What Bath & Body Thing Have You Done Today?

[AliOop]

Here is a picture of the lotions in the Dollar Store jars with Amazon lotion pumps on them. I love how they turned out; the combined price of jar and pump = $3.39 (plus I end up with a cute bronze lid that could be used with small mason jars if I were to sell anything in those).

Also in this picture are some packets of foaming milk bath salt soaks, which are also going to my friend who makes the gift baskets. The ingredients are almost identical to bath bombs with added salt. Instead of pressing them into a bomb, the powder is just scooped into the packet and then heat-sealed (I use a very cheap hair straightener, which works very well for this).

These packets are only 30g. Even one packet has enough milk and salt to be very skin-soothing and softening. Still, I'll order 60-100g packets for the next time, because a large bathtub requires two packets to have a nice amount of foam.

 

[Kcryss]

For those that make the DIY Foaming Bath Butter, have you tried melting everything in the microwave rather than in a pot of water? I did just make a batch using the microwave and it seems to be fine. I was a little concerned about getting the SCI to melt with all the other ingredients, so I melted the SCI and CAPB into a paste first, then added everything else and zapped at 20 second increments until the stearic was melted.
Does everyone just mix it all together as the instructions say or do you melt the SCI first?

 

[AliOop]

For those that make the DIY Foaming Bath Butter, have you tried melting everything in the microwave rather than in a pot of water? I did just make a batch using the microwave and it seems to be fine. I was a little concerned about getting the SCI to melt with all the other ingredients, so I melted the SCI and CAPB into a paste first, then added everything else and zapped at 20 second increments until the stearic was melted.
Does everyone just mix it all together as the instructions say or do you melt the SCI first?

Yes, I always melt all my ingredients together in the microwave, except the water (which I add after everything else has melted) and the preservative (which I add when the mix has cooled enough).

The liquid surfactant (CapB in this case) will help the SCI to melt faster, so you at least want to mix those two when melting.

 

[Kcryss]

Yes, I always melt all my ingredients together in the microwave, except the water (which I add after everything else has melted) and the preservative (which I add when the mix has cooled enough).

The liquid surfactant (CapB in this case) will help the SCI to melt faster, so you at least want to mix those two when melting.

Thanks @AliOop

Ok, so the SCI melts just fine with the stearic and glycerin included with the CAPB and SCI. Glad to hear that! Lol, it took forever the way I did it with SCI/CAPB, then add everything else except the preservative. I was using 20 sec increments with the microwave, can you go higher or is that about right?

 

[Marie_with_an_e]

Here is a picture of the lotions in the Dollar Store jars with Amazon lotion pumps on them. I love how they turned out; the combined price of jar and pump = $3.39 (plus I end up with a cute bronze lid that could be used with small mason jars if I were to sell anything in those).

Also in this picture are some packets of foaming milk bath salt soaks, which are also going to my friend who makes the gift baskets. The ingredients are almost identical to bath bombs with added salt. Instead of pressing them into a bomb, the powder is just scooped into the packet and then heat-sealed (I use a very cheap hair straightener, which works very well for this).

These packets are only 30g. Even one packet has enough milk and salt to be very skin-soothing and softening. Still, I'll order 60-100g packets for the next time, because a large bathtub requires two packets to have a nice amount of foam.

View attachment 79254

Those jars of lotion look so beautiful!

 

[AliOop]

Those jars of lotion look so beautiful!

Thank you! The friend who commissioned them for her gift baskets was overjoyed.

Ok, so the SCI melts just fine with the stearic and glycerin included with the CAPB and SCI. Glad to hear that! Lol, it took forever the way I did it with SCI/CAPB, then add everything else except the preservative. I was using 20 sec increments with the microwave, can you go higher or is that about right?

I actually start with 2 minutes, and then give it a big stir, and then 30 seconds at a time after that.

 

[Kcryss]

I actually start with 2 minutes, and then give it a big stir, and then 30 seconds at a time after that.

Thank you so much!

 

[ewhitake]

I made my own "bum bum cream". Caffeine extract, IPM, hydrolozed oats, panthenol, vit E. The oils are a mix of cupuacu, safflower, and cocoa butter. It's scented with Scent memory's Black plum & creme de cassis, so it smells darn close to the store bought ones. I poured it into this nice TJs flip top container from their own version of it. I love this container it's so easy to use, and I'm holding onto it because I haven't seen them being sold anywhere for DIYers. View attachment 78970

Bum bum cream?

 

[ewhitake]

Had the intention of making a large batch of my body butter but got distracted by two new formulations (vit c serum and a beard conditioner) I’d worked out but not put together yet.
Now for the testing! The beard conditioner is for my son and nothing is ever right for him on the first go. I’ll be in test mode for weeks!!

 

[ewhitake]

Spent the morning watching Ant Man movies and deconstructing a VERY expensive skincare serum I use and will soon run out of and infusing some turmeric oil. Surprisingly I already have most of the ingredients for the serum

 

[Tammyfarms]

Yesterday I made two small batches of lotion bars. One batch with beeswax, Cacay oil, mango butter and shea butter. The second batch was the same except I used babassu instead of shea. I don’t like a greasy lotion bar but my lotion bars last year with straight mango butter were a little too dry. Both of yesterdays batches had just 10% of Shea or babassu. So far they seem a little better than the straight mango.

