DIY Beauty: Amy’s Happy Hydration Cream
Meet Amy: Her skin is dry and she’s on a budget, so she developed this awesome-sounding recipe that both hydrates and scents the skin with citrusy goodness. Sounds delish. She also breaks down the whole emulsifier thing, which I know I’ve wondered about. Thanks Amy!
—Name: Amy
—Current hometown: Boulder, CO
—Product name that I made up: Happy Hydration
—Ingredients list: shea butter, jojoba oil, coconut oil, emulsifying wax*, distilled water, bergamot essential oil, sweet orange essential oil, vitamin E oil
—How I made It:
- Combine 5g shea butter, 10g jojoa oil, 5g coconut oil, and 5g emulsifying wax in one heat proof container
- Add 70g of distilled water to a separate heat proof container
- Create a double boiler by placing both containers in a low amount of just boiling water on medium heat (I put all of my ingredients in two glass pyrex measuring cups, then placed in pot of boiling water)
- Once the ingredients heat up to around 150 degrees, continue to let them sit in the double boiler for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take them out, pour the distilled water into the mixture of oils, and immediately blend with an immersion blender for about 30 seconds (I’ve also used a regular blender and food processor and all work pretty well)
- Let the liquid lotion cool until it reaches about 120 degrees (5-10 minutes), then add in any essential oils. Blend for another 30 seconds or so.
- Pour into a clean and dry container. Once the lotion reaches room temperature (30ish minutes) it’s okay to put the lid on. Adding a lid any sooner can cause condensation to form in the container, equaling breeding grounds for some nasty mold.
How it smelled, felt, worked…
Nice light, creamy texture and happy citrus scent! Absorbs well into the skin.
Why I will or won’t do this again…
I’ve been experimenting with making my own lotions for about 6 months now and this is my favorite recipe so far. I have incredibly sensitive skin and a tight budget, and I feel like this lotion is perfect for both. I’m also a fan of using only oil as a moisturizer, but sometimes I just crave a creamy body butter or lotion to rub into my skin instead. I live at a high altitude, super dry climate and this recipe is versatile enough that I can make it extra heavy (using more shea or cocoa butters) for the dry winter months, or lighter (liquid-at-room-temperature-oils instead of butters) during the summer. It’s also multi-functioning – my boyfriend likes to use my lighter versions as a facial moisturizer and it gives him awesome glowy skin.
*I’m still slightly indecisive about this ingredient. To make lotion, it seems there needs to be some kind emulsifier to bind the oil and water together. At first I was resistant to using the wax, but when I discussed it with someone at the local apothecary where I buy all of my other ingredients, they explained that 1. although it’s processed, it is vegetable based, safe, and junk-free, it’s just no longer in it’s purest form; 2. I’m using a very small amount of it in my recipe and compared to any lotion I would buy, 5g of emulsifying wax is harmless; and 3. everything else in this store is as clean as it comes, organic, fair trade, etc. and I totally trust these people.
So for the time being, to get my lotion fix when just oils aren’t satisfying, I’m going to continue to throw in some emulsifying wax. Any thoughts? Have you guys looked into emulsifying wax?
Also, off the subject of my DIY submission but still awesomely DIY related…I had a nasty cut on my finger last night and in a pinch mixed some raw honey and vitamin E oil together, gooped it on my finger and put a band aid over it for the night. This morning the cut was more or less healed! No more nasty neosporin for me.
Wow – I am in awe of you guys who not only make your own stuff but who actually play mad scientist and create the recipes! I don’t know that I’m going to try anything at home quite yet (a combination of laziness, cowardice and still working through my previous tendency to stockpile…) but the raw honey / vitamin E oil first aid is definitely one I will use so thanks!
Bergamot and orange – great mix of EOs! I haven’t tried mixing honey with vitamin E, but I’ve used honey on its own for cuts and it’s amazing. I also discovered by accident (had a bad fall of my bike before making it) that my raw almond milk is soothing to cuts – after an initial bit of stinging.
I know Mountain Rose Herbs sells emulsifying wax, and I trust them. They make this statement about their product: Because of its heavily manufactured nature, alcohol content, and post-production residue which includes polysorbates, this material cannot be considered a benign “natural additive”. I bought some liquid lecithin (made from organic soy) from them for my upcoming experiment with a face wash. The liquid form is supposed to be less processed than other emulsifiers. I felt like it was a better choice, especially given all my sensitivities.
