This herb spiked lotion features some of my favourite eczema fighting ingredients, making it perfect for the onset of winter.
Instead of using plain water in this lotion, I’ve made an herbal infusion. With soothing marshmallow root and chamomile, and healing calendula and comfrey it’s a great base for a soothing, healing lotion.
My oils are unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) and hemp seed oil (USA / Canada), both powerful eczema-busting oils. Straight unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) is the best natural eczema treatment I’ve found, but it is rather greasy—this lotion is a much lighter way to get your buttery fix.
Colloidal oatmeal, raw honey, vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada), and allantoin (USA / Canada) round out the recipe with great soothing, skin softening, and healing properties.
The final lotion is light and quickly absorbed, but packs a moisturizing, healing punch. If you struggle with dry skin, I definitely recommend giving this recipe a try.
Healing Herbal Hemp & Shea Lotion
1 tsp dried marshmallow root
1 tsp dried calendula petals
1 tsp dried comfrey leaf
1 tsp dried chamomile flowers
180mL | 6 fl oz boiling distilled water14g | 0.5oz Emulsimulse/Ritamulse (or other complete emulsifying wax—not beeswax!)
16g | 0.56oz unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
20g | 0.7oz unrefined hemp seed oil (USA / Canada)2 tsp colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.17oz raw honey
6g |0.21oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
1/4 tsp allantoin (USA / Canada) (optional)5 drops lavender essential oil
Broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Pour the boiling water over the marshmallow root, calendula petals, comfrey leaf, and chamomile flowers, and let steep for 10 minutes before straining (press the herbs with the back of a spoon to extract as much water as possible). If you’ve got a nice big tea strainer for making loose leaf tea, I’d definitely recommend using it here.
Note: Elaine from GreenPathHerbSchool.com has suggested doing a cold infusion to preserve the integrity of the soothing long-chain polysaccharides in the marshmallow root. If you do this, let the herbs and water steep for approximately 24 hours before straining.
Measure out 140mL (4.7 fl oz) of the herb water and discard the herbs.
Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.
Combine the emulsifying wax with the unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) and hemp seed oil (USA / Canada) in a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
While the oils are melting, weigh the 140mL (4.7 fl oz) of herb water water, colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada), honey, vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada), and allantoin (USA / Canada) into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup and place that in your water bath as well. Leave everything in the water bath for about 30 minutes.
After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat, and pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.
Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the lotion, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid lotion doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the lotion is thick and creamy.
Whisk in the essential oils and your preservative, leave the lotion to cool completely, and decant the mixture to a pump-top bottle.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cream contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
Makes 200mL (6.7 fl oz).
New to lotion making? Watch my basic lotion how to video!
Did we jus become best friends?!?! I love reading all of your posts, can’t wait to try out some of your recipes 🙂 I love herbal infusions and essential oils! Quick question, my dad gets severe cracked fingers in the winter, he already has them and it’s not even that cold here yet, what do think would be the best for that? Placing an order today and was going to make him a salve for nights and was thinking of trying your eczema balm (just shea & EOS or kokum since I have that as well and it’s very healing). Any herbs or EOs you recommend? I’m still pretty new to this, but love learning and your blog is full of wonderful info! Thank you so much!
Hi Brooke! Tea party next weekend, bestie? 😉
I, too, have had a long battle with dry, cracked hands (though not fingers—ouch!). I’ve found drinking lots of water and having constant access to good, homemade lotion is necessary during the day. At night, have him slather his hands with shea butter (my #1 eczema/dry skin ingredient—my dad bought a kilo of his own for his eczema!) and sleep with cotton gloves on. It might seem a bit silly, but it really helps. You might also look at my sore nose salve, which is incredible for dry, irritated skin and stars shea butter and calendula infused love oil 🙂
Oh, no!!!!! I’m missing out on our tea party! I LOVE tea!!!!!! Seriously, the top shelf of my lazy Susan is dedicated solely to tea. Some women collect shoes, I collect tea. Next weekend?! 😉
Thanks for your advice! I’m making him a few options. Surely, something will do the job. Thanks again for doing the “dirty” work for us DIYers 🙂 Looking forward to your next concoction!
That’s ok—I’m always down for a tea party 😉 I have a tea dresser/cabinet… three full drawers of tea, haha. I definitely have a tea problem! I collect both tea and honey, and I really should stop LOL.
Speaking of tea + lotion… this recipe is pretty awesome 🙂
Can I use infused olive oil instead of water? I already have these dried herbs/flowers and have infused already. Love, love your site!! Thank you!!
Hi Dira! As with cooking, it is never a good idea to use oil where water is called for (imagine trying to boil pasta in oil instead of in water!). You could use your infused olive oil instead of the hemp oil, but then you will lose the benefit of including awesome hemp oil in your lotion 🙂
Hi Marie,
Firstly, I love your blog! Thanks for such wonderful information! I had a suggestion for you. Marshmallow root has complex, long chain polysaccharides that break down in hot water, so you will loose a lot of the soothing properties when you heat it. If you do a cold infusion, however, you retain those properties. If you try it out, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Warmly,
Elaine Sheff
GreenPathHerbSchool.com
Thanks for this, Elaine! I didn’t know that 🙂 I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve added a note in the recipe for my readers.
