is 33% beeswax and 33% shea butter too melty. Where do you live? Is it very hot?

I'm in Georgia. Already running ac here for a few weeks.
You touch these and they start to dissolve. I just put them in the fridge for storage.

 

[dixiedragon]

I'm in Alabama.

I use this recipe for lip balm:
https://www.thesage.com/recipes/recipe-exec/.State/Display/id/200

I find it not melty enough for lotion bars. But those are being kept inside. I would lower your beeswax and include a "brittle" oil - such as cocoa butter.

 

[IrishLass]

Irish Lass, thanks so much for the input! So it is the butter that makes it harden up? Gotcha.

To be more precise, much has to do with the oil to butter ratio. I like to keep my oil amount way down in relation to the butter amount, even in my body butter formula.

I don't know what Polawax or candelilla wax is so will look into those.

Polawax is a brand-name e-wax made by Croda. Many folks that make lotion have found it to be more stable than generic e-wax in their lotions (i.e., they've found that their lotions are less prone to separation with it). It's the only e-wax I've ever used in my lotions, so I can't compare, but for what it's worth, I've never had any problems with any of my lotions separating to date.

Candelilla wax is a plant-extracted wax that's harder than beeswax. When using it in place of beeswax, I use about 1/3 to 1/2 less than beeswax. I especially love using it in my lady-lip balms because it goes on with a smooth glide and provides such a lovely, glistening shine to the lips.


IrishLass

 

[PrimDawg]

Get this addiction!

I'm dying to try another batch but will have to wait until Monday.

 

[redhead1226]

They look lovely!

Instead of increasing the wax, I would decrease the oil and increase the hard butter portion. If it helps, my in-shower lotion bar contains only 10% oils (jojoba and virgin coconut), 60% butters (cocoa, mango and kokum), and the rest of the 30% is a mixture of Polawax, cetyly alcohol and candelilla wax, and they do wonderfully in the shower.

For butters that are harder than cocoa butter, look no further than kokum butter and/or also illipe butter.


IrishLass

Irishlass - I know this is an old post but Im curious regarding your recipe. I have been struggling with trying to make myself an in shower lotion bar. My skin is so dry and Ive been using my regular lotion bar. But in the shower I wanted something more creamy and less waxy. I did not have too much success with Susan's recipe from swift monkey - What is the secret with these? The candelilla wax? I know you have to use less then you would beeswax but is it less waxy? I cannot get this right. lol