In-Shower Lotion

Have I ever said Colorado is dry? *yeah. yeah probably just shy of 100 times* I am also very dry, requiring lotion in every climate I've been to in order to avoid itchy skin or ashy skin. You may have read here that body lotion is what got me started making B&B products and soap for myself. I have not cracked the lotion-code yet, but my latest creation of an in shower lotion has been working fantastically for my winter skin. So well in fact I want to share it.

A few of my friends are addicted to the body oil I've made them; a combo including sesame and hazelnut oils. It's a little too light for me, but I really like putting moisturizer on damp or shower wet skin then patting dry instead of on towel dried skin. Weirdly, straight oil (or 'neat' oil) is not moisturizing enough for me. I also don't love the added nuisance of my hair getting oily from my skin.

Based on one of Susan's wonderful recipes for emulsified sugar scrub (which can be found at her blog Point of Interest! aka mecca to aspiring formulators) I formulated the following in shower lotion.

This was oil-like in consistency when the temps were warmer, but when Denver hit a cold snap it firmed up to be similar with a med-thick lotion. I packaged it in a LDPE bottle with a disc cap and this has worked well for either consistency. This is basically like a a cross between a lotion, an oil and a lotion bar.

Best way to do this is to flip your hair into a towel if you have long hair, don't dry your skin at all (wet skin is essential). Smooth this in shower lotion over wet skin then pat dry with a towel*, air dry or just wrap yourself in a robe. When this mixes with the water on your skin it emulsifies into a lotion. It gets a little white but won't dry white. You don't need to rub it in or use very much. Just smooth a little of it on, the water will help it go further!

I used jojoba because it is very like skin's natural sebum, avocado because it's like olive oil's fancy sister and hemp seed because I just bought some and wanted to use it. Hemp seed isn't as great in soap as in leave on products and it only has a 6 month shelf life. There is no way this is lasting 6 months in my shower. I've already made it twice this winter and it's not even technically winter! For a lighter version you could adjust the oils to something like sesame, grape seed (watch out for the short shelf life) hazelnut or macadamia nut. You could also do this with just olive oil and it would be really nice. I like a refined light golden olive oil instead of the green virgin kind for skin. Then you don't smell like a salad! The cocoa butter gives this a nice stiffer texture and provides an occlusive layer. Which is huge in the winter!

Why the preservative in an anhydrous product? Because this lives in my humid bathroom and I apply it with wet hands. I don't open the bottle and stick my fingers in, but the likelihood of contamination was too high for me to not add a preservative. I'd rather not risk a staph infection. I put preservatives in everything I make (minus lip balm) because you can't be sure what will happen to it when it leaves your hands (or even in your own hands)! I use Liquid Germall Plus in hydrous products and Phenonip in anhydrous. Both of which I purchased at Lotioncrafter. They ship super fast and have great products! I'm currently using their olive squalane neat on my face before applying lotion. Oh-em-gee guys, my face is like a velvet baby. You could make this recipe with all squalane if you wanted to get ritzy!

The Natramulse I got through The Herbarie. Also a great company and their formulary is amazing. So many recipes to try! *drool*. Natramulse wasn't my favorite for a traditional lotion, but it works great in this. It has a strange but nice smell like sugar. BTMS smells like fish to me, so sugar is juuuuust fine haha. Though I love BTMS in shampoo bars and emulsified lotion! Anyway, the point I was going to make is that you could use any emulsifier here instead of Natramulse. You will probably have to tinker with the percentage though.

Enjoy!

*As a note, if you do choose to pat dry with a towel you will be getting a lot of oily lotion on your towel. When you wash towels add 1/2 cup ammonia (non-sudsing) and 1/2 cup Borax to the detergent. This will totally strip the towels of oil so they will be absorbent and not smell rancid over time. Don't worry, the ammonia does not remain on the towel and it won't leave an odor!