Hi Marie! Thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks wonderful and I plan to make this. Can you share where you found the preservative Gluconodeltalactone and the Sodium Benzoate? Have been hunting for a healthy preservative, and this seems healthier than other “natural” preservatives I’ve researched. Thanks!
Hi Sheron! I got mine locally, at Soap & More. I’m liking it so far and will be looking for a better priced alternative supplier.
Hi there! Finally found the product this evening..listed under different name, from a US supplier called LotionCrafter http://www.lotioncrafter.com/neodefend.html . Still looking for another source, less expensive, as always is my search! I did look up your source, shipping would be outrageous! Thanks for getting back to me!
Sheron
Fantastic! Sadly, shipping to Canada would likely offset the fact that Lotion Crafter’s is about half the price as it is locally. I’ll have to see if I can ship some to an American friend who will be visiting Canada soon 🙂
Forgot to mention that, although this seems better than Germaben, I have the stinking feeling that this was derived from GMO corn. Could be wrong, tho. Am going to give it a try anyway in a few creams and test it out.
Again, thanks. Have a good evening!
Sheron
It does say on the LotionCrafter page that it’s “derived from non genetically-modified corn via a fermentation process with non genetically-modified microorganisms”, so that sounds good 🙂 GMO and organic don’t go together, and since it’s ECOCERT certified for use in organic products, here’s hoping it’s all on the up-and-up!
I would love to make some of your recipes but have no idea where to source the ingredients like marshmallow root. What is emulsimulse? Colloidal oatmeal?. I also cannot make head nor tail of lyecalc. Could you give a basic soap recipe with the quantities? Thanks
Hi Pat! For ingredients, just scroll up to the big box above the comments—I link to all my suppliers there 🙂 Also, be sure to check out my articles in “DIY Basics” to learn more about basic concepts, what to buy, and basic recipes.
Here is a screen cap of SoapCalc with my basic soap recipe input into it. I have outlined the fields/areas you actually have to edit in red so you can see there really aren’t as many variables as it seems 🙂 There’s also quite a few videos on YouTube that do a nice job of walking you through it.
Hi Marie
I made this the other night. Instead of doing a hot tea infusion of the herbs, I did the oil infusion in warm bath overnight. I typically do herbal infusions in oil for lotion bars, soaps etc.
I also used my stick blender and this whipped up real quick to a thick cream consistency. So I put the blobs into a wide mouth aluminum jar (love these from NDA!).
Anyway – I have mild seasonal allergies to ragweed, etc. When applying this lovely ‘cream’ on my hands, they start to itch a very very slight bit. I asked my husband to try it and he doesn’t feel like it’s itchy, rather tingly. He describes it as “waking up my skin”. But I really really really like this cream! I want to give it away for Christmas but I also prefer to skip the preservatives!
Maybe I can make a whipped butter instead, using Hemp butter? But I really love the way this lotion quickly absorbs into my skin!
Glad you’re loving it! Whenever I give away lotions I make sure I make ’em really close to the gifting time, gift them in a pump-top bottle, and warn the recipient to use it up fast—that seems to work well enough for friends and family 🙂
Hi! How much of those two preservatives would you add to a recipe of this amount?
Always follow the manufacturer recommended amounts 🙂
Why can you not use beeswax in this formulation?
Because beeswax will not emulsify the lotion—I’ve written more about this in the FAQ 🙂
I am getting ready to make the hemp lotion, but I cannot find out how much of the Gluconodeltalactone and Sodium Benzoate to use. I have read the information I received from the company I ordered from and honestly I am not able to see anywhere on how much to use. I ordered my supply from Making Cosmetics Inc.. The closest thing I can find is recommended use level of 0.75-2%. Could you please help me? I am really new at this and I am very excited to try this recipe. Thank you.
Hi Joan! I’ve been using mine at 1% of the weight of the final product, so for a recipe that makes 100g of lotion I’ll add 1g of preservative 🙂
For Joan Alexander: I had ordered the preservative recommended ahead of time, but when I went to start the recipe, I was at first stumped, too–until I looked at the label, which clearly stated to use 1% (right under the name). A brief moment of duh, and then relief!
I’ve since been using this great lotion for all sorts of skin issues, and it’s truly amazing.
But I have a question, too. Gluconodeltalactone and Sodium Benzoate is listed as useful as a broad spectrum preservative up to Ph 5 only. Marie, you’ve mentioned, I think, that you don’t test your recipes for Ph. Without Ph testing, how do you know Gluconodeltalactone and Sodium Benzoate will work?
NDA offers Liquid Germali Plus, effective from Ph. 3-8. I’ve read that Propylene Glycol gets a bad rap unfairly and that it’s second only to hyaluronic acid as a humectant. http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/curlchemist-the-truth-and-fiction-about-propylene-glycol/
Is there any other reason Liquid Germali Plus might be a negative?
