Our Girl Scout troop participated in the Craftapalooza for the second time this past December. This is a holiday fair organized by the local Girl Scout Council where the troops can set up booths and sell hand-made items. Last year was handmade Christmas ornaments and this year – DIY Lotion Bars

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This year’s idea was thanks to one of my talented friends who has her own online store called Niveda where she sells skin care products (soaps and more). So when I asked her what we might need to do this, she gave me pointers and links that I could use online. (Thank you!)

We looked at a couple of different lotion bar recipes and then came up with what we finally used for our own bars. And we all totally loved it!

Today’s post is written by my daughter. After we first made an experimental set of bars at home before inviting all the girls in the troop over, I asked my daughter to write down her experience from idea to a how-to-guide and whatever else she wanted to. This is what she came up with, and I present it here, in her own words – no changes done. And I have to say I enjoyed reading it (proudly) and hope you do too!

Note: I asked her permission to post this on my blog 🙂 and she agreed

DIY LOTION BARS

The Idea:

We needed an idea that was new and fresh, something that everyone can use. I saw that my mom’s friend was selling soaps and lotion bars, this is what inspired me. I realized soaps were  too common and wouldn’t appeal to a younger crowd. Also, everyone probably already has soap at their house. I then moved on to the lotion bars, I wondered what these were. I did some “research” , and realized lotion bars were bars of lotion (duh) that you would place in your hand and it will slightly melt. You would then use this melted lotion and rub it on you.

The Benefits:

There are also many benefits from them.

• First, it is not as oily as normal lotion, you can say goodbye to all those days when you put lotion on you and anything you hold will drop or spill. These bars will give just the right amount of lotion you need so that that won’t happen again.
• Second, spillages, even they don’t happen often, lotion has probably spilled either on countertop or in your purse/backpack, the spills that happen on cloth take forever to clean. The bars will help keep it in one piece, and even if it drops, you can just dust it off.
• Third, air travel, when you are traveling they limit the amount of liquids you can bring. The bars are dry so you can bring how many ever you want. Airplanes are also very cold so you get dry hands/body soon.
• Fourth, you can put them anywhere, meaning on your body, face, and hands. But you can also stick them anywhere, in your pockets, purses, and backpacks.
• Finally, they are beautiful. Though the beauty only lasts for a while, in that time, you can brag to everyone about how cool your new lotion bars are.

HOW TO MAKE THEM:

Prep time: 5 mins.|Cook time: 10-15 mins.|Wait time:10-15 mins.|Total time: 35 min

Ingredients: (Links provided to the products I bought)

• 100% natural beeswax
• 100% natural cocoa butter /shea butter /mango butter – You can use any one or a combination. We used all three 🙂
• 100% natural coconut oil
• natural  essential oils (optional)
• vitamin E oil (optional)

(measurements will be listed towards the end)

Materials:

• 1 oz. silicone molds
• saucer/pan and heat proof container (for double boiler method)
• Spoon
• Measuring materials

Method:

First start off by measuring out the ingredients, you can do this by weight or by using measuring spoons/cups. Since the beeswax takes longer to melt, put that in the heat safe bowl first.  Put this bowl on a steep pan filled with water. Put this on your stove. This will be our double boiler.

Next turn the heat to a medium heat level and let the wax sit, after the wax has slightly melted, put the rest of the ingredients in (not the essential oils)and slowly  mix in. When everything is fully melted, turn off heat, but leave it on the stove. Add in oils, and mix in slowly.

Quickly pour it into your molds, or else the mixture will dry. You can leave it in room temperature to dry for 20-30 minutes (or until hardened). Or you can place in the freezer and leave it in there for 10 minutes.

After the bars are hardened, you may use them. ☺

Measurements by weight:

• 100% natural beeswax (2 oz.)
• 100% natural cocoa/shea/mango butter (3 oz.)
• 100% natural coconut oil (2 oz.)
• natural  essential oils (optional) 20-25 drops
• vitamin E oil (optional) 7-10 drops.

h/t: Wellness Mama among others

Note: They were packaged in 1 oz tin jars with an adorable Handmade With Love sticker on top. Each girl picked a couple of different essential oils along with the other materials to make her share of lotion bars for the sale. While we did not make a profit (did not even break even, far from it), we learned valuable lessons in the process and had loads of fun making these bars. And the many bars that we had leftover (remember we barely broke even), each girl had bars to use at home and to gift to friends, family, and teachers for the holiday season. Precious and priceless, indeed!

You can check out my previous posts for the month and for Ultimate Blog Challenge below. Yes, I know more than a few days are missing. This is day 18’s post. 

Day 17 Day 16Day 15Day 14Day 8Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7Day 9
Day 10Day 11Day 12 Day 13