How to Make a Natural Coconut Oil Lotion

Coconut oil has a huge array of benefits for your skin and beauty health and is a great product to use on its own or as an addition to your favorite products. Popular due to its highly hydrating and antibacterial properties, many natural lotions, creams, and other beauty tinctures use it to enhance their ingredients and provide a natural preservative.

Despite its inclusion in these products, it often falls alongside a whole myriad of other ingredients that might be hard to pronounce or even source. If you love using coconut oil, but hate the idea of it falling alongside unnecessary compounds, then you can easily make your own products using just a few simple ingredients. The following explains how to male natural lotion with coconut oil for hydration and soothing results.

Benefits of Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has long been used as a beauty product ingredient due to its highly hydrating components that also works as a natural preservative. It is found in many natural products, such as some of the best natural facial moisturizers. It can also be used on its own, but does have a very low melting point, making it a bit runny. A good lotion allows it to soak more fully into the skin and lets you take full advantage of its many beneficial properties.

Coconut oil is naturally antimicrobial, making it a great choice to help with skin conditions. It blocks bacterial growth and can help with fungus-like infections as well. It also is an anti-inflammatory. This can be especially potent when mixed with anti-inflammatory essential oils, such as lavender. Other than being highly moisturizing, it helps speed up wound healing due to the above-mentioned properties, as well as due to the protection it lends to the skin barrier.

What You Need

The amount of ingredients you need can always be altered to fit your needs. This is such a simple recipe and it lasts due to the antibacterial properties of coconut oil- making it perfect for storage, gift giving, and keeping on hand for whenever you need it. It also is easy to customize for scent and even color if you so desire.

• ¼ cup Almond Oil
• ⅓ cup Coconut Oil
• ⅓ cup Beeswax Pastilles
• Essential oil of your choice for scent (optional)
• Natural food coloring (optional)
• Small Canning Jars

Step 1: Combine Oils and Beeswax

Either use a double boiler or a glass bowl within another to melt and blend your oils and beeswax together to form emulsification that will not separate as it cools. Allow this to blend together naturally as it cools, and use a metal utensil to stir gently after all the beeswax has melted.

I used rolled beeswax from a local honey supplier that I ripped into smaller pieces to allow for a quicker melt. You don’t want to melt over too high a heat either. I used a low heat on a gas stove, stirring well as it melted and then again to ensure all the bits of wax were liquefied.

Step 2: Add in Scent and/or Coloring

Once you have a well-blended liquid you add a few drops of your favorite essential oils and/or coloring and stir to incorporate it. To provide you an idea of about how many drops of oil to add, I made a double batch and put in approximately 20 drops of oil. Remove from the heat immediately after stirring in any scent or color.

The scent is easy to customize. I used orange oil to create a sweet almond orange lotion to help boost the mood, destress, energize, and combat against allergies and illnesses. It also can help soothe sore muscles and joints and sooth skin irritations. Plus, it is a great unisex scent that it light and uplifting for both men and women.

Step 3: Pour into Jars and Cool

Pour into your jars, small mason jars work great for this and allow to cool before placing the lids on it. Be careful to pour slowly to avoid spilling, and speed up the cooling process by placing on a cotton towel in the refrigerator if you so desire. The wax will begin to solidify on the outside first so be sure not to rush the process before use or you may have a liquid center. I left mine in the fridge for a half hour before lidding.

A double batch of ingredients allowed me to make 3, 4 ounce jars of lotion. These are the perfect size for gifting as well. You can label the tops, make ingredient tags, decorate, etc in any way you desire. This is also a great way to involve children if you are making gifts of these lotions.

Storage and Best Used By

Since all the ingredients are already shelf stable, you can easily store these for prolonged periods of time. Keep them in a cool, dry, and preferably darkened place if you use essential oils until ready for use. Essential oil properties will be most potent if used within 6 months but they will keep a little longer if you desire.

Customized Blend Ideas

The simplicity of this recipe allows you to easily customize it for scent and coloring. Some of my personal favorites include soothing additions such as lavender and chamomile. The gentle properties of the ingredients make this a great option for use on children as well.

Peppermint and orange is also a great combination to help soothe sore muscles and work deep into the tissues to stimulate blood flow. Use camphor as well for an even longer-lasting pain relief.

Rose and geranium can be used to produce a solid perfume like lotion. Highly beneficial to the skin, you can treat many skin conditions with these rich oil choices all while smelling amazing.

Vanilla and cinnamon is warm and inviting, plus it is soothing, uplifting, and provides a relaxing option.

Lemongrass and ginger is a bright, refreshing choice. It also helps soothe upset tummies and can be massaged into the stomach and feet to alleviate these issues.

Ylang-Ylang, bergamot, and grapefruit is a light scent and boosts moods as you wear it.

Lavender and cedarwood is another combination that works wonderfully to soothe and inspire sleep. This is a great choice for soothing fussing babies.

Of course, there are many, many more scent options you can blend together or use on their own to take advantage of. Essential oils blend wonderfully with beeswax to provide a warm underlying scent and a way to enjoy the beneficial properties of the oils for long periods of time. Plus, anyone who comes in contact with you will enjoy it was well!

Conclusion

If you want to know what ingredients are in your moisturizing products, it doesn’t take a long time to make your very own hydrating coconut oil lotion. All you need is a few simple ingredients and a few minutes to meltdown and customize your own lotion blend to help hydrate and provide beneficial options based on your needs.

This long-lasting formula allows a little to go a long way and has an excellent shelf life. Plus, it is a wonderful way to make homemade gifts! If you have any questions or comments, please let us know below, and, as always, please share!

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