Ok, I’ve found a great site that sorts out all the possible ingredients used in the cosmetics industry and dishes on the good, the bad, and the ugly: http://www.paulaschoice.com/cosmetic-ingredient-dictionary/
This site says none of the 3 ingredients in Liquid Germali Plus are bad. It’s a very powerful brew because it does an excellent job as a preservative, but the potentially bad chemicals are in quantities far too small (at .05% of a recipe) to be damaging. Conclusion: excellent protection, exceedingly minimal risk. The scary stories on the web are highly inaccurate. (For those who sell, good luck convincing science-fearful minds!) I’ll be using this–and I think I’ll try Ph strips, too. I’ve read that replacing water with orange juice in the lye solution lowers soap Ph! (Debra Maslowski, certified herbalist, at http://www.diynatural.com/natural-soap-colorants/)
I wonder by how much…
For something even more comprehensive, check out the EWG’s Skin Deep database—it’s amazing.
My supplier states 3–6 as the range for Gluconodeltalactone and Sodium Benzoate, but I must admit my test has been to make something with it and see if it lasts. So far, everything has. I really must get myself some pH testing strips…
I have some Germall Plus and have worked with it. It works quite reliably and is more or less fool proof. I am hesitant to recommend it outright, though, as I find any recommendations I make are very closely examined, and I’m not that confident in it. If you have done your research and feel ok about it, though, go for it.
Hi Marie,
I made this lotion last week, Its amazing and I love it, but something strange happened to it. The morning after I made it the lotion started to grow, it expended so much that it poured out of the pump bottle. This has never happened to me before. The only additional ingredients I added was few drops of vitamin A. Any thoughts on what could be causing it? and if its safe to use?
thanks
m
WEIRD! My best guess would be that it was a slow pH reaction, perhaps from the vitamin A reacting with the honey? I can’t see why it would be unsafe to use, and I bet the texture is pretty cool!
Hi Marika! I know this is a year-old thread, but I thought I would write because this is the only place I heard someone else explain what also happened to me. I didn’t make this exact lotion, though I did reference it for the marshmallow infusion. I used ONLY marshmallow root in the infusion I made for a lovely olive oil lotion. It felt fantastic, and I gave it to my stepdaughter, who then went away for a week, so she had to leave the lotion here in her room. She came back and the thing had expanded so much–the top had come unscrewed and there was a bunch of lotion pouring down the side. I noticed it in a smaller extent in an eye cream, where I also included marshmallow root, but nothing else. I think it’s the marshmallow infusion, based on nothing else than the fact that it seems to get poofier like marshmallows. I can’t find anyone else saying something similar, so I’m left with that very non-scientific conclusion.
Anyone else out there have this reaction? I wouldn’t have noticed it if the lotion were opened every day. It smells fine, feels great still, but it does slowly expand.
Hmm, interesting! I have never had this happen, so I’m wondering if might be the infusion + the emulsifying wax you’re using. Which one do you have?
(Speaking of marshmallows, here’s how to make them! No marshmallow root required, haha.)
I used emulsifying wax NF, which is just Cetearyl Alcohol and Polysorbate 60. I used a lot more marshmallow root, though–I used about 1/4 cup for 1.25 cups water. That ratio was recommended on a site as to how to make an infusion for medicinal purposes, for taking internally. I just thought “the more, the better!” Haha! I will try again using much less–1 T or so. I also wonder if using the extract instead would help. I do love the feel it gives, though. I don’t think it’s bad–I’m still using it. But it makes it awkward because I gave it as gifts to my family.
Thanks for he marshmallow recipe! I love marshmallows like its nobody’s business.
I think I’m going to have to give this “loads of marshmallow root” thing a go and see if I, too, can make a lotion volcano 😛
Hi! I ADORE this recipe and have made it once now. I’m about to make another batch for my mom for christmas. I do have one question though. are the colloidal oats supposed to dissolve fully in the water phase? I ground up my own oatmeal and added it to the water phase, but my lotion has tiny little peices of colloidal oats in there. I don’t mind it, but wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t really see any specks in your lotion so it got me wondering.
Thank you!
Hi Lynnie! I’m so glad you’re loving this recipe 🙂 Yes, the colloidal oats should dissolve fully. If you’re grinding up your own oats that’s not colloidal oatmeal, so that would explain why you have little bits 😉
oh really? I read it was just ground up oats 🙁 I guess I’ll leave them out next time until I can order the real stuff. I usually do pretty good research, disappointed in myself for missing that but I suppose it’s all part of the learning process!
I do have another question about body butters? do you find adding arrowroot powder helps with sinking in faster? I’ve read that a lot..also with your chocolate whipped body butter recipe with dark coca butter – would adding cocoa powder do the same thing? would it feel grainy?
I think it’s been sifted and filtered a bit more than just plain ground oats—it’s a very fine and totally water soluble powder. No harm done, though!
I generally don’t add starches to my body butters, I just apply less body butter. It doesn’t help it sink in faster, really, it just makes it feel less greasy. Don’t add cocoa powder, though—it’s not a starch and won’t have the same effect as arrowroot or cornstarch. In my experience it would be pretty gritty and unpleasant 🙁
okay thank you so much!
