Magic Lotion Bars

Last week I had a huge reaction to something I ate, compounded with being at work and using the awful gloves that we have at work. (OK, so they probably aren't AWFUL for the general people, but for me, I react to them on the best of days.) The eczema was just horrible. By far the worst I have ever experienced. I had been doing research on natural remedies, as I am not one for taking medications, especially corticosteroids. One of the things I discovered was coconut oil is amazing for eczema. I started to use that and it cleared up my eczema relatively quickly considering I wasn't using steroids. However, with this reaction that I had, the coconut oil wasn't able to penetrate through the rough disgusting rash. Despite my constant slathering of the oil, it just wasn't doing the trick this time. So it was back to the drawing board. Enter the miracle of Shea Butter! I was at a store where I found a sample of pure shea butter, put it on my hands and wow! It actually penetrated through and softened my hands up a tiny bit, enough for me to start working it out with the coconut oil that I had. Lucky for me a few weeks before this I had ordered shea butter and beeswax to try out lotion bars that I had discovered on One Good Thing By Jillee's Blog. It is the recipe for MadeON's Hard Lotion Bars. I've seen a few different recipe's for lotion bars, however this is the recipe I decided sounded the best. Shea butter and coconut oil are touted to be amazing for eczema and dry sensitive skin. Both of which I am a victim of. On day 6 of dealing with this reaction, I came home from work to find my package from Mountain Rose Herbs sitting on my door step! I was so excited that I immediately made it. OK, that's a lie, I immediately OPENED the box, looked at all my fun purchases, then proceeded to have a nap. AFTER the nap I put the lotion bar ingredients into action!

Ingredients: (equal parts)
-shea butter
-coconut oil
-beeswax
If you want harder bars, add more beeswax, softer add more coconut oil. If they are too greasy you have too much coconut oil, if too sticky you have too much shea butter... Just re melt and adjust!
That's it! Easy right? First I want to talk a tiny bit about what kinds of ingredients you want to use. Most important? UNREFINED! I can't emphasize enough how you need to spend a tiny bit more and buy unrefined cold pressed product. If you buy refined shea butter or coconut oil all the miracle healing elements of the shea and coconut oil is killed. The high heat that they expose it to will decimate any healing properties, meaning your lotion bars will not be as fabulous and miraculous. They will still be chemical free (yay!) however they will just be lotion, not magical lotion. Yes magical. So please please please buy unrefined! I purchased my beeswax and my shea from Mountain Rose Herbs, and the coconut oil is from my fav local health food store Oliver's Health.

First, you need to construct a double boiler. When baking, my double boiler is a pot of water with a Pyrex bowl on top. I was wary of using a baking bowl because I don't trust my ability to clean up the bowl after. So I opted for an extra Pyrex liquid measure, the bonus of this is that i was able to pour the mixture easily into the molds of choice.

I have a flimsy little kitchen scale that I used to measure out all my ingredients. For easy transfer and clean up I placed a piece of parchment paper over the scale before I measured it out.
 I did the melting in three steps, melting first the beeswax, which has a melting point of around 145*F  (about 63*C). When the beeswax is all but melted, I add in the shea butter, which has a melting point of around 90*F (32*C). After the shea is almost completely melted I add in the coconut oil which has a fairly low melting point of 76*F or 24*C. Using a bamboo skewer to stir everything up, it usually melts quite quickly (I made an ounce of each ingredient and it melted within 4-5 minutes).
Then take the Pyrex out of the water and dry the outside off, and pour into molds. (For lip gloss tubes, fill halfway, let harden a bit and then fill up to the top) Toss into the freezer or fridge until it hardens completely (about 30 minutes in the freezer). Once hard, they should easily come out of the mold. Now you have magic. Because of the low melting point of the shea butter and the coconut oil (both well below the body's natural temperature) when you rub the bar over your skin a thin layer of lotion will coat your skin. Just rub it in a tiny bit and the beeswax will seal that moisture into your skin. That's the magic! I put it on my angry red hands a few times that night and when I woke up they were much much happier. When I went to work the next day I took it with me and used it throughout the shift. Instead of coming home with hands that were red, raw and painful, I came home with fabulous hands! Its been 3 blissful days since I made the bars and I have almost perfectly healed hands. I'm sure the steroids would have cleared this up a lot quicker, however I am just not comfortable continuing steroid use now that I've actually researched it a bit! So I will continue to use my magical lotion bars and hopefully I will be able to prevent any flare ups. Lucky for me my manager agreed to order special gloves for me at work as well. I now have fabulous green gloves that are lined with organic aloe. I feel so special :) No more tingly painful hands when I put on gloves.

My original batch made 6 little cubes of lotion, as well as one circular lotion bar. I have given away all my little cubes for people to try and everyone LOVES them. As a nurse you have to wash your hands a million times a day with harsh antimicrobial soap, then sanitize your hands with an alcohol spray a billion times a day. They've formulated these to be as moisturizing as possible but let's face it. It's not enough. With these lotion bars, they protect your hands while you wash over and over and over again!

I made a second batch today,  with 2 oz of each ingredient. I made a few apples, cubes, large circles, a couple lip balms, and i poured some into a 1/2 ounce tin. This is all that's left after my step mom stopped by and I gave her a few tidbits to take home to the family to try out. LOVE!