Drying lotion definitely seems a bit of an oxymoron, but the name comes courtesy of Mario Bedascu, along with the idea for the product. It is, more or less, rubbing alcohol, salicylic acid, and calamine lotion, and it’s designed to dry out your zits and make them vanish like a magic trick. It also performs a bit of a magic trick on your wallet, ringing in at a whopping $17/oz (hence the need for a DIY dupe).
This lotion is a definite oddity, and really a lotion in name only. It’s a two-parter in one bottle. Part one is a pinkish sediment of calamine at the bottom of the bottle, and part two is a solution of mainly rubbing alcohol and salicylic acid. The idea is that you dip a cotton bud through the mixture without shaking the bottle, and when you withdraw it, it will be soaked through with the alcohol mixture, with calamine all over the tip. That’s what you dot on your zits before going to bed. Interesting.
Part one, the calamine mixture, was easy enough. Calamine is really just red iron oxide (ferric oxide) in zinc oxide. The rest of the powdery ingredients in the original were titanium dioxide, more zinc oxide, and talc. I ditched the talc and blended the three ingredients together into a pink powder, and then used a funnel to tap that into the bottom of a bottle. I recommend using a bottle that a cotton bud can actually reach the bottom of. I did not and now I have to use a long handled make up brush to apply this—whoops.
For the liquidy bit, I steeped white willow bark in some water for its natural salicylic acid. After straining out the bits of bark I added rubbing alcohol, vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada), and camphor powder. I then used a funnel to pour that into the bottle as well. Because of the natural source of the salicylic acid the liquid does turn a dark brown as the sediment settles out of it. Oh well.
Zit Drying Lotion
60mL | ¼ cup boiling water
10mL | 2 tsp white willow bark22mL | 1½ tbsp isopropyl alcohol or high-proof clear grain alcohol
¼ tsp vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)1½ tsp zinc oxide
1/8 tsp red iron oxide (I use these tiny measuring spoons to measure out such small amounts)
½ tsp titanium dioxide
1/32 tsp camphor powder or 5 drops camphor essential oil + 5 drops either polysorbate 20 or Turkey Red OilBroad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Pour the boiling water over the white willow bark and let steep 20 minutes. Strain and reserve the liquid.
Blend the zinc oxide, red iron oxide, titanium dioxide, and camphor powder together in your DIY coffee grinder. Use a funnel to divide the mixture between two 30mL (1 fl oz) glass bottles.
Combine 7.5mL/half a tablespoon of the white willow bark mixture with the rubbing alcohol, glycerin, and your preservative. Divide this mixture between the two bottles, topping off with extra white willow bark water as needed. Do not shake.
To use, dip a cotton bud through the entire bottle. Do not shake. Apply the pink goo to your spots before going to bed. Don’t rinse off until morning.
And does it work ? Where do you find the bark ?
SYlvie
I’ve found it to be really lovely, Sylvie—my favourite part is probably the soothing factor, and how you just apply it before bed and wake up to happier skin 🙂 I got the bark from Saffire Blue (link in the big box above the comments section).
What a bizarre concoction! Hopefully the good kind of bizarre, which with your track record is pretty likely 😛 I don’t have camphor powder (yet). Do you have an alternative powder recommendation, or should I just skip it? I don’t really see why you’re not supposed to shake it. Would it… NOT work if you did shake it, even accidentally? I’m fairly clumsy, so dropping the bottle is a very real possibility, haha. Hrrrm.
I totally agree, Sarah—when I first found the original (I think my friend Meredith pointed me to it) I thought it was really bizarre looking. The idea behind the no-shake thing seems to be a way to have you apply mostly calamine, and just moisten it with the liquid… I suppose I could have probably re-worked it with less water so you just had a straight anti-acne calamine lotion, though. If you shake it up it’ll settle back down in a day or two, but until then you won’t get a concentrated blob of calamine on the q-tip, you’ll just get a wet q-tip. Hmm. Perhaps a project for the future.
I find the camphor powder contributes a nice painkilling effect for sore zits—if you don’t have it you’re probably fine to leave it out as the EO version won’t dissolve.
Ahhhh, I see! So if the calamine portion is actually the workhorse, do the liquid ingredients even really have much impact apart from making the powder stick to the Q-tip? If that’s the case, I guess the camphor powder would be best in the calamine portion to reap any benefits (it’s now on my NDA list for next time, which won’t be for a long while… I have an order on the way at the moment so I just missed out!). I may try some ground up aspirin in the calamine base for a salicylic acid boost 🙂 I’m very excited to try this, especially since it’s not a terrifying-looking black paste! Pink/red on pink/red for the win!
