I’ve shared a ton of content about making lotion over the years, so I thought I’d collect the links into an FAQ for easy reference.
If you’ve never made lotion before, start with one of these formulations:
- Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion
- Super Simple Moisturizing Lotion with Glyceryl Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate
- Super Simple Natural Lotion
- Easy Natural Lotion for Beginners
I highly recommend looking up the ingredients (especially the emulsifying waxes!) in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia.
I’ve also shared a comprehensive series of posts on lotion formulation. These posts all work off this formulation as the base formulation, but any of the four starter formulations linked above will work. If you’ve made one of the simple lotions linked above and now want to add scent, make it thicker, make it thinner, etc., these posts will guide you through all of that:
- How to gently scent lotions with natural ingredients
- How to naturally scent lotions with essential oils and natural fragrance oils
- How to make your lotions thicker
- How to make your lotion richer
- How to make your lotion lighter
- How to add actives and other ingredients to your lotions
- I tried 10 different ways to naturally color lotion.
These resources will help you start to adjust pre-existing formulations and create your own:
- How to Scale Any Recipe
- Formulating and DIYing with Spreadsheets (adjusting phase sizes, calculating emulsifier %)
- Stop Believing These 6 Lotion Myths
- How to adjust/add scent, colour, and star ingredients
- How can I incorporate X ingredient into a formulation?
- Super Simple All Natural Lotion: Follow-Up Q&A
- 8 mistakes most new formulators make (generally good things to know)
- What’ll happen if you use beeswax instead of emulsifying wax
- Why didn’t my lotion emulsify?
- Are all emulsifying waxes (e-waxes) the same?
- What can I use instead of water?
- 5 common questions about lotion
- Why did my emulsion fail?
- How can I make this lotion thicker or thinner?
- Can I put this lotion in a pump-top bottle?
- Can I put this face lotion on my hands?
- Can I use a hydrosol instead of water?
If you are looking for one-on-one instruction, please consider becoming a top-tier patron over on my Patreon. My $50USD/month patrons get a monthly 30-minute video consult with me where we can discuss all things formulating 😊
Posted in: Troubleshooting & Adjusting