I made this recipe about a month ago with optiphen added as a preservative, and today I was looking at it and it seems some of the hemp oil is loose? I don’t know how else to describe it… it seems like there is places here and there with tiny pools of the bright green oil, have you ever had this happen? it isn’t separated at least not fully yet, maybe it’s the beginnings of separation? the only thing I did differently was use emulsifying wax NF, added a tiny bit of chamomile extract (triglyceride from brambleberry) in place of some of the glycerin and added 1% optiphen. I’m so sorry for all the questions I tried to google it so I wouldn’t have to bother you again but I can’t find anything helpful.
How strange! I’ve never encountered that, and I have worked with EWax NF in these proportions before with no problems. I haven’t worked with either the chamomile extract of optiphen, but out of the two I’d guess the optiphen is the problem ingredient. Sorry I can’t offer any better insights!
It’s okay! Another lotion maker said it’s probably because I didn’t heat and hold, so the ‘critical micelle concentration’ didn’t happen. I’m going to try heating and holding, if that doesn’t work I don’t know what I’ll do as optiphen seems to be the only safe preservative that is paraben and formaldehyde free… Leucidal has been reported to fail, badgers children sunscreen lotion was actually recalled due to contamination when they used Leucidal. and I’ve heard iffy things about geogard as well… Trying to find a safe preservative on both ends of the spectrum is so difficult when you can’t do tests!
Thank you so much for your help! Love the blog
Hmm… I have never intentionally done a “heat and hold” with any lotion (ever).
Have you looked at Gluconodeltalactone and Sodium Benzoate? I’ve been super happy with it so far!
I trust you to be an experienced lotion maker and great source of info, so if you say it’s worked for you then I’m going to try it! I think I’m going to run some tests until I’m able to order it.
I’m going to make two batches. one of them I will heat and hold, the other I won’t. I will then split both of those in 2, add optiphen to one half and leave the other alone. so that way I can test to see if “heating and holding” really matter and see if optiphen is messing up my emulsion. I’m sure that it probably is the optiphen and I’m going to go with your suggestion, for a new preservative (thank you for that, by the way! I’d love to see my lotions last 3 months AND stay together lol) but I would like to see if heating and holding changes the lotion in some way, maybe it would actually prevent the optiphen from destabilizing my emulsion? I don’t know but I’m very curious to find out!
Ill report back with my findings, if nothing else so I can tell others with 100% certainty that optiphen will destabilize this lotion within a month.
Hi Lynnie,
I’m curious to know if you have anything to report yet. I’ve only made a lotion once, using Marie’s recipe for the candy cane lotion. It thickened up beautifully, but once I added optiphen plus it immediately destabilized and separated. The best way I can describe it is it curdled. I thought maybe I didn’t let the mixture cool enough before I added the preservative, so I put it in the fridge for some time and manually mixed it until it was more stable, but it will never be like it was before I added the preservative. And frankly I think the fridge just solidified the coconut oil so that stopped it from looking curdled. I was researching and apparently the optiphen preservatives are notorious for causing destabilized emulsions, but the heat and hold was suggested as a tip. I’d love to hear about your experiment!! Hoping you can help a sister out 🙂
Laura
🙂
I look forward to hearing about your results!
Hi There!
Can the vegetable glycerin be replaced? and if so, with what? I don’t happen to have any on hand. Thanks!
Hi Tawni! In this application a bit of raw honey would be a good alternative 🙂 Otherwise you can just use a bit more water instead.
Hi! I absolutely adore your site and you always have me coming up with new creams, soaps etc based off your ideas. But I am completely helpless at this point and desperately need your help! My 15 ur old daughter has developed what the Dr is saying ezcema on her hands. We did the steroid treatment and although it dried it up some it is now back to its original dry, scabby, oozy self. I’ve tried creams, salves, lotions anything I can think of to make that may help. I’m limited in ingredients but I do have Shea and cocoa butter. Also coconut oil, avacado, apricot seed, grape seed, olive & safflower oils. My essential oils are pretty limited to the less expensive ones but I have lavender, cedarwood, tea tree, and a few others. I also grew and dried my own calendula, marigold, lavender, plaintain, dandelion root and Melissa. Can you help me come up with a combination of these that will heal the skin, stop the weeping & cracking and possibly help with the scarring that I’m sure will be left? O also have aloe and vitamin e plus some argan oil… She is in Colorguard at school – tossing & twirling the flags at half time & does competitions. So far herain complaint is that aloe burns and everything else is too oily. Do you think a lotion bar would work better for her? I’m at a loss & when I see her poor hands I just wanna cry! She can’t even wear cotton gloves because it oozes then sticks & pulls her skin off in the morning. I know if anyone can help Harlee, you can! Thank you in advance for whatever you may be able to do?
