Coconut Oil Lotions Make Easy
Coconut oil lotions can be mixed with any number of carrier oils, nut and fruit butters, beeswax and other natural ingredients to make lovely massage bars, creams or oils. A typical recipe includes coconut oil, a liquid carrier oil or butter and any of a wide range of essential oils, herbs, flowers and even spices for fragrance and particular healing qualities.
Healing Aloe Coconut Body Lotion
Ingredients
- ½ ounce of beeswax
- ⅓ cup of coconut oil
- ¾ cup of almond oil
- 1 cup of Aloe vera gel
- 1 tsp. of pure vitamin E oil
- Up to 1 tsp. of essential oil of your choice or more to prolong scent
- Optional: 1 tsp. lanolin
Directions: All ingredients should be at room temperature to start. Remove Aloe vera gel from refrigeration several hours before beginning this recipe for best results.
Place beeswax in top of double boiler or in a container in a saucepan of gently simmering water on low heat and begin to melt. As the beeswax melts, add the coconut oil. Once the wax and coconut oil are mostly melted, remove from heat, and add the almond oil. Allow the oils to stand in the top so they stay warm and liquid.
Place the Aloe vera gel and vitamin E oil in a food processor, process on low and add the oils in a thin stream to the mixture as it runs, adding the oils slowly until the mixture is the consistency of mayonnaise.
Remove the food processor blade and pour off the mixture into glass jars. Allow to cool, then cap and seal.
Optional: Include one teaspoon of lanolin in the food processor with the Aloe vera gel and vitamin E oil.
Coconut Massage Bars
The first time I ever used a massage bar I was utterly intrigued. First off, it smelled amazing. Second, it was easy to hold, but as soon as my hands warmed it, it was easy to glide over my skin.
Then I used it to give my husband a massage, and I was hooked. I never went back to bottles of oil again. The bars are so much easier to work with, and so easy to control. Rub your hands with the bar, use it on the skin of the one you are massaging, set it aside when you have enough. No spills, no big pools of oil to contend with, no giant slippery mess.
When you use coconut oil to make a massage bar you are using an oil that has several advantages. It’s therapeutic, it’s solid at room temperature, and it’s a great carrier oil.
By mixing it with liquid carrier oils, shea butter, bees wax and other ingredients you can take it in different directions as a massage bar, a semi-solid massage cream or even a massage oil by using just a few tablespoons of virgin coconut oil in a mostly liquid carrier oil massage oil.
And then, of course, there are the aromatherapy essential oils, herbs and fragrance possibilities. It’s a veritable endless expanse of possibility.
Here are some dried ingredients you might like to experiment with in your lotions and massage bars:
- Sea Salt – Celtic, Himalayan or Hawaii Black, coarse grind
- Sugar – Raw Coconut Sugar or Turbinado Sugar
- Herb Teas
- Green Tea
- Dried Herbs – Marjoram, Rosemary, Thyme, Spearmint, Peppermint, Hyssop
- Dried Flowers – Borage, Calendula, Chamomile, Heather, Helichrysum, Honeysuckle, Hyssop Lavender, Mint, Rose Petals
- Dried Spices – Cinnamon, Cardamom, Coriander
- Dried Seeds – Celery, Cardamom, Sesame Healing Massage Bars
The simplest form of coconut oil massage bar is made with 100% coconut oil and some essential oil for fragrance. Simply melt the coconut oil over warm water in a dish or mason jar, add the essential oil and pour off into molds, recycled plastic food containers, muffin tins or whatever you want to use to shape your bars. You can even use a large glass baking pan and then cut the bars into squares or rectangles of your choice.
Personally, I love round or circle shaped bars because they fit in your hand so nicely. The standard or even mini muffin tin size works just fine. 100% coconut oil massage bars tend to be firmer and are easier to remove from their molds than bars made with carrier oils, shea butter or other ingredients.
Lotion Bars are quick and easy to make. These are poured into molds – recycled plastic food containers or silicone molds work well. We like to make them round. They are firm enough to stand up on their own, and soften when you hold them and rub your hands on them.
Coconut Oil Massage Bar Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil (100 grams or 3.5 ounces)
- ½ cup shea butter (100 grams or 3.5 ounces)
- ¼ cup organic bees wax 50 grams or 1.76 ounces
- ¼ cup sweet almond oil 10 to 20 drops
- Essential Oils (see Essential Oil Recipes)
Directions: Heat the beeswax in a double boiler or in a large bowl over a small saucepan with a couple inches of simmering water in it. When the beeswax is melted, remove the saucepan from the heat and allow it to sit a minute or two to cool slightly.
Now add the shea butter and coconut oil and stir until all three ingredients are a slushy liquid. Add your essential oils. Pour off into molds, or a small baking pan. A glass or silicone loaf pan will work well for this amount of liquid. Chill in the refrigerator until firm.
When firm but not completely hardened, remove from molds or pan and cut bars to size. Place in air tight container and return to refrigerator to finish hardening. Makes three 4-ounce bars or two 6-ounce bars.
Coconut Oil Lotion Bar Recipe “Farmer’s Hands”
I call this one “Farmer’s Hands” because it is so dense and thick it can even restore my hands after a day in the garden when my hands are so dried out from working in the soil and in and out of gloves that they feel like sandpaper. That is the one thing I do NOT love about gardening. My hands can be just trashed. But I also like to have them in the soil and some tasks you just cannot do well with clunky gloves on. So I always end up getting my hands into the soil enough that they need a real scrubbing when I’m done. Then they are so dried out from the soap and dirt I cannot stand to touch anything!
“Farmer’s Hands” being one third beeswax is like a thick salve and it works like magic. Within a few minutes you cannot even feel it, but your hands feel ‘normal’ again. Great stuff!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Organic Beeswax
- 8 oz. Organic Coconut Oil
- 8 oz. Organic Shea Butter
- Optional: Add 1 to 2 tsp. vitamin E oil.
- Add Essential Oils (Start with 20 to 30 drops, and increase by 10 drops until desired level of fragrance is reached. See Essential Oil Recipes)
Directions: Follow the same procedure as in the Coconut Oil Massage Bar Recipe to melt the beeswax and remove it from heat. Allow the beeswax to cool for five to ten minutes because there is more of it in this recipe and it will retain its heat longer.
Tip: You can make a wonderful shower bar by adding Epsom salts or sea salt to the lotion blocks for a great invigorating shower scrub.
Add the shea butter and coconut oil and gently stir until they completely dissolve. Add your essential oils, dried herbs, flowers, or any other ingredients you wish to incorporate.
Pour off into molds or a square baking pan and set in the refrigerator to cool and stiffen for 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove from molds or pan when firm but not completely hardened and pack in airtight container or cut to size and then pack in airtight container and return to refrigerator to complete chilling.
Tip: You can also use a sheet of wax or parchment paper in the pan to make it super easy to lift the finished block out of the pan if using one large pan for chilling the liquid.
Originally posted 2020-08-02 22:30:02.
