Happy foggy summer everyone. In an effort to brighten things up a bit around here, I uncovered this delicious looking recipe for homemade lotion bars from Radiant Life, a great supplement resource up in Santa Rosa, Ca.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Shea, Mango or Cocoa Butter (or a mix thereof)
2/3 cup Beeswax (shaved or in pastilles- tightly packed)
20-40 drops Essential Oils (optional)
1 tsp Vitamin E Oil (optional)
Add coconut oil, butters, and beeswax into a double boiler and heat on medium-low heat. If you do not have a double boiler, alternatively place all ingredients in a quart size jar, cover and submerge in about 2-3 inches of simmering water.
Continue to warm, stirring gently or carefully shaking the jar every 1-2 minutes to encourage the ingredients to melt. When you have a smooth, golden liquid, remove from heat. At this point you can add your essential oils or vitamin E as the mixture begins to cool, mixing carefully to combine.
Pour into a mold of your choice. You can likely find a variety of themed molds at your local grocery or craft store or simply pour mix into the bottom of a parchment paper-lined baking pan.
Once the lotion has cooled and hardened completely, gently pop out of the molds or cut into bars if you used a square pan. The bars should stay solid at room temperature, but will melt slighlty when applied to the skin and absorb quite easily. If the bars are too melty, try adding more beeswax next time, and store this batch in the refrigerator for greatest ease of use. All ingredients are very shelf stable so they should last for several months without issue. Enjoy!