Oh, just thought of something else! I do have camphor EO… and though it won’t dissolve in the liquid, what if I blended a few drops (2-3?) into the powder mixture instead (like you did with the EOs in your activated charcoal spot treatment)?
It’s worth a try, but I do wonder if the camphor EO would just float out once the powder got wet, especially after sitting undisturbed for few days. Hmm. Try it and let me know?
They definitely do work as a team with the rubbing alcohol and the salicylic acid in the liquidy bit—if I were to do a straight powdery version I’d probably blitz an aspirin and the camphor into the powder part, and then apply it by dipping a q-tip into some rubbing alcohol and then using that to apply the powder.
I think if you put the camphor powder in the calamine portion it would just dissolve into the water part anyways, since it’s water soluble. All the calamine ingredients are insoluble, so that’s why they’re content to just chillax in the bottom of the bottle 😛
Let me know how it works out!
I have the Mario Bedascu one and it is expensive for such a small bottle! When I finish it I will be doing this! Glad there can be an alternative!
I know! I was just shocked to see the price knowing what is in it. You will have to let me know if my recipe lives up to the store bought version 🙂
Question: if you can’t find willow bark (Altho I’m sure it’s available widely online as well as any homeopathic medicine or healthfood stores), you can grind up aspirin tablets (aspirin is salicylic acid) too, right? How many do you think it would take? Steeping the bark would be purer, but aspirin is a common household item. I’m asking because my husband likes using a drying tonic on his skin, he’s (and me, too, really) prone to oily skin. I’d love to make this for us. I love finding DIY ways to make cosmetics, cleaning products, etc., saving us money AND having more “natural” things in the house. Thank you SO much for this recipe!!
You totally can, Brigitte! I’d probably start with one (since they’re much more concentrated than the bark) and see how that works for you. If it isn’t strong enough, you could grind up another and add it to the bottle 🙂 Let me know how it works, and enjoy all your new DIY goodies! Also, if you’ve got oily skin, you should definitely try some clay masks. They might be a hard sell for your husband, but they sure are fantastic 😛 Thanks for reading!
If I started with a pre-bought bottle of calamine lotion and then added willow bark, rubbing alcohol and glycerin would this concoction work? Being a bit on the lazy side and not having the red oxide etc to make the “muti” (calamine) and also adding a smidgen of camphor powder,would this work?
It’s worth a try! Keep me posted 🙂
Will give it a try as I have a few grand-kids at the extreme zitty stage to try it on. Our local chemist has calamine lotion in small bottles for a small earbud type applicant. and i have all the other ingrediants at hand. Will let you know results.
Cool—let me know how it works out!
Just curious what your results were using calamine lotion? Thank you
I’ve seen the store bought version before and it’s strange appearance made me think that it was so full of bad chemicals. But this looks positively wonderful!
The original isn’t too bad in the ingredients category, but mine is definitely cleaner and WAY cheaper! Let me know if you try it 🙂
Hi Marie! I was wondering: what type of titanium dioxide should be used in this recipe? Can oil-soluble be used?
Hey Laura! If you’re only going to buy one, I find oil soluble to be most useful, but because this one’s an emulsion, you can use either one 🙂
Thanks Marie!
I’m having a hard time finding camphor powder – any suggestions?
Have you checked out my big list of places to shop? It’s hard for me to make recommendations when I don’t know where you live, and when you likely don’t live where I do.
Thanks for the reply! I did take a look at your list of shopping recommendations and was only able to find camphor essential oil. (I live in the US.) I came across a site recently that said dried rosemary leaves contain a decent amount of camphor – what are your thoughts on using this as a substitution?
Thanks again! You’ve been a great inspiration as I start on my DIY journey!
I’d probably choose the camphor EO over the rosemary leaves—check out this post and read the section titled “An ingredient that contains some of the called-for ingredient” for more info 🙂 You will need to include a bit of an emulsifier to get the essential oil to incorporate—a few drops of polysorbate 20 (aka solubilizer) or turkey red oil will do the trick.
Happy making!
Can i use salicylic acid powder instead of will bark?
I also don’t have any sort of alcohol what can i use instead? Can I skip it?