Around this time of year I go nuts for lotion. The moisture (what little we have here) just vanishes out of the air, leaving me waking up parched each morning, with irritatingly tight, dry skin. So, I think it’s kind of understandable that come November, I usually have 4 bottles of homemade lotion on the go. Stashed in my purse, on my desk, my bedside table, at work—anywhere I might be for more than an hour or so. I miss summer.
Anyhow, this lotion is downright lovely. Instead of water, I used coconut milk. I just used dried powdered coconut milk (USA / Canada) to turn water into coconut milk (like rather lame magic) rather than opening an entire can, but if you’ve got some left over from a curry or something, feel free to use the real stuff.
Beyond the coconut milk, a hint of benzoin essential oil adds a nice, subtle vanilla-ish scent that compliments the hint of coconut nicely. It’s great if you’re sensitive to strong scents. It also absorbs like a dream, leaving your skin soft and happy.
Please don’t make this recipe—it’s a really old one that’s not at all shelf stable!
Coconut Body Cream
6g | 0.21oz emulsimulse emulsifying wax (or another complete emulsifying wax you have on hand—beeswax will not work!)
7g | 0.25oz grapeseed oil36mL | 1.22 fl oz coconut milk (or 36mL water and 2 tsp powdered coconut milk (USA / Canada))
1g | 0.03oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)2 drops benzoin or vanilla essential oil
Broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Melt the emulsifying wax and grapeseed oil together. While they melt, warm the coconut milk and glycerin together, stirring to combine.
Once the oils have melted, add the coconut milk mixture to the pan and whisk to combine. Warm everything to the same temperature (ensuring the wax is still melted).
Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk everything together. If you’re using emulsimulse, you’ll need to whisk very frequently as it cools. It will go a bit funny on you for a moment—keep whisking, and it will quickly turn into a thick, creamy lotion. Once cool, whisk in your essential oils and preservative. Decant into a pump-top bottle or jar and enjoy!
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
Can we talk about the emulsifying wax a little? If I’m trying to make a completely natural product, can beeswax be substituted? I’m a little concerned about the vegetable oils used to make emulsifying wax and would prefer to avoid excess omega-6 entering my body if at all possible. If you covered this substitution somewhere else, I apologize and ask for a link. Thanks!
Same here. I think there are some emulsifying waxes out there made of olive oil? Are they any better?
From what I can tell from my research, the olive oil derived emulsifiers aren’t that much different in anything other than what they’re derived from. That is, it’s like trying to decide if spelt bread is better than kamut bread. If you’re not ok with the concept of the fat being broken down and manipulated into an emulsifier, then where it comes from doesn’t make much of a difference. My two cents, at least 🙂
FYI olive emulse makes a much thicker cream than vegie emulse!
Very cool—I really wish I could find a Canadian source for this! I think I should schedule an online shopping trip to the USA, haha. Get a post office box, place oodles of orders, and pop over the border for some cheap alcohol & all my mail order goodies 😛
Oh, if you do, please let me have them send some Woodhue and Flambeau there…then you could bring them up to me at NDA!!!
Ooh, I’ve never heard of either of these ingredients, but they sound amazing. I could make up a sizeable ingredients wish list for NDA, that’s for sure 😛
Sadly, swapping out emulsifying wax for beeswax is like using a paint chip instead of an egg because they’re both yellow. Emusifying waxes are all fairly waxy, but they are so much more than that. Beeswax, while very awesome, is mostly just good for thickening/hardening concoctions. You can pair it with borax to make an emulsion, but then you can only do a 1:1 ratio of oils to water, which makes for a very greasy lotion. Also, borax kills ants very nicely, so I’m not sure I’d call that an improvement.
Emulsifying wax isn’t just one thing, though—there are a lot of different types, made from different ingredients. All of these ingredients are usually derived from plants—mostly coconut (less than 1% omega-6 [source]) & palm (pretty omega-6 heavy, but worth avoiding for other reasons) because they’re very cheap. My favourite e-wax is Emulsimulse, and it is “a natural source self-emulsifier for oil in water emulsions. It is ECOCERT approved for use in Certified Organic products.” That’s good enough for me, especially at 7–10% of my final formulations. Its components are all 0’s or 1’s on Skin Deep. I’ve made a lot of really big changes in my life with all my DIY projects, and while I’m always looking to learn and improve, I am ok with emulsimulse & I don’t feel like it compromises my values.
