Lotion bars are quick to make and a holiday gift that the recipients love to get. The ingredients are only three:
1/3 oil (avocado or sweet almond oil are best)
1/3 butter (shea butter, cocoa butter - I like a half and half combination)
1/3 melted beeswax.
Equipment needed:
A boiling water bath
A large measuring cup
Chopsticks to use for stirring
Molds for the bars (commercial ones can be purchased or you can use ice cube trays)
One caution: These smell great because of the cocoa butter. Once I gave one to someone and she took a bite out of it! Important that your recipient knows they are lotion (although nothing in the bar would be bad for eating!)
These take a short time and are fun to do. Here's a slideshow of the process:
1/3 oil (avocado or sweet almond oil are best)
1/3 butter (shea butter, cocoa butter - I like a half and half combination)
1/3 melted beeswax.
Equipment needed:
A boiling water bath
A large measuring cup
Chopsticks to use for stirring
Molds for the bars (commercial ones can be purchased or you can use ice cube trays)
One caution: These smell great because of the cocoa butter. Once I gave one to someone and she took a bite out of it! Important that your recipient knows they are lotion (although nothing in the bar would be bad for eating!)
These take a short time and are fun to do. Here's a slideshow of the process:
Thanks so much for the recipe! We bagan beekeeping this past spring and our bees didn't really produce enough but I just purchased some wax from a local fella to play with. I'm going to try this one.
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic about making lotion bars from bees. I think that it would be healthy for the skin. I think that it would be very helpful for us.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing. We are first year bee keepers. What is the source of the shea and cocoa butters?
ReplyDeleteIt was really wonderful to see that you are making cosmetics. I have been making similar lotion bars for several years now and they are one of my biggest sellers at the arts and crafts shows I do.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the fun stuff. Have you tried candles yet?? I am getting closer to trying soap
Take care
Your Fan
Annette from Placerville Caifornia
I'm guessing you mean a 1/3 cup of each? I wonder if I could do it by weight...
ReplyDeleteAnna
It's proportion - I used 4 oz melted beeswax, 4 oz avocado oil and 2 oz shea butter + 2 oz cocoa butter. You could also do 1/3 cup, 1/3 cup, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am unclear as to what a lotion bar is. Is it sort of like a "chapstick" for your skin or more like a soap? I am searching for gifts for the kids' teachers and this looks lie something we could make together. I just want to be clear on what i am making!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your help throughout the year. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season with your family and the new grandba-bee!
It's not soap, but looks like soap. It's lotion in a bar. So you rub your hands on it or put it between your two hands as one would a bar of soap but it's lotion so you rub it in rather than wash it off as you would soap.
ReplyDeleteLinda, thanks so much for this! I'm a new beekeeper this year and enjoyed making something from the precious scraps of beeswax I collected this year -- mostly brace comb --since I didn't harvest any honey. Love your blog; i enjoy all the tips!
ReplyDelete