Shower Lotion Bar Tests and recipes

[dmcgee5034]

These sound nice! I’m going to have to try making them. Thanks everyone for all the tips and tricks. I have dried black beans - assume those will be a good sub?

 

[Misschief]

These sound nice! I’m going to have to try making them. Thanks everyone for all the tips and tricks. I have dried black beans - assume those will be a good sub?

I don't see why not.

 

[VikingChick]

My bars are currently cooling. I only had enough cocoa butter to make 3 bars….which is cool bc it gave me a good sample size batch. I‘m glad I don’t have to wait 4 weeks to try them! #impatient

 

[Misschief]

My bars are currently cooling. I only had enough cocoa butter to make 3 bars….which is cool bc it gave me a good sample size batch. I‘m glad I don’t have to wait 4 weeks to try them! #impatient

I made them, too. I did half a recipe - 5 oz each of the cocoa butter and the shea butter. It made 5 of the square bars and 5 of the little flowers. They're scented with Honey, I Washed the Kids; not terribly impressed with the FO at first but it's growing on me.

 

[VikingChick]

I made them, too. I did half a recipe - 5 oz each of the cocoa butter and the shea butter. It made 5 of the square bars and 5 of the little flowers. They're scented with Honey, I Washed the Kids; not terribly impressed with the FO at first but it's growing on me.

View attachment 76135

I decided not to use any FO in my test batch. I would’ve used a chocolate mint FO I have from WSP but didn’t. I need to convert this recipe to grams if I like it, bc ounces is just not precise enough for me!

 

[Misschief]

I decided not to use any FO in my test batch. I would’ve used a chocolate mint FO I have from WSP but didn’t. I need to convert this recipe to grams if I like it, bc ounces is just not precise enough for me!

Agreed. I did discover that 1/4 cup of the Adzuki beans is 50 grams.

Now that the bars are unmolded, I'm finding that the combo of the cocoa butter and the FO together almost smells like coffee. I'm liking it more now.

 

[not_ally]

Wait until you get it into the shower/bath until you use it (ie; don't do a test run with cold water/skin). You really need the warmth from the water/steam/warm skin to get the oils melted a bit so that you have enough glide to rub them in and get the exfoliants working.

 

[nadsnads]

Thank you for sharing Regarding Lush bars, a while back I read somewhere that the reason their products don't spoil without apparently having any 'preservatives' on the ingredients list is because the preservative is included as a component of the perfume. They tend to use a lot of 'fresh' food ingredients (bananas, avocados etc) in their products such as masks and lotion bars and to sell those to the public without adding any preservative would not meet the cosmetics safety standards in the EU (or anywhere else). Like you, I would err on the side of caution and include some form of preservative.

I often go to lush for inspiration and I've often noticed that they're not truthful with their interest listings.

Look at this face cream for example, which lists "fresh wheatgrass juice" as its first ingredient : https://www.lush.com/us/en_us/p/skins-shangri-la-self-preserving-moisturiser

Anybody who's ever made a lotion will tell you, there's absolutely no way to make it with fresh juice of anything without developing mold. I don't know how they've been getting away with this for ages.

 

[VikingChick]

I used my scrubby lotion bar this morning - it was awesome! Thanks for sharing the recipe, @not_ally!

 

[nadsnads]

I decided not to use any FO in my test batch. I would’ve used a chocolate mint FO I have from WSP but didn’t. I need to convert this recipe to grams if I like it, bc ounces is just not precise enough for me!

I used 30% benzoin and 70% orange, i absolutely love how they pair with cocoa butter, reminds me of orange chocolate bars

I also struggle with ounces, so i converted to %:
31% cocoa butter
31% shea butter
37% exfoliants (IIRC she's using equal amounts of each)
1% fragrance

 

[Misschief]

I used my scrubby lotion bar this morning - it was awesome! Thanks for sharing the recipe, @not_ally!

Likewise! Love it!!

 

[not_ally]

I used 30% benzoin and 70% orange, i absolutely love how they pair with cocoa butter, reminds me of orange chocolate bars

I also struggle with ounces, so i converted to %:
31% cocoa butter
31% shea butter
37% exfoliants (IIRC she's using equal amounts of each)
1% fragrance

I converted the oz to % but didn't think to include them, I should have. I think I jiggled the numbers slightly to make the FO 2% (I like strong scent) and to add 1.5% Optiphen, but the exfoliants were different amounts in the original. So my %'s were:

Shea, CB 32%g each
adzuki 11.5%
rice 14%
almond 7%g
FO 2%
Optiphen Plus 1.5g%

My math skills are not the best, so I might be off, but I did like the way the exfoliant mix came out when ground very finely (especially the beans and rice) in those amounts.

ETA: @nadsnads, that sounds delicious, now I have to get benzoin!

 

[Georgeandstella]

Here are my “Buffy” bars-love them! they are replacing our sugar scrubs. These are less messy in the shower.I used a deeper mold to make them bigger, as my husband always wants big soaps, etc. (Sorry about the background color, my work area was so dirty I just grabbed a clean cloth as background without regard to color). Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[nadsnads]

Here are my scrubby bars-love them! they are replacing our sugar scrubs. These are less messy in the shower.I used a deeper mold to make them bigger, as my husband always wants big soaps, etc. (Sorry about the background color, my work area was so dirty I just grabbed a clean cloth as background without regard to color). Thank you so much for sharing!

View attachment 76167

Which recipe is that? The buffy bars or one of the emulsified ones?

 

[Georgeandstella]

Which recipe is that? The buffy bars or one of the emulsified ones?

I’ve updated the post to mention Buffy bars…

 

[dmcgee5034]

@not_ally - this face mold on Temu is similar. Moon Face Silicone Mold Silicone Soap Molds Diy Tool For - Temu

Be warned, looking up silicone face mold yields some down right creepy results

 

[not_ally]

Be warned, looking up silicone face mold yields some down right creepy results

not_ally IMMEDIATELY googles "silicone face mold". I am now wondering if any of my giftees would find alien or creepy baby face soaps amusing. Probably a niche market

 

[Kcryss]

Finally got these made today! Can't wait to try them.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Finally got these made today! Can't wait to try them.

Me, too!
I made them small - 1.5oz ea so I can give them as samples to all my ladies in the office to test out.
ETA - photo and size info

 

[dmcgee5034]

Wow, these babies melt fast! I noticed that on the Lush website in their reviews. Anyone thought about modifying to extend the life even a little? Maybe a small amount of beeswax? Lowering the exfoliants a bit? Both?