Hi Crystal! I’ve heard wonderful things from friends and readers about shea butter for eczema. I’ll often blend it with cedarwood and lavender EOs, and you can add some vitamin E for extra healing. You could also do a warm infusion with calendula and plantain—melt the shea butter over low heat, add the herbs, and infuse over low heat for about 20 minutes before straining and setting aside to cool. You could even try adding some zinc oxide (the active barrier ingredient in diaper creme) to help soothe and protect. I hope something helps!
Thank you so much for responding so quickly! I actually finally broke down and rubbed pure Shea butter on her hands this evening. I had basically the same thing in mind basically, except for the zinc. I never would have thought about that! Do you think someplace like GNC would carry zinc?Again thank you so much! I have sent so many of my friends to your site when they ask me questions about using essential oils and natural products instead of buying so many chemicals laden products! If I don’t know i always say Check Humblebee! I’ll let you know how this mixture does! Keep ur fingers crossed!
I’m sorry, I have no clue what GNC sells—I make a point of avoiding them :/ Try a health food store?
Thank you so much for DIYing with me and for all your support! I really appreciate it 🙂
Thank you so much! Sorry I hope I didn’t offend asking about GNC. Where I live that’s about as close to a health food store as we have, lol. I’ll check online. Thanks again
No worries, I just have a friend who worked there and was royally shafted by them.
I made this as my first DIY project! I added a teaspoon of neem leaf to a cold infusion as your herbalist friend recommended, and added the preservative you mentioned under the brand name “MicroGuard.” What a wonderful healing lotion–and not just for eczema!
I got a Clarisonic for Christmas and while still not quite in the hang of it managed to create a few raw patches on my face. 🙁 So I tried some of this lotion I’d made for my daughter. The relief was immediate and palpable. This stuff is beyond great.
Thank you so much for your amazing recipes; I’m hooked!
Hi Dee! Congrats on your first DIY project 🙂 I’m so thrilled it was one of mine! And it sounds like it turned out just beautifully—wonderful! Thanks so much for DIYing with me 🙂
I am a very recent subscriber to your site but I have had my eye on this recipe for a while.
I have always had dry, itchy and sensitive skin with small flare-ups of eczema. This has become worse since Having breast cancer and being deprived of my HRT. Also I have significant radiation burns. Please forgive me for going into this, I am NOT after the sympathy vote.
Anyway, I started making M&P organic soaps and they turned out well so on Friday I plucked up the courage and made a batch of this lotion. I was even a bit cheeky and added some silk.
However, I must have done something wrong because it turned out like a thick body butter.
But, never one to waste anything I took it with me when I went swimming with my grand-daughter. My breast and skin being as bad as they have ever been,
All I can say is that a MIRACLE occurred. I am sure some people will say this is an exaggeration but I would swear, in a court of law, my skin is smooth, soft and calm.
My breast is far from perfect but there is a huge improvement. the redness has significantly decreased as has the soreness. The itchiness has localised.
Thank you so much. I wish I could say more to convey my gratitude.
I will, of course be trying many other recipes so keep up the good work.
I intend to try a hair rinse recipe next as my grand-daughter has very knotty hair when washed, and although proprietary ones work I hate the ingredients. Could you recommend a good one to start with that will solve the problem.
Once again, thank you so much
Hi Victoria! I’m so, so glad this lotion has done such wonderful things for you 🙂 Stories like yours are why I do what I do!
For tangled hair, try this rinse—it’s done wonders for me!
Hello Marie,
As many before me I got hooked to your blog, I have already tried some recipes and love them, also your beard balm made my bother-in-law very happy! it was a great birthday present. So before bothering you with my problems I really want to thank you for taking the time to share your wonderful work with us.
Now, as I got addicted to your blog I want to try everything and I have been searching like crazy for the supplies but I’m finding that it’s not easy to get some of them here in Mexico 🙁 I want in particular to try some of your lotion recipes but I cannot find neither emulsimulse nor polawax and I don’t know what else I can use. I can get polisorbate 20,60, 80, soy lecithin and something called emulgin B1. Do you know by any chance if I can use any of these? would they work the same?
Thank you and a big hug from Mexico!
Hi Anaïs! Thank you so much for reading & DIYing with me 🙂 From the emulsifiers (or part emulsifiers) you mentioned, the Emulgin B1 looks the most promising, but I still don’t think it is going to be a good option on its own. It’s just Ceteareth-12, and from everything I’ve found it’s just a co-emulsifier and stabilizer, not a full emulsifier. You might have some luck using one of the polysorbates in combination with the Ceteareth-12, but I’m afraid I’m not enough of a chemist to give you much advice there.
Hi Marie,
Well I’m still looking for a way to get it done. I’m a beginner for all this but your blog is really inspiring!
I found some lotion recipes that uses soy lecithin to make the emulsions but since you are the guru for all this stuff I was wondering what you think about it…
In my experience soy lecithin is not a complete emulsifier—it needs to be used in tandem with other emulsifiers to create a stable emulsion. I haven’t experimented with it much beyond that, though 🙂
I just made my second batch of this lotion.It works like a miracle!
Thank you.
Wonderful! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it 🙂
I made this! Hopefully it will help my 2-year-old with eczema. I tried plain shea butter and it didn’t seem to help.
