How To Make Body Lotion

Are you tired of spending a fortune on expensive body lotions? Why not try making your own body lotion at home?

Not only is it more affordable, but it also allows you to control the ingredients and customise the lotion to suit your needs.

It may sound like a daunting task, but it's easier than you think! We've created two different recipes so you can choose the best one for you.

Contents

1. Why make your own lotion?
2. What is a lotion base?
3. Simple body lotion recipe
4. Intermediate body lotion recipe

Why make your own lotion?

When it comes to skincare, there are countless options available on the market. From lotions and creams to serums and oils, it can be overwhelming to choose the right product for your skin.

Making your own body lotion allows you to choose the best ingredients for your skin type and control what goes in and what you want to keep out.

A popular ingredient that causes irritation in many skincare products is parfum/ fragrance. This can easily be avoided when making your own lotion. You could make a fragrance free lotion or use our 100% natural essential oils.

What is a lotion base?

A quick and easy way to make your own body lotion is by using our lotion base. It is a ready to use, pre-thickened and a fully formulated base.

You can use the lotion base without any additives or you can customise it. This lotion base can be personalised with your favourite essential oils and natural colourants to create a unique body lotion.

The lotion base contains natural sunflower oil and has a light velvety texture. It is also 100% vegan friendly and cruelty free.

It absorbs well into the skin and is also suitable for any skin type including dry skin, sensitive skin or acne prone skin.

Let's learn how to make body lotion....

Simple body lotion recipe

This simple homemade body lotion recipe is perfect for beginners or for creating a super quick body lotion!

Ingredients

• Lotion base 250ml

• Lavender essential oil 2ml (optional)

Method

1. Heat the lotion base

• Measure the lotion base into a heatproof bowl.

• Gently heat the base to about 38 – 40°C.

2. Add essential oils

• Once the base has reached temperature, add the lavender essential oil.

• We recommend adding no more 0.5% of essential oils to the lotion base.

3. Mix the essential oil and lotion base together

• Gently mix together until the oil has fully dispersed

• Make sure any oils you have added are evenly distributed throughout the lotion and the consistency is smooth.

4. Pour into a container

• Once fully combined, pour the mixture into your chosen bottles or tubs.

• Now your homemade lotion is ready to use!

Intermediate body lotion recipe

Do you want to make a homemade body lotion from scratch? This step by step recipe is easy to follow and creates a luxurious lotion!

Ingredients

• Water 200g

• Sodium lactate 15g

• Allantoin 2g

• Panthenol 5g

• Shea butter 8g

• Fractionated coconut oil 25g

• Argan oil 10g

• Emulsifying wax SLS free 11g

• Hydroxyethyl cellulose 2g

• Geogard ultra 3g

• 10/90 lye solution (if needed)

Method

1. Heated water phase

• Weigh the water, panthenol, hydroxyethyl cellulose and Geogard Ultra.

• Combine in a heatproof bowl.

• Heat over a pan of boiling water or in a double boiler.

• Mix well until the Geogard Ultra has dissolved.

• Measure the sodium lactate and add this to the mixture.

• Remove from the heat.

2. Heated oil phase

• Weigh the shea butter and emulsifying wax.

• Heat over a pan of boiling water or in a double boiler.

• Mix well until the shea butter and emulsifying wax has melted.

• Measure the argan oil and fractionated coconut oil.

• Add these oils to the mixture.

• Once fully combined, remove from the heat.

3. Cool down phase

• Weigh out the allantoin powder.

• Measure the temperature of the water solution to check it is below 50°C.

• Once the mixture has reached temperature, mix in the allantoin powder.

4. Cooling and whipping process

• Add the liquid oil mixture to the water solution.

• Blend with a stick blender in short pulses for 1-2 minutes.

• Once blended, leave the mixture to cool to around 25°C and stir occasionally.

5. Test the pH

• The pH of body lotion should be in the range 4.5 - 5.5

• Take 2g of the lotion and mix it in 18g of water until dissolved.

• Using a digital pH meter, measure the pH.

• The pH of our lotion was 5.3, which is within the ideal range.

6. If necessary, adjust the pH

• If the pH of your body lotion is too low, make a sodium hydroxide solution.

• Put on your gloves, mask and safety goggles. For more information about safety when using sodium hydroxide, click here.

• Weigh 10g of sodium hydroxide and 90g of water.

• Add the sodium hydroxide to the water and stir until dissolved.

• Using a pipette, add 0.5g of the sodium hydroxide solution into the diluted lotion sample that you used for pH testing.

• Test the pH again, if the pH is still under 4.5, repeat the last steps until the pH is 4.5-5.5.

• Once the correct pH has been reached, record the amount of sodium hydroxide solution needed and add this to the remaining body lotion.

• If the pH of the lotion was over 5.5, you can follow this process but use 10g citric acid diluted in 90g water.

7. Pour into containers

• Once all of the ingredients are fully combined, pour the mixture into a container.

• Now your body lotion is ready to use!

Continue Reading

Now you've learned how to make body lotion, why not continue reading?

• Want to make your own whipped body butter? Check out our body butter recipe

• Learn how to make your own lotion bars with our cocoa lotion bar recipe

• Looking for essential oils to improve your mood? We've taken a deep dive into the best essential oils for uplifting mood!

Did you try our homemade body lotion recipe? Let us know how you got on in the comments below!