Lotion Bars- finally revealed!

This post has been a long time coming. A really, really long time. In the past few years, I've had trouble keeping my hands moisturized. Part of the problem was that I was dog grooming, and this year I spent the entire month of December doing 2+ loads of laundry a day. But the other part of the problem is that winter, and the forced heat that comes with it, just makes everything very dry. Last year on my quest to find moisturization, I found Bubble and Bee's Lotion Sticks (the link is to the Coconut Lime one, but they have all sorts of fun scents, like the Chai Guy). I just could never justify the expense (and shipping). Well, I began to find all sorts of links on how to make your own. Notably, on One Good Thing and a different variation on Made On. The most useful site by far was on Crunchy Betty, however. Her explanation and pictures were incredibly helpful. So hers was the ratio I used, as well as her directions. I did use slightly different ingredients though. To wit:

Lotion Bar in it's mini loaf pan.

Lotion Bar
1 part (3 oz.) beeswax
1 part (3 oz.) cocoa butter
1 part (3 oz.) coconut oil
form/mold

You can substitute pretty much any oil for the coconut oil and shea butter for the cocoa butter. You can also add essential oils and the like in order to give it a particular scent, but I chose to go very simple for my first try. I was going to type out directions, but really, you should just follow the ones on Crunchy Betty.

I had thought about getting a fun, fancy mold, but couldn't really find any I loved, so I decided just to make a large bar and cut it into smaller, more convenient sized pieces. I then had to find little containers to put them in.

Lotion Bars in their tiny containers.

I was really excited when I found these tiny rectangular containers at the dollar store. I got eight of them for just a dollar, which was just about perfect for the amount I'd made. I gave one to Mum, Sir, Thomas, and Lilly for Christmas. This shows how long ago I made these- before Christmas! I had to wait until after Christmas to blog it, though, and then procrastinated forever. I know Lilly and Mum are definitely enjoying theirs. :) Personally, I've been keeping one in my purse at all times. It's great as a moisturizer because it has a light chocolaty scent, moisturizes amazingly, and soaks into the skin fairly quickly without being too greasy. I'm thoroughly pleased with the result. The most important benefit of solid lotions/lotion bars (which I realize I forgot to mention) is that it doesn't wash off your hands like a regular lotion will, because there is no added water. Pretty much everything in the bars is an oil/moisturizer which actually repels the water and simply soaks into ones hands better. If you've never tried solid lotion before, you should!