Fingers crossed! I look forward to hearing if it works for you 🙂
Hi Marie,
I look for your update emails constantly! When I see a new one, I come and read it and spend the rest of the evening browsing about! Love this site!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I want to try this lotion and have only one question. You say this product has a shelf life of 1 month, but is that without the preservative? Should it not last longer than that with the proper amount of preservative? I will make it either way because my hands always feel like their burning and am trying everything I can find to calm that down. My usual commercial hand cream is Uremol20 but trying to find something more natural and from the previous comments, this sure does sound promising. Again, thanks for sharing!
Hi Lise! Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me 🙂 Your support means the world! Yes, if you add the called for amount of a broad spectrum preservative you’ll get a much longer shelf life 🙂 I have a preserved bottle of it here that is 8+ months old and still going strong!
Toronto has enjoyed very very mild weather so far this year… But today, we finally have our first actual accumulation of snow with temps below freezing.
I made this for my two young daughters, one of whom gets very dry itchy skin in the winter. Typical lotions are usually not rich enough but the ingredients here looked very promising and I liked the idea of the herbal kick so I thought I’d give it a try.
I didn’t have hemp oil so I had to replace that with about half jojoba and half grapeseed. The final product was amazing!!! Thick and moisturizing, without leaving a greasy film. Thanks for the great recipe!
Fantastic! I’m so glad you’re loving it 🙂 This is a great winter lotion, I think I might need to make another batch 😉 And enjoy Toronto for me—if you haven’t had the Pain au Chocolat at Clafouti across from Trinity Bellwoods, you should definitely do that!
Hello i made a small batch of this lotion to give it a try. I divided everything by 4 and becaouse didn’t had hemp oil i used Calendula infused in Almond oil. unfortunately cream has divided, is watery at the bottom of the bottle 🙁
Hmm. Did you change anything else? Did you do everything by weight? Did you use a complete emulsifying wax?
Hey Marie! Love your recipes♡ I just made my third batch of the herbal hemp and shea cream and all three have been different. On thr first try, I used mowrah butter insread of shea by mistake, and infused the herbs in cold water. It made a lighter, creamier product that is the only face cream I use now. I love it! The second batch I used shea and got a very thick cream that had to be put in jars. This is great for my legs. Today I tried the first recipe again with mowrah butter but I did the hot infusion and I now have something inbetween. I’m not sure what I did differently except that I did not have enough emulsimulse and added another ewax to make it up. I did not add any eo’s to any of the batches as I like it as is but was wondering if you weighed out the water infusion or measured it by volume? Perhaps that is the difference. I want to recreate the first try as my skin seems to love it. Any advice you have would be very welcome before I try again. Either way, it is still a great cream. Look forward to making more of your recipes. Great job, girl:) Humblebee yours, Wendy.
How interesting! I do everything by weight, so I definitely would’ve weighed the water part out in grams. I’ve also never worked with mowrah butter, so I can’t offer any advice there. I hope you do manage to re-create version #1, best of luck!
I know this is a old recipe, I have a stupid question. Can I add silk amino acid powder instead of the allantoin? I have not ordered that ingredient yet.
Thank you for such great recipes. Every time I look at your site, I am amazed at the number of recipes I find.
Hey Ginny! There’s no such thing as old recipes here 😉 You can definitely add some silk to the recipe—it won’t really be “instead of” since allantoin and silk are pretty different, but silk is still super awesome and wonderful in lotion recipes. Happy making!
Hello, Marie!
I found your blog and youtube videos recently and love them. In this post, you mention Gluconodeltalactone and Sodium Benzoate as a preservative. I searched the rest of your blog for more information but only came up with this post. What was your overall experience with this preservative? Thank you!
Hey Jordan! I’ve moved away from that preservative as the pH of the final product needs to be buffered down to 5 or lower for it to be effective, and it is ineffective in the presence of vitamin C; it’s just not as easy to use as Liquid Germall Plus, which is pretty much foolproof (and you have to use 4x as much as you would LGP).
Thank you so much for your response! I’ve just recently got into lotion making. I’ve been making lip balm, body butter and soaps for some time now. I guess I am intimidated with the fact that preservatives and complete emulsifying waxes are not considered “natural”. Or do labeling standards accept these as natural? Do you have any recommendations on resources to read up more on these ingredients? Also, is there any online courses in natural skincare making you recommend? Sorry for all the questions! Thank you for your time!
Well, there really is no definition of “natural” (so I’m not sure what labeling standards you are referencing), and “natural” hardly means universally safe or healthy, so I would not use that as your basis for concern (though I do understand the appeal!).
Mould, for instance, is super natural, but I don’t want it anywhere near my face! Most of the more “natural” preservatives don’t work very well, or are really hard to work with and easy to deactivate. I would much prefer to use 0.5% of something less “natural” and be safe.
