How to Make Natural Body Products

Homemade lotion makes a thoughtful gift.

Indulging your body with body lotion you buy from stores can get really expensive. If you're tired of your usual brand or can't afford to spend all that money on your favorite moisturizing indulgence, you should consider making your own. It's fairly easy to do and once you have the basic recipe, the variations are limitless. It's also an inexpensive gift to give to your friends and family on birthdays or holidays.

Things You'll Need

• 3/4 cups of pure almond oil
• 1 cup pure water
• 2 tbsp. shaved beeswax
• 30 drops essential oil
• Glass bowl
• Wire whisk
• Pan
• Jars

Instructions

1. Gather all your supplies together. Choose the essential oils that you want and set them aside for later. You can choose as many essential oils as you like but if your using more then one essential oil make sure to divide the number of essential oils by the 30 drops. For example, if your using two different essential oils you would 15 drops of each oil to your mixture.

2. Put the pure almond oil, which is a oil extracted from almonds and has no other additives or preservatives or any other oils mixed in with it, into a glass bowl and add the beeswax. Fill a saucepan with tap water and set the glass bowl in the saucepan. Place the saucepan on the stove over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the beeswax is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool for one or two minutes no longer than that, or the beeswax will start to harden.

3. In another bowl measure out your pure water. This is water that has been distilled and has no additives and preservatives. Slowly add in your oil mixture to the pure water mixing continuously with a wire whisk. You will notice that the mixture will start to thicken when about 3/4 of the oil is added. Keep adding in the oil mixture until finished and continue to mix until well blended.

4. Get the essential oils you have chosen and add them to your lotion. Make sure you don't add too much of the essential oil. Only add 30 drops, if you're using more than one essential oil divide the number of oils by the 30 drops. If you add too much essential oil, your lotion scent will be overpowering and could cause your skin to break out in a rash or could make your lotion greasy.

5. Let your lotion cool completely and transfer it to jars for storage. When all your lotion has been transferred to jars, add a label to the jar and mark down the date the lotion was made and what essential oils you used.

Tips & Warnings

• A good pure oil is sweet almond oil; it does not leave a greasy feel to your skin.

• You might want to keep a record of the different scents you used so that next time you know what scents that you already used and what scents smelled better with others.

• You can choose any form of distilled water.

• You can purchase any of these items at a health food store or herbal stores.

• Your lotion should be kept in a cool dark place or in your refrigerator.

• It will stay good for about six months.

• Make sure that you do not use tap water when making your lotion.

References

• MNN: Make Your Own Body Lotion
• Articlesbase: Homemade Body Lotion