Additionally, unless you are planning on having a nice bowl of homemade lotion for breakfast each morning, you don’t have to worry about omega-6’s entering your body via your skin. There’s a great article on the different between penetration and absorption here, and on whether or not our skincare products actually enter our bloodstream through our skin. Omega-6’s are fats, and “the majority of cosmetics are not soluble in skin (i.e. lipid, or fat-soluble [Omega-6’s, for example]) and are too large in molecule to fit through the stratum corneum.” The idea that our skin “eats” whatever we put on it is a pretty common one, but it’s not really true, otherwise I would be rather fat from all the body butter I apply to my skin.
All that said, you should also read this article. They bring up some good points, and the end note is “if you don’t want to use e-wax, don’t bother making lotion.”
Hope that’s enough food for thought for you! I’d love to hear what you think about all this.
Thanks for the response, and for the most part, I hear you. But as coconut oil is a medium-chain fat, I don’t think you’d be fat from your concoctions, since many of them do contain it! 🙂
Guess I’d better stick to salves and butters! Thanks again.
No problem! In this world it’s all about what each person is comfortable with. It’s kind of like how some vegetarians will eat marshmallows, some vegans are ok with beeswax, and some meat eaters are afraid of meat that still has the bone it it (I knew one… he was a quirky dude). I think it’s all about making informed choices, setting your priorities, and always ensuring you’re doing everything with your eyes wide open 🙂
meat on the bone is so gross! your quirky dude friend is not alone….(apparently, neither am i!)
LOL! I’m of the mindset that if you can’t handle your meat raw, and be ok with where it came from (including killing it), you shouldn’t eat it. So, I don’t eat it (but hey, that’s just me—I am hardly a militant veggie!). Which is why I think it’s so funny, lol. It’s just such a giant disconnect from where meat comes from, it’s kind of sad, actually… like the time I was at summer camp and a 7 year old girl had no idea that meat was from animals. She was horrified. That’s pathetic, in my humble opinion. Who raises a kid to 7 and doesn’t tell them where meat comes from?
How long does it keep if stored;
1)in the refrigerator or in a cool dark storage area, using no grapeseed seed extract?
2)how long if I use the grapefruit seed extract and if I do will it stay fresh at room temperature for 4 weeks or still need to be refrigerated?
I love coconut oil, on me and for cooking, but I’m still looking for the right lotion recipe for my skin here in Phoenix(a loathsome place if you have normal to dry skin)especially in what passes for winter here. I’m a Yankee from upstate NY and am used to the heat having been on for awhile already. LOL—–here I just close the windows and sliding doors for the winter. Ten minutes of the furnace in the morning, before showers, and we’re set for the day. However the dry air is here pretty much all year. Slathering ones skin with lotion feels extra good when it cools off.
Thanks for any suggestions you might be able to pass on.
Jeanne
Hey Jeanne! I’m afraid I really can’t say definitively here. You live in a totally different climate than mine (and I am very jealous as I freeze my arse off up here), and then there’s all the variables in preparation and packaging as well. I’d say you should be good for at least 2 weeks without preservatives and without refrigeration. Mine is about 5 weeks old right now and while it isn’t mouldy, the smell has definitely changed—no more coconutty smell… just something… odd. Something indicating change, and that I should likely toss it soon 🙁 It does have a bit of preservative in it, so that’s likely warding off the mould.
To prolong the life of your lotion, make sure everything is extra super clean when you start, and store the lotion in a pump or squeeze bottle so you aren’t ever dipping your fingers into it. You can also make lotion using water instead of coconut milk, and it’ll last longer. My Healing Winter Lotion is extra awesome for dry skin 🙂
Hi Marie, I have been following you for almost a year now and I have come to rely on most of your recipes. I love your explanations about the chemistry part of them and the results of all your testing.