You could look at an emulsifying wax that is ECO-CERT certified, like Ritamulse/Emulsimulse. That’s a great e-wax and I really enjoy working with it for many applications. But, again, nothing in there is “straight-from-nature-squeezed-from-a-coconut” sort of “natural”. If you want to stick to that level of “natural”, you’re going to be forced to stick to 100% oil based balms and salves. Even if you do manage to find a sufficiently “natural” emulsifier, you will still need a preservative, and no effective preservatives are truly natural. (Also, if you make soap from sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, you’re already working with synthesized chemicals.)
Hope that helps!
What is the shelf life of lotions made with hemp seed oil, using the preservative Optiohen? Also, if I am making a salve or lip balm using hemp seed oil, beeswax, and herbal infused olive oil, do you know what the shelf life would be? I do not use a preservative (other than Vitamin E) in my salves and lip balms
Honestly, there is no way to answer those questions accurately, but this FAQ article should help give you a rough idea 🙂
Hello Marie, I have just prepared this lotion and it’s super great, I just wish it was light, could it get more liquid ???
The entire recipe would have to be re-developed to make that happen. It’s possible, but there’s no magic fix once it’s done 🙂
This lotion is amazing! So rich and moisturizing. My batch went moldy in a week with 0.2% Liquid Germall Plus, which was a heartbreak. I’m making a new batch right now and am adding 0.5%!
I’m so glad you’re loving it! It is definitely chock full of bacterial temptations, though—darn herbs, being so delicious 😛 I hope that 0.5% does the trick; mine from ~6 weeks ago is still going strong, and I used 0.5%. Happy making!
Thank you for the recipe. Can I substitute colloidal oatmeal with oat silc? Are they same thing with two different names, or just completely different products? Sorry for my ignorance…. 🙂
As long as oat silc (silk?) is water soluble and a powder it should work—it may not be the same, but it should still be nice 🙂
Thanks Marie. Actually I bought colloidal oatmeal already…sorry, I couldn’t remember which posting I submitted this question…. 🙂 I’m very new to DIY personal product, and quite swamped by your so many great recipes to try. Thank you so much!!
No worries, happy making!
Would I be able to replace the herbal water with witch hazel? I use Thayer’s alcohol free and unscented witch hazel, and I love how it helps my skin. But I’ve been wanting to try and incorporate it into a lotion. I also saw on an earlier thread where you mentioned honey or water could be used as a replacement for vegetable glycerin, is that correct? I’m excited to try this lotion! I have extremely sensitive skin. I can’t even use coconut oil, and almost every natural lotion has that. So I was excited to run across this recipe and I am looking forward to trying this!
Yup! Witch hazel away 🙂 Honey is an acceptable replacement for glycerin in that they are both humectants, but honey is much harder to preserve, so in a tough-to-preserve lotion like this one, I would not replace the glycerin with more honey. Water is not a replacement for glycerin, but you can replace the amount of glycerin with more water to keep the recipe balanced. Sodium lactate is also a decent swap for glycerin, though it will rinse off your skin faster with hand washing and the like.
You won’t find a ton of coconut oil in my lotion recipes—it’s not that great of a moisturizer, frankly—many oils work better. The obsession with it seems to stem mostly from people who have never worked with other oils
Awesome! I have one last question for you! I know that you recommend a preservative for this recipe since it uses water and herbs. The witch hazel I use does have water in it, but since I’m not planning to use the herbs, is there a chance that the lotion will stay fresh for a longer period of time before molding? I would use this lotion everyday pretty much all over because I tend to have dry itchy skin and have eczema. So it would be used up pretty quickly for me! I know the water in the witch hazel heightens the chance of molding, but I don’t have any preservative on hand and I’m itching to try this recipe! Thank you so much for responding so quickly and taking the time to answer my questions. I truly appreciate it!
Hey! I went back and took a look and those instructions were old and awful. Go back and re-read 🙂 The preservative is non optional, regardless of the inclusion of herbs; it’s the water that makes it spoil, the herbs just make it spoil faster.
My herbs are in the water as I write, can’t wait to make this (hopefully) tomorrow! I did do a hot infusion with the herbs except for the marshmallow. Then when the herb water was just warm, I added the marshmallow root and covered the beaker with foil. Will the marshmallow still be ok at the heat and hold phase? Won’t heating it mess up with the goodies it possesses (the “soothing long-chain polysaccharides”?)
Thanks as always!!
Ha, good point. I recently re-vamped the instructions here but forgot about the marshmallow bit. Hmm. In any event, I have made this many times with the heat + hold including the marshmallow root, and the final product was still lovely, though I obviously don’t know how those polysaccharides fared.
Where do you typically buy your liquid Germall Plus and what size bottle do you suggest getting? I have a few small batch products I’d like to use it in .plus I plan to try your lotion recipe
I got my most recent bottle from Windy Point. 30mL is more than enough—I think my first 30mL bottle lasted close to two years! At 0.5% you don’t typically motor through it too fast when you’re just making for yourself 🙂
I made this and I can’t rave about it enough. This has already helped my boy’s super dry skin immensely, like no one would believe. I put the cream on his eczema patches last night before bed and immediately his skin felt soft and supple, I couldn’t believe it… and this am his skin was still clear, no dry patches, no prickly skin. After using tons of store bought stuff I think I found my holy grail for eczema troubled skin. I’m so happy I found you and started “dim-ing” (doing it myself) with you. Thank you thank you thank you. My baby and I are forever grateful for this amazing recipe.
