TUTORIAL: How to Make Natural Lotion at Home

**Despite the popularity of this post, i have decided to remove it. You can find my basic recipe below, but please visit my new blog, Pocket Pause for an updated tutorial or refer to Rosemary Gladstar's recipes, which can also be found adapted at BrightHub.com. **

Don't feel like making it yourself? Support your friendly blogger and benefit from my years of experience in lotion and soap making: Shop GoNudeSoap.com to buy our Everywhere Cream!

How to make all natural body and hand cream at home:

Equipment and ingredients needed:

• Blender
• Spatula
• Thermometer (meat)
• Double boiler or pot with a measuring pyrex or bowl suspended in the water
• Clean jars
• Coconut oil (can also use jojoba or sweet almond)
• Olive oil
• Beeswax (100% pure)
• Distilled or purified water
• Borax
• Essential oils
• Optional aloe vera gel and vitamin E

I make my lotion with half olive and half coconut oil. This results in a thick and intensely moisturizing lotion. Coconut oil is only solid until 76 degrees, so it will become a softer lotion in warmer temps, and melts into skin really nicely. The beeswax acts as an emulsifier and also protects skin from the elements. The borax helps the water to emulsify with the oils. Oil and water do not like to become one, so the trick in making lotion is to get the oils and the water to similar temps, between 90 and 115 seems ideal, and to pour the water directly in the center of the blending oil in a thin and constant stream, similar to making mayonnaise.  Do some research and choose oils that you like.  Olive oil is heavy and smells olive oily, but i like that. Almond oil is an excellent choice and very good for massage because it doesn't absorb into the skin as rapidly. You can also mix in some hemp seed or shea butter to your mix. In my next batch i plan on steeping some Calendula petals and other soothing herbs into the water for an even more healing lotion. My recipe is as follows:

• 1 ounce beeswax, shredded or pastilles
• 4 ounces olive oil (or sunflower oil)- (sub some almond, hemp, shea, or jojoba into this portion)
• 4 ounces coconut oil
• 3/4 to 1 cup water with 1/4 tsp borax mixed in

I Propose A SWAP!

I have so many wonderful readers with so many great ideas on frugal and sustainable living and I would like to reach out to you: Thus, I'd like to propose a swap!

Wanted to get into soap making but not quite ready to brave the lye?
Looking to get your bathroom filled with more natural toiletries?

In my quest to make the transition from store bought to homemade, chemical to natural, brand name to cheap: I've done some experimenting and lots of research. There are tons of great blogs out there loaded with heaps of information, written by wonderful authors who walk their talk. I'm happy that some of my readers include me in that list, but i probably learn even more from you! Did you like any of my recipes from the past two weeks? Tooth powder? Hair rinse? Perhaps you'd like to try a bar of my all natural soap? I would like to try some of the natural cleaning products i've read about, or slather myself with some luxurious hand lotion (which i'll be making of my own soooooon).

I hereby declare the swap open! I will choose 2 readers (if there is ANY interest at all) to swap ideas and products with. Here are the rules:

1. Swap contestants must reside in the USA (sorry, friends abroad - shipping is an issue)
2. Swap contestants are -encouraged- to become a follower or 'like' AAH on Facebook
3. Swap contents must fit inside a Small or Medium Flat Rate Box
4. Swap contents must follow regulations of the USPS (any liquids must be WELL wrapped and double wraped)
5. The value of the swap must not exceed $10
6. Swap item must be homemade or concocted, mostly natural, and be something you enjoy using yourself on a regular basis. Can be a house cleaning aid, a body product, pertain to dogs or chickens, help out in the garden, a special canned good (with recipe, please!) etc.  Please no baby items, as i have no bambinos!
7. Items should be prepared and shipped within 2 weeks of swap closure.

That's it. Please submit a comment below with your name, contact info (don't comment anonymously please), and what you'd like to try of mine.  I've posted several ideas and recipes recently and since the beginning of this blog. Feel free to search older posts, or choose from the list below. I will choose 2 winners next Friday and start working on your swap item! Please enter, this should be quite fun.

