Peppermint Lotion Bars

I've had a failure! My original plan today was to share with you all a recipe for sugar scrub cubes. I searched and searched for my old recipe for hours and couldn't find it, so I tried to remember proportions of what I put into mine... they are a bit different than the other recipes you can find online. I made 2 batches and both failed. Second batch had too much sugar and fell apart, first batch had not enough sugar and ended up very hard. They are still usable but they are almost like mini scrubby soap bars rather than the easy to use sugar scrub cubes. They do last longer. But I ran out of bar soap and melt and pour so testing it out again will have to wait. I am almost there! Maybe next week?
Anyways, after that I figured I better make something for you all to learn. Some of you may already know how to make lotion bars. They are one of the easiest beauty products to make at home. Easier than sugar scrub cubes, that's for sure! The base recipe is simple, use 1 part oil to 1 part beeswax to 1 part butter(shea butter, cocoa butter, kokum butter) Then add in your fragrance oil. I'm using peppermint essential oil for these because it is easy to find.. most people can find it at their local vitamin shop or at Fredmeyer among other grocery stores. If you want to use something different, feel free! Just use the same amount of essential oil. With fragrance oil you may have to add a bit extra.




Peppermint Lotion Bars
1 oz beeswax
1 oz shea or kokum butter
1 oz sunflower oil(or sweet almond, jojoba, really any oil you want though some oils will affect the scent)
20 drops peppermint essential oil
Note: All ingredients are measured by weight not volume

Melt 1 oz beeswax.

Once melted or almost melted, add in your 1 oz of sweet almond oil and 1oz kokum or shea butter(we wait to add it until the beeswax is melted because overheating butters can affect is structure and can also affect its healing properties)

Stir in 20 drops peppermint essential oil. Make sure to use a wood or plastic spoon, not metal.

Pour into molds and let cool. If you do not have mold you can also use a muffin pan. Silicone works best but I've also had luck using the metal ones, you just knock on the back of the pan when you want the lotion bar to come out. I especially like using a mini muffin pan so I can make mini lotion bars as gifts(if I'm making them for a large group of people).

Once you get used to making these try experimenting! I love to mess around with the oils and butters and do a mixture of different ones you can also use soy wax in place of beeswax but I like to support the bee keepers. I also sometimes use rosehip or calendula infused oil. In the summer I pick calendula petals from my garden and in the fall I pick rosehips from the wild rose bushes growing in our woods and I infuse oil with them. Both are very good for your skin!