PS: I did heat and hold the herb water but maybe next time I’ll leave the marshmallow out and just slightly heat it and add to the water after the heat and hold phase.
YAY! This makes me so darn happy 🙂 Hearing that I’ve helped people solve problems and help their families is the best!
This cream is definitely on the shorter end of the shelf life scale because of all the herbs, so as much as you like it, definitely don’t scale it up—you’ll end up throwing it away (boo).
Happy DIYing, and thank you so much for sharing your successes with me!
I was actually wondering if the shelf life would be shorter bc of the herbs and the hemp oil, which goes rancid quicker than other oils. I normally make small-ish batches (no more than 100 g) to be on the safe side, plus that gives me the excuse to make stuff more often
Cheers
I guess we’re/you’re learning this 🙁 Sigh.
Hey there, I’m absolutely in love with this lotion but sadly after less than a week, a white fuzzy thingy appeared over the whole top of my lotion (mold, white mold!) If it wasn’t so gross it could actually be cute, that soft, white fuzzy thingy living on my lotion… ahhhh!!! (actually, EEEWWWW!) I used Liquid Germall Plus, did the heat and hold process but it didn’t hold up. I wonder why!? I’m no expert but I think the 24 hour infusion was a bit overkill… after the 24 hours passed, the herb water was like a thick syrup, almost as thick as maple syrup so maybe the contamination started even before I started making the lotion but like I said, I wouldn’t know for sure. The only different thing I did was I added 2g of silk amino acids to the water phase but I’m not sure the silk would cause the lotion to mold so quickly. I still think it was the herb water infusion. Any ideas? Today I made another batch without the honey and instead of infusing the marshmallow for 24 hours I boiled the water and poured over the herbs then when the water was below 50 degrees Celsius I added the marshmallow and let it infuse for about 30 minutes. I’ll see in a few days if that makes any difference. Also, the last batch I used a wide mouth jar (much like yours) to store the cream but I wouldn’t say that’s the culprit as I have made other lotions before, stored in jars and had no problem with contamination. I’ll report back once a few days have passed. I’m keeping my fingers crossed because this is the only lotion that helped my son’s skin.
Sadly this is not the first time I’ve heard this; I’m not sure why the versions I make seem to be so much more shelf stable than the versions some other people make, as the process and ingredients must remain fairly consistent!
My herb infusion definitely wasn’t syrupy, so it does sound like you’re getting much more herb material in the lotion, which is definitely going to contribute to a shorter shelf life.
An easy way to improve the shelf life of this lotion would be to infuse the herbs in the oils rather than the water part; I’d gently heat the oils until liquid and then leave them to infuse without applied heat (but still in the water bath) overnight. This method will mean you’ll be getting the oil soluble components of the herbs, not the water soluble components, but the lotion will last longer.
The wide mouthed jar definitely doesn’t help things, but this lotion is so thick a pump bottle is a hard alternative (I lost a lot of mine to the bottom of the pump bottle in the photos). I’d recommend using a popsicle stick or some other clean instrument to scoop it out to help prevent further contamination.
Oh, and in case you wonder, I sanitize everything I use (beakers, jars, spatulas, etc) with 91% rubbing alcohol, wear gloves and make sure everything is clean before I start making anything, even anhydrous products. I wonder if anybody else had contamination problem in such short time…
This all sounds great! The contamination is much more the fault of the recipe than your process in this case.
Thanks for your reply,I didn’t get a thick syrupy water infusion this time around (2nd batch) so I’m hoping that will make a difference. However, I do have a jar with sunflower seed oil and the herbs called for in the recipe being infused, just in case I get another fuzzy animal in my lotion again. Will report back in a few days. Thanks and happy Thursday
Good luck! I look forward to hearing how your further experiments go 🙂
I got another moldy batch, sadly
I have the herbs infused sunflower oil so I’ll tweak the recipe a bit to include the oil and I’ll also add more water (and adjust the rest of the ings.) so I can put the cream in a pump bottle. Will report back!!
Balls 🙁 I wonder what it is about my environment that means I can make this lotion and have it be fine, and yet it’s been such a disaster for others (even other people I know in Calgary!). I hope the infused version works for you!
So, a friend asked me to make her something for her dry hands, and i remembered this lotion! I tweaked it a bit: I used chamomile and calendula infused olive oil instead of the hemp oil, so i dropped the herbal infusion and used plain deionized water. I found the chamomile smell was prominent so i didnt add any essential oils. It was great, she loved it! Thank you Marie!
That does sound wonderful! Thanks so much for DIYing with me 😀
Greetings from Greece!
is this lotion for babies too?
I’d probably stick with anhydrous DIYs for babies that don’t contain essential oils. Preservatives and essential oils are two sources of irritation, and baby skin is really delicate, so I’d think it would be best to stick to products that don’t need either 🙂
Thank you!!!!!!