I’ve always had sensitive skin and allergies to perfume.   That combination alone has ruled out 90% of commercially sold lotions for me.  The other part of this equation is that we live in Calgary, which is close to the mountains and where there is no such thing as humidity. Seriously, when we come back from vacation you can literally feel the moisture being wrung out of your body.  So I have tested out and tried many different types of lotions in an attempt to keep from my skin looking like a pangolin.  I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would have to spend exorbitant amounts of money on Weleda lotion (which is really fantastic stuff) every month when I decided to see if I could come up with something else that would work.  

I went about researching different types of oils and tinctures, and I started playing around with different combinations to come up with a great lotion that I now use for myself and my boys.  The best part is that you can easily swap out different types of oils or add fragrances if you wanted to change it up, or play around with the ratios if you want to go along with the seasons.  The other thing I have noticed is that since I started using this lotion I no longer need the Rocky Mountain Soap Company’s Foot Butter (which I previously had to use religiously to avoid my feet turning into cracked sandpaper).  And did I mention how easy it is to make?  Or how much money it saves me?  Not yet?  Well, let me get to that part.

Above is a picture of the skin products we always use.  We still use the diaper rash cream for the boys and it has been a tried-and-true staple since they were infants.  The Weleda lotions and Foot Butter have now been kicked to the curb.  That is $110 every month-and-a-half to two months that I don’t have to spend, which is AWESOME.

Now this is a picture of all the ingredients that goes into my lotion now; no crazy parabens or chemicals that I can’t pronounce.  I bought everything at Community Natural Foods, which has an online store for those of you who don’t live nearby and want to give this a go.  It cost me $130 total to buy everything, which has lasted for many months and made 6 batches of lotion so far, with plenty of everything left over.  Definitely a lotion win!  Now the easy part: making it.

Here is what you will need:

• a clean glass jar (I use a 500ml one)
• a pot
• 2 Tbsps of coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp of shea butter
• 2 Tbsps beeswax pellets or grated beeswax
• 3 Tbsps of almond oil (but you could use jojoba, grapeseed, or even extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 Tbsp of argan oil *optional*
• 1 tsp of calendula oil *optional*
• 1 tsp of vitamin E oil

Directions:

1. Put all of the above ingredients into the jar.
2. Place the jar into a pot of water, making sure the water doesn’t go higher than the lid of the jar.  Bring the water up to boiling.
3. When the mixture starts to melt inside the jar, give it a gentle mix with a clean spoon.  Once everything is liquid, turn off the heat and carefully remove the jar from the boiling water.  (I use oven mitts and make sure to place the hot jar onto a tea towel so that the glass isn’t shocked by the temperature of our granite counter.)
4. Let the mixture cool and harden, then cover with a lid and it is ready to go.   It makes about 1/2 cup of lotion.

*Optional: If you want a more viscous type of lotion, then once the mixture has cooled you can use an immersion blender or a regular blender to blitz it into a more liquid form (similar to the consistency of store-bought lotion).

Viola!  Lotion gold!