Moving on from the face in this glycerin series, let's address the whole body! So this lotion is... weird. I'm not going to sugar coat it. Ok so it's kinda thin, goes on super smooth and liquidy then dries to a kind of tacky feel. Then a couple hours later skin is smooth. It has its drawbacks of being sort of thin and more than mildly sticky (getting into cotton leggings right after was an exercise all on its own). But, it offers 24+ hour moisture and I know it's not just covering up ashy skin* but actually -I can't say heal- but definitely helping my skin get through winter less scathed.
This formulation has the most ingredients of the three in the series. The addition of the silicones are not optional. I know, I know, there are some silicone haters out there but bear with me. I use a high amount of silicones here not only to offset the stick and drag of the glycerin but because it "offers excellent barrier properties when used in skin protectant formulations"- LotionCrafter. It really does offer some great skin love! Though it can be the bane of my hair's existence, I find it indispensable in skin formulations. It feels magical.
I decided to use Emulpro as my emulsifier instead of my usual BTMS-50. Emulpro is the same as Lotion Pro 165. I chose this because it's stable, plays well with acids, you need less and it can handle a ton of oils. It tends to make a thin emulsion, but it can take a few days to thicken up. I like it, I feel like it lets the ingredients really shine where as BTMS-50 can kind of take over. I considered Natramulse/ECOmulse but that is more picky about pH. Because the "pros" produce such a thin emulsion stearic acid or cetyl alcohol is recommended to thicken and stabilize. But I really don't care for the feel of cetyl alcohol or stearic. I decided on little bit of cetyl esters, which are smoother than cetyl alcohol and upped the percentage of emulsifier to stabilize it. Since this is a thin lotion I could add a high percentage of a nice thick butter, cocoa butter! Usually you can't add too much of this because it will make a lotion on a stick.
I tried to pump this lotion up with soothing additives. Calendula extract, Avena oat oil/Calendula Oil and sodium PCA. Sodium PCA is another humectant. You can always sub in more water for aqueous extracts and different oils in for any anhydrous ingredients. Like, 5% more water instead of lactic acid, sodium PCA and calendula and 5% olive oil instead of avena oat oil. It might not be as jazzy without these goodies, but you could see if you liked it enough to get the stuff and really go to town. Like I recommended in the glycerin serum post, you might want to see if you like how glycerin works before putting in the time and effort! Also, and of course, feel free to omit or sub the lavender essential oil with any other skin safe fragrance oil at the appropriate levels.
I used part Avena Oat oil and part Calendula oil. Mostly because I had the Calendula oil but hadn't used it yet, and my Avena Oat oil is getting low!
I made a few versions of this lotion before settling on one that didn't separate or wasn't too thick and draggy.
All the oil soluble ingredients mixed EXCEPT the cyclomethicone (which is too volatile to heat) and the Calendula oil, which I wasn't sure if I should heat. Never worked with it before and didn't want to damage it.
While your oil phase is heating in a double boiler, mix up your water soluble ingredients minus any extracts or preservatives. Water, glycerin, sodium PCA and lactic acid. The reason mine is tan colored, I oopsed and added the calendula extract. Extracts, preservatives and any other heat sensitive ingredients should be saved for the "cool down" phase to avoid damaging them. We will want to heat this water up so it incorporates better with the oils. Some emulsifiers don't seem to mind you pouring cold water into hot oils, but based on my trial and error, I find this one is more picky about coordinating temps.
Mix up your cool down phase of heat sensitive extracts, the cyclomethicone and preservative. I recommend using a dropper for ingredients under 5%. Pouring out way too much, wasting nice ingredients and ruining the whole phase is a major bummer. Yeah, I've done it a few times...
Ok, here we have our water phase on the left and cool down phase on the right. You don't have to use beakers for this if you don't have them. Sterile jam and jelly jars work well too!
I like to blast my water phase for 1 minute in the microwave before mixing the water and oil phase (now pictured in the middle).
Poured and stirred! I pour the water phase into the oil phase while blending with my mini mixer. I have a little blade like attachment that works really well. My mini mixer is listed on the Soap Making tab. Now let this cool down to 122°F or below before blending in the cool down phase. Above that the preservative is inactivated.
This lotion will stay fairly fluid, so a bottle with disk cap works well! This wouldn't work in a jar but could work in a squeezy Malibu style tube if it had a small opening. If for some reason your lotion separates, I suggest trying again and upping the cetyl esters, cetyl alcohol or stearic acid by 1%. With 6% emulsifier it shouldn't though! I hope if you make this it works for you and keeps your skin happy through this last snowy stage of winter.
*Not new news in the slightest, but I always kind of forget about it... exfoliation really goes hand in hand with lotion in the effort to eliminate (or get on top of) dry ashy skin. It sometimes just seems like so much work, or I only do the obviously rough spots. Not unlike split ends, you can't repair dead skin. So slough it off and plump up the living skin under it. Just do it gently and daily (or how ever often you shower).
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