Lotion experiments

I'm a regular soap-maker, and have really enjoyed learning the whole process that's involved with making a great bar of soap, but my next challenge is to teach myself how to make a nice hand lotion.  And by lotion, I don't mean body butter or salve, both of which are fairly easy to make with the right oils, some water, and an immersion blender on a double boiler.  But I want lotion that can be used in a lotion dispenser -- so convenient, and more hygienic since you're not dipping your fingers into the mix every time you want to use some.

Step 1: When using cocoa butter, be sure and eat some chocolate to stop yourself from biting into the delicious-smelling (but NOT delicious-tasting) cocoa butter wafers.

So yesterday I made a salve with cocoa butter and shea butter, plus lavender and tea tree essential oils, which ended up completely solid once cooler.  To get it into a more liquid state, I then took a couple of tablespoons of it and put it into a cup or so of olive oil and some additional water and blended.  Once cooled, it was still completely liquid and fairly thin, so I added some more of the salve and repeated the same process. I'll continue doing this until I get a texture similar to most hand lotions, and then I will put it into my lotion dispenser and enjoy.

Step Two: A Melting Pot -- like America, only better-smelling.

This is the kind of thing I love doing in summer, when the day is slow and there is time to experiment.  If my lotion comes out decently, I will put the recipe on here, but this is still a project in development, as far as I'm concerned. 

Step Three: Finished salve. Time for some wine, this was hard work.

 That's the beauty of homesteading; you are free to play and experiment to see what works and what doesn't.  It's possible your experiment won't work and you'll continue buying what you were trying to make, but it's also possible you might just invent the best soap, lotion, or whatever in your history, and will be the happy benefactor of some homemade luxury.

Step Four:  Do this the next day if ended up having too much wine after making the salve. Salve is now mixed with olive oil and water. Will it turn out?  Who the hell knows! Stay tuned!

Score!

When the tree crew started trimming the cottonwoods yesterday, I couldn't help but notice all the buds on the branches that were coming down.  I learned how to make healing cottonwood salve from the folks over at the Simple Green Frugal Co-Op ( http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/ ) so I thought I'd take advantage of nature's bounty and make up another batch.


Cottonwood salve is simply put, the best thing I've ever used for wounds of all kinds -- punctures, cat scratches, burns, and rashes.  I've also heard it's a great rub for sore muscles, but have not used it for this purpose yet.  The cottonwood bud has an active ingredient that has antibacterial and well as anti-inflammatory properties.


Here's what the buds look like:

And once I put one cup of them into a quart mason jar with some good olive oil, they look like this:

You can make the salve immediately if you heat up the buds and the oil together on the stove, but the buds contain a very sticky resin (the active ingredient) that's almost impossible to get off the bottom of the saucepan once you're done, so I wouldn't recommend it.  It's easier to just add the buds to some room temperature olive oil, seal tightly with a lid, and let it rest in a dark place for a couple of months, occasionally turning the jar to help mix the ingredients.  Then when you're ready, strain off the buds and use the oil, or if you wish, heat the olive oil on the stovetop, add some beeswax (maybe a teaspoon or so) to give it a slightly more firm consistency and pour it into some smaller jars you probably have laying around.  The tiny jelly jars made by Ball are great for this. It should stay good for up to a year, maybe longer.