• A bar of Nude Soap (100% natural)
• Tooth powder
• Deodorant (without neem)
• Aftershave
• Facial oil
• Carpet Powder (Also works to rid doggies of pests or odor)
• Bath salts
• Seasoning salt
• Green tomato relish

I look forward to trying out something new!
This post can also be seen at Simple Lives Thursdays.

Aftershave and Facial Moisturizer

I have been transitioning my wonderful and very willing 'guinea pig' of a husband to all natural, made from scratch shaving products. He currently uses strange foamy things in non recyclable metal canisters and i'd like that to change, both for the cost, the impact on the environment, and the improved health of his face. I found this recipe, and needed to get some witch hazel before i could give it a shot. I got the witch hazel, but the recipe calls for a few days to amalgamate, so in the meantime his shaving soap is curing, a badger hair brush for shaving is sitting poised on the bathroom sink, and the calendula succus i made the other day has been treating  his trouble spots.

After Shave
3  Tablespoons witch hazel
5 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
a few drops of essential oils

Mix the ingredients in a spice bottle or hot sauce bottle (preferably unused for hot sauce, or washed out very well!), shake up and store in a dark place, shaking daily for 4-5 days. Use as you normally use aftershave. I think i went a little too crazy with the lavender oil - you can see droplets suspended in the mix. Next time i'll stick with a 'few' drops instead of 15. Luckily, lavender oil doesn't irritate the skin like some essential oils can, so the surplus isn't a problem.


In my quest to understand herbs and use them for various health benefits, i like to play 'witch doctor' as my husband calls it. I was long skeptical of the efficacy of herbs on actual problems like psoriasis, dandruff, abrasions, insect bites, etc. But you know what? Herbs were used to heal all those things a heck of a lot longer than neosporin or head and shoulders were, and many of today's ointments and drugs are just pharmaceutical attempts at 'improving' nature's healing herbs.

I found this wonderful website that lists good essential oils for various skin problems. My husband suffers from a type of dermatitis similar to psoriasis so i chose Lavender e.o. and chamomile extract to add to his aftershave: both are considered soothing to psoriasis and dry skin. I also formulated jojoba based moisturizers specific to my husband and myself to replace the old 'oil of olay' i've been using most of my life. For mine, i included peppermint and rosemary to sooth my puffy eyes and promote regeneration. For his, I included calendula oil to sooth his troubled patches, lavender and patchouli to address his oily and itchy skin, and lemongrass to promote poor reduction. Jojoba oil is the closest to our skin's natural oil and is the absolute best for facial moisturizing. It even acts as a natural SPF up to 8. Sweet almond oil is another good oil for the face and it is suitable for all skin types, helps relieve irritation, inflammation and itching. It doesn't absorb into the skin very quickly, which makes it excellent as a massage oil. Because of that property, however i will include only a very small amount in our facial moisturizers.

Facial toner, some left over 'regenerist' my new moisturizer and hair polish in the back

To complete our skin regiments, i should mix up facial clay masks weekly or at least monthly - I'm just not the kind of person who likes to put much effort into my 'beauty' regime, however. I like to splash things on my head in the shower, rub something on my face when i get out and be done with it. That being said, Sundays are nice days for a hot bath with sea and epsom salts and a cleansing facial clay mask to suck all the week's impurities from our skin. We'll see, maybe we'll do it. Kaolin clay is pretty inexpensive, and i already have some that i use in my husband's shaving soap to make a slick shaving experience, and suck the oil from his beardy areas so prone to harboring body oil.

So far, my husband really likes the aftershave. He says it has a bit of a 'sting' and makes him feel clean, is razorburn free, and his skin is soft. In my opinion, he smells better ( i cannot STAND the smell of most aftershaves ) and it makes me happy to contribute to his morning routine. I'm loving the moisturizer so far. It's not as easy to apply as oil of olay from the squirt bottle, and I am noticing a few more blemishes than usual - but that could be from a lot of things, so i'll keep y'all posted.

Next week, more about hair health, elaborations on our opinions on the products i've already made, and some tips on making household cleaners. Have a great weekend, everyone - and see you at the new market if you're in town and willing to brave the rain. I hope we are!