Shelf life....

[Kmyny]

Hello all!

I am new to this and am wanting to make some lotion, bath bombs, milk bath/ salt soaks as gifts for xmas - I want to be organized and get stuff done ahead of time, but was wondering what the shelf life of those products are? should I wait closer to xmas or would I be fine to start making now?

The lotion recipe I have from Soap Queen has a preservative...

 

[Millie]

Start practicing now

 

[toxikon]

Check out Swifty Crafty Monkey for great B&B recipes and thorough, scientific explanations. It can be a lot to take in, but she has some good beginner recipes to start with.

Once you start mixing water and oils, you'll need emulsifiers and preservatives. Most water-based products will need a preservative.

Two Wild Hares on Etsy offers PDF recipes for bubble bars and bath bombs. I actually just tried her bubble bar recipe yesterday and it was a fun, easy process. I bought all my supplies at SaveOnCitric, WholeSaleSuppliesPlus and Walmart.

My advice would be to pick a couple easy beginner products to try out first. Lotions are a lot more complex than you might think. Easy beginner products would be bath salts, bubble bars, lotion bars and sugar/salt scrubs. Bath bombs and water-based products can be tricky to get right.

Good luck!