Today I used the DIY lotion concentrate to make a thicker lotion, but not quite cream. Some is scented with lavender EO and will be for gifts, part is unscented and will be for me as a tester.

 

[Tammyfarms]

A couple days ago I decided another lotion bar experiment was in order. I have been reading a lot about tallow benefits in skincare.

I had made a whipped tallow balm with tallow and FCO that I didn’t like at all. It felt like I was smearing grease on my skin and I didn’t like the feeling at all. I set it aside until I could figure out something else to do with it. That’s when the lotion bar idea was born.

This lotion bar is
33% beeswax
23% mango butter
21% tallow
18% cacay oil
5% FCO
1% vitamin e
This is my favorite lotion bar recipe so far.

Next is adding tallow to my lotion and seeing what happens there.

In other news, I am working on a deodorant recipe. I had made something a few years ago that I thought was ok as it controlled smell but it was a bit sticky and draggy on my skin. @cmzaha kindly sent me a sample of her deodorant and I realized mine could use a lot of improvement! I’m looking at deodorant recipes again and consolidated what I have done in the past. I had 20 versions that I made before coming up with the recipe I found effective and acceptable. Lessons for the day, 1) think twice about asking someone to share a recipe and 2) it can definitely be cheaper to just buy a proven recipe than waste ingredients on 20 versions of something that doesn’t work. That’s my PSA for the day.

 

[Gaisy59]

A couple days ago I decided another lotion bar experiment was in order. I have been reading a lot about tallow benefits in skincare.

I had made a whipped tallow balm with tallow and FCO that I didn’t like at all. It felt like I was smearing grease on my skin and I didn’t like the feeling at all. I set it aside until I could figure out something else to do with it. That’s when the lotion bar idea was born.

This lotion bar is
33% beeswax
23% mango butter
21% tallow
18% cacay oil
5% FCO
1% vitamin e
This is my favorite lotion bar recipe so far.

Next is adding tallow to my lotion and seeing what happens there.

In other news, I am working on a deodorant recipe. I had made something a few years ago that I thought was ok as it controlled smell but it was a bit sticky and draggy on my skin. @cmzaha kindly sent me a sample of her deodorant and I realized mine could use a lot of improvement! I’m looking at deodorant recipes again and consolidated what I have done in the past. I had 20 versions that I made before coming up with the recipe I found effective and acceptable. Lessons for the day, 1) think twice about asking someone to share a recipe and 2) it can definitely be cheaper to just buy a proven recipe than waste ingredients on 20 versions of something that doesn’t work. That’s my PSA for the day.

No no don’t give up on the deo idea. You may think it’s more expensive but while you are formulating you are still using the deo you make

 

[Tammyfarms]

No no don’t give up on the deo idea. You may think it’s more expensive but while you are formulating you are still using the deo you make

Definitely not giving up. Just reformulating. My initial experiments go back to 2017. I can’t imagine using store bought deodorant.

 

[Zing]

So Mrs. Zing just flew back from a trip out of state. She said the TSA agent pointed to her jar of my homemade Play Footsie Foot Balm (she never leaves home without it ) and asked her what that was. Mrs. Zing -- who used to be the friendliest TSA agent you've ever met but also knows her stuff -- said "it's skin salve and it's a solid so we're good here."

 

[Midnight_Sun]

I’m making an emulsified salt scrub, which is my first bath/body thing I’m making ever. I’ve been lurking in this forum for a short while but I’m finally actually making something and saying hello. Amazing amounts of information in the threads.

 

[Misschief]

Welcome! Make sure you introduce yourself in the intro forum: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/forums/new-member-introductions.16/

I love emulsified scrubs!

 

[AliOop]

Today's bath and body thing was christening my new(ish) craft room - by knocking over a 2000g container of freshly made, hot lotion. It went everywhere - all four directions off the sides of my work table, all over and into the cleaned and prepped containers (and their flip-cap lids), all over the shelf below the table top (which holds my soap cutters, mixing bowls, and towels - all sprayed with lotion), all over the floor, inside the hot water kettle, into every crevice of my KD-8000 scale, all over the utensil holder (full of clean utensils), and even into the surge protector.

It probably didn't dethrone @KiwiMoose's Great Red Mica Spill as the worst soap room clean-up ever, but it may take the prize in the Most Expensive Loss of Ingredients category. What's worse is that after all the clean-up, I still had to make another batch since this is an order for my friend who makes gift baskets. While I was pouring that batch, I managed to knock over one lotion container, but thankfully caught it before more than a teaspoon escaped.

Then while making dinner, I managed to send a spoon with curry paste flying across the kitchen floor. Seriously? Suffice it to say, I won't be driving anywhere tonight, nor handling firearms, matches, etc.

 

[bookworm42]

@AliOop I'm crying but also laughing. Hopefully it didn't take too long to clean up!

 

[AliOop]

I hear ya... I would have taken pictures for y'all's entertainment value but the lotion puddles just kept spreading so I was afraid to stop wiping it up. Cleaning the containers and equipment took a bit, but it's done and in the books. But I draw the line at labels - those will have to get done another day.