My question today is………I have recently been reading up on donkey milk. I came upon this because I have been searching for home remedies for my son who suffers from psoriasis. I bought some (really expensive) milk and have already made some CP soap (which is curing now). I just ordered some powdered donkey milk, too and I am looking for a recipe to make some lotion for him. Do you think I can subsitute your lotion recipe here with the powdered donkey milk? I would gratefully accept any and all information, advice, etc, you can and are willing to give me.
Thanking you in advance,
Irene Nicola
Salinas, California
USA
Hey Irene! Thanks for bringing this recipe to my attention as it is crazy old and nobody should ever, ever make it! Eeeeks. I have edited the post to reflect that. You cannot make anything with fresh donkey milk in it and expect it to last any longer than you’d expect fresh milk to stay fresh at room temperature (maybe 3 or 4 hours?). Soap is just about the only thing you can do with fresh milk. You can make masks and dusting powders with the powder, but it must stay dry or be discarded immediately after use. Milk is annoyingly fast spoiling 🙁
Could I replace the coconut milk with another form of water, like rose water or green tea for extra antioxidants? I’m planning on turning this into my first try body lotion with SPF 😉 thanks again for sharing x
Nadja, should be fine to substitute any other liquid like hydrosols or teas. Enjoy. You’ll need a preservative with teas etc.
You’re exactly right, Fiona—I’ve definitely had some tea-based lotions go pretty funky smelling on me pretty fast, lol.
You definitely can—use whatever’s skin safe and water soluble, and it’ll work out (though it won’t really be coconut cream lotion anymore, lol). Also, I’d really caution you against DIY sunscreen. It can be a pretty bad idea, especially if you get a lot of sun exposure. I wrote a blog on it here (the discussions in the comments are definitely worth reading as well).
thanks Marie for your advise. I was planning on using doterra Rosemary pure essential oil as a preservative.
and thanks for the warning on sunscreen, I read all your posts and then some…its more a body lotion with SPF I’m after. Don’t worry, won’t test it on my kids 🙂
Sounds great—there’s obviously no harm in adding potential SPF where there wouldn’t have been any before 🙂 And just a FYI, since it sounds like you’re making a wee mistake I definitely made… rosemary essential oil ≠ rosemary seed extract/ rosemary oleoresin/ rosemary oil extract/ ROE. The essential oil isn’t a preservative, and really, the rosemary oleoresin isn’t, either. It’s just a rancidity retardant, and rancidity isn’t what you’re worried about in a lotion (anything with water, really). So, unless your just love the scent of rosemary, I wouldn’t bother 🙂
Ha ha, I guess that’s true about rosemary. What I need is an anti microbial EO, and there are plenty. I just don’t want to use grapefruit seed oil or any other citrus oils for sun cream 😉
The zinc oxide provides a little anti microbial activity I think. Cheers.
Eh, it can’t hurt, right? Maybe you should do some experiments to see if they actually help with the shelf life of the final product, that could be really neat. I’ve certainly found the biggest thing I can do to preserve my lotions is storing them in pump bottles or squeeze tubes rather than open tins. Tins make for pretty photos, but lots of contamination, sadly 🙁
Take 1 sunscreen didn’t work out so well. Got terribly burned, oops! Maybe the oregano oil as preservative wasn’t such a good idea. Well for my next batch my hubby will be the tester- or Not 😉
Oh no! This is why I don’t venture into DIY sunscreen 🙁 That said, if you insist, I’d recommend patch testing small bits of skin—maybe tracing out a band on your arm that only gets natural sunscreen, while the rest of you gets normal sunscreen, and comparing?
That cream looks luscious. I have just completed the last assignment for my Masters degree (in Midwifery) yippee , and now have time to get back into crafting. Have a bunch of candle jars in the dishwasher as I type, and boxs of yummy supplies to unpack. I love your blog, you inspire me.
Thanks so much, Fiona 😀 Enjoy getting back into your DIYing and congrats on your Masters degree, that’s amazing! I know you’ll help bring many happy wee lives into the world 🙂 Thank you for reading!
