DIY Hand Cream

So, I've basically taken the month of June off from blogging because it's by far the busiest month of the year for me at work. Add to that a family reunion that also rekindled my interest in finishing up my game of Pokemon Black, and I've just been too swamped to talk about crafts online. Hopefully, this post will mark the beginning of my return to regular posting.

This hand cream is the last of the homemade body products that I made as Christmas gifts this past year. Like my body spray, I did a lot of research online and synthesized my own recipe. I would say that my final recipe owes the most to the Body Butter Bars from Green Experiments though it's not identical as I made mine softer in order to put it into a tin rather than molding it. I definitely recommend that post if you'd like a picture tutorial of the process of making something like this.

Here's my recipe, which produces about six ounces of hand cream:

1/3 c shea butter (slightly heaped)
1/8 c beeswax
1/4 c fractionated coconut oil
2 ml vitamin E oil
6 ml essential oil (optional - mainly for fragrance)

Melt the shea butter, beeswax, and fractionated coconut oil in a double boiler. Remove from heat and  add vitamin E oil and essential oil. Pour into containers and allow to cool. I used 2 oz. tins, so each batch produced three tins.

I used the same essential oil blends for this that I used for my body spray. The amounts are different, but the proportions are the same. The blends are:

Fir Needle Orange - I love this one, but it smells "wintery" to me for some reason.
3 ml Fir needle
3 ml Orange

Clary Sage Herbal - This one is very earthy and neutral.
2 ml Clary Sage
1.5 ml Anise
1.5 ml Basil
0.5 ml Lemongrass

Cedarwood Rose - The rose geranium is very strong, so the rose note is most prominent in this mix.
2 ml Cedarwood
2 ml Hungarian Lavender
1 ml Rose Geranium
1 ml Bergamot

I've really enjoyed using this lotion myself, and I've gotten good feedback about it from several people who received it as a gift. My only small complaint is that it feels a little oily when you first apply it. It absorbs pretty quickly and doesn't  leave that oily feeling behind, but I'd prefer if it were never there in the first place. I'm experimenting with other oils and proportions, so I'll continue to let you know how they turn out.

If you like this, you should also check out my body spray and lip balm.