An All-Natural Body Cream Recipe

Originally posted on 22 January 2017

This body cream is a fairly thick, slightly fluffy, rich moisturizing cream consisting of 1 part oil and 1 part water. It's great on dry hands or as a night cream on your face. It's lighter and creamier than a salve or body butter (which are 100% oil based), but if you're looking for a light-weight lotion to put on your face in the morning, or as an all-over body lotion, modify the below recipe by combining 2-3 parts water : 1 part oil.

about emulsions

Oil-water emulsions present two basic challenges. Challenge #1 is getting the oil and water to hang out peaceably. In this recipe, we are using beeswax as an emulsifier which helps us to incorporate up to, but no more than 1 part water into 1 part oil.

Challenge #2 is preventing spoilage. When we introduce water, we create an environment that molds and bacterias don't mind so much. Commercial lotions are loaded with preservatives, but taking a couple precautions and using your lotion within a few months should keep the icky stuff at bay. We are going to use rubbing alcohol to disinfect everything that will touch our lotion, add vitamin E oil, and stuff it into a squeeze tube or pump bottle so we aren't dipping grubby fingers into the pot and introducing hungry little microbes.

Has my lotion gone bad? If it's covered in mold: yes, obviously. Less obviously, if a bacterial colony has made a home in your lotion it will take on a rather cheesy odor. If it is neither moldy nor cheesy smelling, you're good to go! 

you will need

rubbing alcohol

hot plate & saucepan or double-boiler

whisk, electric mixer or immersion blender

rubber spatula

kitchen scale

kitchen thermometer

recipe

85 g. liquid oil of your choice (olive oil, almond oil, etc.)

7 g. beeswax

85 g. distilled water

4 g. vitamin E oil

40 drops essential oils (optional)

Yield: 6 oz.

1. Spray or wipe down all your pots and utensils with rubbing alcohol to disinfect them. Wait a few minutes before using while alcohol evaporates.

2. Weigh out beeswax and liquid oil on a kitchen scale. Melt over low heat in a saucepan on a hotplate or in a double-boiler setup (to prevent scalding).

3. Remove from heat and whisk frequently until mixture becomes creamy.

4. Meanwhile, measure water and heat gently. You are ready to combine when oil mixture and water are both 80-100°F (what's more important than the exact temperature they're at, is that the oil and water mixtures are within 5° of each other when they are combined). 

5. Add 1 Tbsp of water to the oil mixture and mix with a whisk, electric mixer or immersion blender until well combined. 

Using an electric mixer or immersion blender will give you a slightly fluffier cream as they will incorporate more air into the mixture, but a whisk does the job, too!

It will look like this when you first introduce each tablespoon of water, as the water resists mixing into the oils.

Don't add another tablespoon until it looks like this! Nice and smooth.

6. Repeat step 5 until all the water is incorporated. Add vitamin E oil and essential oils and mix until well combined.

7. Decant into a pump bottle or squeeze tube for longest lasting results.

Enjoy!

Comment here and/or hit us up on social media using the hashtag #RevivalDIYs. We’d love to hear how your body cream turned out!