1.2 oz. Shea Butter
1.7 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
1 oz. Avocado Oil
1.2 oz. Emulsifying Wax
1 oz. Stearic Acid
Stick Blender
one 16 oz. wide-mouth container
one 32 oz. wide-mouth container
Five 4 ounce bottles
Step 1: Disinfect all of your tools and containers by dunking them in 5% bleachwater solution and drying them with fresh, off the roll, paper towels.
Step 2: In the large 32 oz. container, add the Sweet Almond oil, Avocado Oil, Stearic Acid and Emulsifying wax. Make sure this is all weighed out using a handy dandy digital scale (no volume measurements). Put in the microwave on 30 second bursts to melt the E-Wax and Stearic Acid. Despite the scary name, Stearic Acid is derived from Palm Oil and isn’t acidic or scary. It actually adds to the fluffiness factor of the lotion.
Step 5: Once the mixture is fully mixed and emulsified (usually about 2 to 3 minutes), take the temperature and add the preservative and fragrance. For Germaben II, Optiphen and Phenonip preservatives, you want the temperature to be below 140 degrees. Usage rates of all three of these preservatives start at .5% by weight. Fragrance and essential oil usage for lotions is very low (remember, you don’t want to inadvertently make a perfume!) so start small. This recipe literally calls for .2 ounces of essential oil and that is more than enough to make a lovely smelling lotion and get the therapeutic benefits of all the oils. Notice the blue color of the azulene in the powerful German Chamomile? That’s some pure healing goodness.
Check back tomorrow for after sun care spritzers.
