I have been looking for spa/beauty product recipes with minimally processed, all natural ingredients. I wanted to use shea butter, as I've read that it is great for your skin and hair. Among other things, it is rich in vitamin A, E, and F, fatty acids, and nutrients that maintain a soft skin texture and help elasticity.
This lotion recipe contains only 4 basic ingredients with an optional 5th (not shown above). The crock pot liners are for easy clean up.
1. Shea butter – The shea butters available at my local chain stores and pharmacies labelled shea butter were not what I was looking for. Many had ingredient lists a few inches deep where shea butter wasn't always the first ingredient. I'm sure they may have worked, but I was looking for 100% shea butter. I ended up special ordering from a company called Cleopatra's Choice. They offered 100% pure, organic Shea Butter from Africa. The product I received from them was amazing. It smelled wonderful and felt great when I applied it straight on my skin.
2. Coconut oil – I choose to go with organic, unrefined oil from a local organic store. You can go with the non-organic and refined oil, but I wanted a higher nutrient content oil. By going unrefined, the oil had more natural nutrients available.
3. Beeswax- I picked this up from a local craft store and used their 40% coupon from Sunday's newspaper.
4. Vitamin E Capsules (10)- I wanted a vitamin E oil with as few ingredients as possible. I thought that would be easy, I was wrong. I looked at several brands and forms (capsules and oils). The brand I decided to go with was the Bluebonnet brand. It had the shortest ingredient list; vitamin E, oil, gelatin, glycerin, and water.
5. Tea Tree Oil (optional)- This oil was added to only a few of the bars. Tea Tree Oil is used to relief inflammation and skin irritation. It also has antibacterial properties.
Optional: Crock pot Liners- Plastic bags for the crock pot make clean up a snap. If you don't have them, you have to scrap dried wax/lotion off your crock pot. Trust me, just go pick them up.
** Please note that you can add essential oils to this recipe for fragrance. Just follow the package instructions for quantity guidelines.
I love things that are simple. I also love that this is in a crockpot! I’d like to make some of these and then wrap them in brown wrap with some twine. Be an amazing gift. And Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Stopping by from the Let’s Get Real link party.
We gave these as gifts over Christmas. I would recommend a wax paper instead of a plain brown paper. The ingredients will stain brown paper. I used small jewelry bags from Hobby Lobby to package and then wrapped in tissue paper.
Hi Nicky~ So this is a lotion bar and not soap, right? My skin is so darn dry right now…………I really need to try this. The ingredients are wonderful. I usually rub coconut oil on my hands when I cook with it. Kind of a silly kitchen ritual I have. My daughter’s hands are even worse than mine. When I put scented lotions on her she cries that it burns. This will be really good for her.
Yes it’s lotion. It’s very moisturizing and if feels great. It takes a little bit to soak in (less than a minute), and you can feel it working.