Thanks Marie for another awesome post! 🙂
Thanks for reading, Erin!
Marie, I’ve seen another cream made with coconut milk, but on your word, this I gotta try! It looks so creamy in the photos, and I think I will try it as the base cream for my deodorant, since I have to make some up for someone.
Tip: One drop of Clove Bud EO has the ability to break down petrochemicals that have been stored (trapped) in the body’s tissues via the lymphatic system, so I have been adding it to my deodorant creams.
Let me know how it turns out, Sylvia! I’m curious, do you use baking soda for your deodorizer in your cream deodorant? I love the tip about clove EO! Do you know how that works? I’d love to see a paper on it or something, that sounds super cool.
The below is a really good site for evidence based claims on Eo’s! https://www.aromaticscience.com
Thank you, Nadja, this looks like a fantastic resource!
Just made this coconut lotion. It turned out to be such a great consistency. I didn’t use any preservatives, but it’s only 6oml so I plan to use it very quickly. It smells delicious, I used a drop of vanilla and sweet orange oil, so yummy.
Thanks for all the great recipes. I’m you new follower and always looking for different DIY natural beauty recipes.
Wonderful! I’m thrilled to hear you made one of my recipes & love it 🙂 Your addition of sweet orange sounds decadent, just be sure not to go out in the sun after applying. Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me, and I’ll “see” you around 😉
Oops!
Someone forgot to give measurements in oz. for readers in the U.S.!
Thanks!!
No “oops”, Carol, I didn’t “forget” to give imperial measurements any more than you “forgot” to give your comment in French as well as English. I’m Canadian, and I use (and love) the metric system. Statistically only about 5% of the world uses the Imperial system (it’s the USA, Liberia, and Burma), so metric really does make the most sense if you’re going to use just one. It really is awesome, though, and I’d really encourage you to look into it. Everything is in 10’s! I wrote a handy two-part article on the basics of the metric system to get you started—part one and part two. And, if you don’t feel like learning something new, the internet is full of awesome unit converters. My favourite is Google’s—just search something like “10g in oz” and a great little converter will pop straight up. Hope that helps!
I certainly meant no disrespect.
However, the amounts are so very small, that the conversions don’t really work. As for learning new things, I’ m 60, and they tried to force the metric system on us a few years ago (again, meaning no disrespect, but I’m also very stubborn… ;-). I’m aware that having learned it early on in life, it is more convenient as it is based on 10’s, but I can’t seem to grasp it. Guess I’ll just have to forgo this recipe….
There are others out there I can try.
I’ll certainly look in on this blog occasionally, to see what wonderful things you’re making.
The tiny amounts are one of my favourite things about metric 🙂 And one of my least favourite things about Imperial 😛 I am still working on a batch of body butter I made 2+ years ago. The original recipe was in ounces, and it was “just” 5 or 7 ounces of each ingredient. I ended up with something like 2 pounds of body butter in the end, since all I did was switch my scale to ounces and follow the recipe rather than do the conversions to realize how very much I would be making. Oops!
In this recipe in particular it is quite important to make a small amount as the coconut milk makes the cream spoil so quickly. Even with this relatively small final amount (about 3.3oz) this lotion spoiled well before I could use it all. So yes, this recipe in particular you should probably skip. All the others, though, you should be able to simply double or triple until the numbers convert more cleanly. Also, you don’t need to actually understand the metric system if you just get a scale that measures in grams… then all you need to be able to do is count 😀 And then you can make tiny batches of things! Though perhaps I am more enamored with making small amounts of things than most, as I end up making so many different things. I think I have at least 4 different types of lotions on the go right now, and the body butters are somewhere north of a dozen 😛
I just made this tonight and it’s quite lovely. I made it at the urging of a friend who I got hooked on your site. I’m not big on coconut myself and was worried this would be too heavy of a coconutty scent but the benzoin works beautifully to make it a much tamer smell that I absolutely love (kinda like coconut vanilla cookies). I made 5 times the amount you have listed here – and filled two 4oz containers. I was worried about not using it up in 2 weeks but the way everyone at work is reacting that fear is totally invalid. Thank you so much! 🙂
I just read in a previous comment of yours that the recipe as is fills a 3.3 oz thing but I swear I did 5 times the amount and it made 8oz. I don’t know what happened there. *shrug*
Ha, I know what happened here 🙂 I made 100mL (3.3oz) when I made the recipe originally, but it spoiled so fast that I posted the recipe for half that amount. So, when you multiplied it by five, you were actually multiplying 50mL x 5, which is 250mL, or 1 cup, or 1oz. My bad 😛 Got confused, it would seem.
