DIY Lotion Bars

I tend to get really dry skin in the winter time, but I'm not a big fan of the ingredients in most store bought lotions. A few years ago I decided to give homemade lotion a try, but couldn't find a recipe that didn't leave my skin feeling really greasy. I finally came upon a couple different recipes for lotion bars and tried them out. I immediately decided lotion bars were the way to go. They didn't leave my skin feeling greasy, and they're super simple to make. After a few adjustments, I settled on a recipe I really like.

Why Avoid Store Bought Lotions?

There are a lot of potentially harmful ingredients in most mainstream lotions, including: parabens, artificial fragrances, and triethanolamine. Parabens are often added to lotions to prevent bacterial and fungal growth but are endocrine disruptors that have been linked to various types of cancer. Many artificial fragrances are also endocrine disruptors and can be irritating to the respiratory system. Triethanolamine, a chemical commonly used to balance pH in lotions, has been linked to cancer in animal studies and is a respiratory and skin irritant. And these are just a few of the questionable ingredients often found in store bought lotions.

DIY Lotion Bar Recipe

You will need:

-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

-1/3 cup shea butter

-1/3 cup beeswax pellets

-10-15 drops of your favorite essential oils (optional)

-A saucepan

-A large mason jar

-Soap molds or ice cube trays

Combine all the ingredients in a large mason jar, then set the jar in a sauce pan filled with water.

Heat over medium heat, stiring often, until all the ingredients have melted.

Remove from heat and add 10-15 drops of your choice of essential oils. My personal favorites for lotion bars are lavender and chamomile because they so soothing for your skin. For unscented bars, skip the essential oils. Stir until the oils are fully distributed.

Carefully pour the mixture into your soap molds or ice cube trays and set aside to cool for several hours. Once they are fully cooled, remove the bars from the molds. And that's it!

To use your lotion bars, just rub over your skin. In cool weather, you may need to hold your lotion bar in your hands for a few seconds to warm it up before applying.

You can store them in small mason jars or tins.

If you enjoyed this post, check out:

-DIY All Purpose Healing Salve

-DIY Kid Safe Bug Repellant

Follow me on:
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
Twitter

Comments

Water Relay Races For Kids

I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely love games involving water and getting wet in the summer time. In this post I share 5 of our favorite water relay races to play with friends. These are perfect for birthday parties, homeschool get togethers, and other group events. Sponge Relay: For this relay you will need: - 2 teams of several kids each -2 large sponges -4 small buckets or containers of some sort Divide your participants into 2 teams and have each team line up single file at a predetermined starting place. Hand out a sponge to the first participant in each line. Set a bucket of water by each team. Set an empty bucket about 20 ft away from each team. The two empty buckets should be the same size and should have a "fill line" marked half way up. On a count of 3 (or ready set go) the first participant in each line should dip their sponge in the bucket of water, run to the empty bucket, squeeze the water from their spo

STEM Art: 21 STEAM Project Ideas

My kids love STEM projects and we're always looking for ways to add more art to our homeschool days, so I decided I am going to try to dedicate one morning a week this year to STEM art activities. In this post I share some of the ideas we're planning to try, plus a few favorites we've done in the past. What is STEM Education? STEM education is a blended and often hands on approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are some of today's fastest growing industries. STEM education offers students the opportunity to problem solve and work on real world problems and questions. Sometimes the acronym STEAM is used, to include the arts. Adding art to STEM education encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. It can also help make the other included subjects more appealing to some students. STEM Art Projects Penny Spinners- Learn about centrifugal force and make your own spinning tops with this fun post from Teach Beside Me. Explo

Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit

One of my family's favorite hobbies is rock hounding. We love collecting and trying to identify neat rock and mineral specimens that we come across. You can put together your own simple kit for identifying rocks and minerals with materials you likely already have around your home. In this post I will explain how to put together your own mineral identification kit and how to use it to identify rocks and minerals you find on your adventures. Making a Rock and Mineral ID Kit Grab yourself a printable Rock and Mineral Journal for recording your observations here: Printable Rock and Mineral Journal , and then gather the following supplies: -A pencil -A coin -An iron nail -A piece of glass (an old pocket mirror works well) -A ceramic tile -A small watertight bottle or container -Some vinegar -A magnet -A magnifying glass -A dropper (optional) -Rock and mineral guide (optional) -A small container or bag to keep it all in Fill the small watertight

Learning About Thailand: Activities and Resources

Thailand ended up being a really fun country to study. There are so many amazing Thai recipes to try and lots of neat buildings and monuments to learn about. My family's favorite part of this unit study was learning about Asian elephants, they are such interesting and intelligent animals! Basic Information Thailand is a country in southern Asia. It is boarderd by Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Andaman Sea. The northern region is mountainous while the southern region is hilly and forested. Capital- Bangkok Population- 69.6 million Size- 198,115 square miles Currency- Baht Type of Government- Constitutional Monarchy National Anthem- Phleng Chat Thai National Animal- elephant Flag Famous Places The Grand Palace- The Grand Palace in Bangkok was used as the official royal residence of Thailand from 1782 to 1925. It is still used today for ceremonies and state functions. The palace sits on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. It consists of many buildings and pavilions set around a

Learning About The Human Body Part 1: The Skeletal And Muscular Systems

At the end of each school year, I sit down with my daughter to discuss what topics she wants to learn about the next year. One of her science topics she picked to study this year was the human body. Instead of ordering a boxed curriculum set, I decided to put together my own human body unit. In this post I share some of the resources we used for learning about the human skeletal and muscular systems, plus instructions for a couple hands on learning activities. You can find my post about the human respiratory and circulatory systems here , and my post about the human digestive and nervous systems here . The Human Skeletal System Our skeletons are the frame of our body. They give us structure, without them our bodies would be limp like noodles. They also provide places for muscles to attach so our bodies can move. Why Does Your Body Need Calcium? Experiment: This is a simple experiment you can do to explore why calcium is important for our bones. You will need: -several clean

Search This Blog