I’ve experimented with e-wax (duh, it’s kinda my job!) and it’s cool for making home-made prods as it makes emulsifying easy, but there’s something strange about the texture it creates. And is it just me, or does it have a funny scent, too? It might just be the particular one that I tried out, though.
Anyhow, sounds like a very nice lotion, but remember that vit E isn’t a good long-term preservative for anything oil + water, so if you make a big batch, keep some in the fridge so it doesn’t spoil too quickly. As is, it should last a few good months, but if the colour and scent go off, throw it out.
Also, most citrus oils will make your skin more photosensitive, so careful with that! However, Shea has it’s own light SPF of about 6, so bonus there!
Also, try using some aloe hydrosol (or any kind of hydrosol) in there too…sooo nice!
This is an awesome recipe….very similar to one I’ve done before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYKdqBQ7ldU)
I had problems with the thickness of it…which if it was for hte face, that’d be ok, but I had made mine for the body and I wanted a thicker consistency.
Also, my blend turned rancid after a week….I had used Vitamin E in it, but no other preservative. What ingredient in your blend actually preserved it?
@ Robin – I actually didn’t add any preservatives. I prefer to just be super careful with my recipes and hope they don’t mold! So far in the million (ok, maybe 20 or so?) batches I’ve made, only one has started to mold, and none have started to smell weird or anything. I tend to make smaller batches (this one makes about 4 oz) so they aren’t around for too long and don’t have much of a chance to mold. That said I have had these lotions laying around for months at a time and they’re still fine.
I make sure that all of the supplies/containers/mixers I use are clean and completely dry before making the lotion, and only use distilled water (or like Jessica mentioned, a hydrosol will work) in the recipe. Also wait a good bit before putting the lid on so no condensation forms.
@ Jessica – I didn’t know that about citrus! Good to know! My wax doesn’t smell weird, but the texture definitely weirds me out. This is one of the first recipes I cut it down to 5g in (started around 10g), and the texture of this one in particular doesn’t bother me and I haven’t had problems with it separating.
@ Rebecca – I would LOVE to try the liquid emulsifier instead. Definitely going to get some…..
Thanks for sharing this, Amy! What a lovely mix of things.
@Robin – I have had the same condundrum as you. I found if I heat things too high, esp. with shea butter, they go rancid at a rapid pace. if I heat the shea butter for a longer time over a low heat, then that helps keep things from going icky. And everything else everyone else already said :)
Eee! I see you’ve been to Rebecca’s! Rebecca’s is my favorite :) I’ve always wanted to do one of their skincare workshops.
@Silvy, YES! I’m in love with Rebecca’s. Their luxurious lotions class is actually where I learned to make lotions, but I evolved this recipe a few times over from ones we made in the class.
Why water? Don’t you all already know that water-based stuff MUST carry a preservative? And don’t you still know that waterless moisturizers + hydrating mists are better for dry skin than both mixed together in a lotion? Besides, to me, creams and lotions are outdated, right now is all about oils, balms, butters and salves.
@Joelle: interesting comments! Can you elaborate more on your point about waterless moisturizers + mists? Any recipes for that?
I still a novice with the whole DIY skin care thing but I heard beeswax can be used as an emulsifier in lotions to mix oil and water components… i haven’t made any lotions like this, mostly just oil blends for oil cleansing and a shea butter + the oils mixture (this means it can have that creamy texture without water components) just using beeswax for my lip-balms. But, assuming beeswax works, I think that would be better as it is meant to have healing and protecting properties (which is why I like to use it in balms.)
I know however, that it isn’t vegan, and I know that for my recipes beeswax can be substituted with a smaller amount of candelilla or carnauba wax – they are harder but have similar properties to beeswax so perhaps they too can act as emulsifiers? Sorry I don’t know more.
@Emma I don’t know about Joelle but I found this http://loveandtrash.com/2010/12/diy-whipped-shea-butter/ to be a good moisturizer.
I realize this is quite a late response, but in reply to straight oils or butters being more hydrating to the skin, that is utter nonsense. The water content in lotions allows penetration to skin that straight oils and butters do not allow, which is why it is suggested for oils and butters to be applied post-shower for best efficacy. FYI. Nice job on trying to be hip and spreading misinformation with bad science, though, Joelle.
I love this recipe, but I wonder if there’s a substitute for jojoba oil. I have had a bad experience with it and would like to use something else –like vitamin E or argan oil? Thank you!