Ah, that explains it! I looked at my two almost but not quite full 4oz tubs and went “Well I know math isn’t my strong suit but….”. I was worried a bit about so much spoiling but when I made the winter lotion it went so fast that I thought I’d take the chance. Good call because everyone loves it. I’m going to have to get some grapeseed extract. How much would you recommend for the recipe as posted?
Ha, yes, math… more useful than I thought it would be, though the quadratic equation has yet to prove its use 😛
It’s best to simply follow the manufacturer recommendations for all preservatives. The amounts are generally quite small, so be careful not to overdo it.
Oooh, I’m so thrilled you love it 🙂 That coconut smell you don’t like much is probably from artificial fragrance oils, which are sort of like the freight trains of the scent world, barreling through everything. Since this gets its scent from a wee bit of coconut milk, it’s so much softer, which I just love. Glad you do, too!
Hi,
I am not sure if you would know this but. . . if I use a different preservative in my coconut milk (I was thinking Leucidal or Optiphen) would it last longer? Thanks fpr any advice.
Hi Laura! I sure hope so, but I haven’t tried it.
Can I use virgin coconut oil(solid kind) to get a thicker and richer cream? Will the coconut oil cause the cream to melt in the summer?
In my experience using coconut oil in lotions does not make them richer because it is such a thin, watery oil on the skin. It will not effect the melting point of the lotion in any major way as it is a very small proportion of the recipe.
I have been looking for a recipe for coconut scented cream, difficult without the use of a fragrance oil. I did make this and used canned coconut milk, the consistency is a dream and the moisturizing feel is unbelievable, I also added no other scent and used Leucidal. However I really want more of a coconut scent, does the coconut powder have more scent than the canned milk? Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Doreen! I do find the powder I have to be more fragrant than most canned milks, but honestly, if I were to re-do this recipe today I’d use a highly fragrant virgin coconut oil in place of the grapeseed oil, and drop the coconut milk for water to improve the shelf life of the lotion. I’ve since learned that you can’t just add broad spectrum preservatives to anything and have it last forever, sadly.
Hi, love ur post! I just made a batch of rose water and Argen oil lotion which was inspired by ur Argen oil body conditioner recipe! Love it! I was wondering if u could help me formulate a simple recipe. I just want to use coconut oil and coconut milk (or water) and the E wax and what not. A real lotion recipe, not the body butter recipes which are everywhere! I know what to use but I’m still a little unsure about amounts. Thanks a ton!!
Hey Maggie! The recipe you’re asking for sounds exactly like this recipe…? Just use coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil.
Um yes it does. When I first looked at the recipe all I saw was coconut milk. I didn’t notice grapeseed oil. Sorry. While I have u do u think I could pick ur brain about oil in water lotions and water in oil lotions? I constantly forget which was it works but I’m currently trying to learn more about creams (which I believe is w/0, I think?), I’ve heard ur supposed to use different emulsifiers. Which kinds? Which kind of recipe do u prefer? Any info would be appreciated.
Hey Maggie! Have you read through all my various posts in the FAQ? I think those will help you out 🙂 In general, for a thing in thing emulsion, the first thing is the smaller amount; most of our emulsions end up being oil in water, but that can be anything from a lotion to a body spray, which obviously have radically different consistencies and will still use different emulsifiers (ewax vs something like polysorbate 20). Water in oil emulsions end up being things like body butters with small amounts of honey (or something else water soluble) added, which requires yet another selection of emulsifiers. A familiarity with the HLB system will help (mine is admittedly pretty poor) if you want to understand more—check out Point of Interest for more info, she’s brilliant!