Need dry skin remedy fast? Stop here with a lavender lotion bar recipe for quick relief to dry, cracked skin.
Do your heels bear resemblance to sandpaper all year round? While in most cases dry skin isn’t a serious matter, it certainly is uncomfortable. And it can quickly go from just feeling dry to itchy, flaking, or worst of all cracked and painful!
What causes extremely dry skin?
The weather certainly plays a role in causing dry skin. Summer and winter share a lack of moisture in the air. While other things like taking very hot showers or washing dishes in hot water can zap the skin of moisture too. And certain skin care ingredients to avoid, such as harsh detergents can aggravate the issue.
Luckily, there is a lot we can do to combat dry skin and keep our heels from turning to sandpaper. In fact, I shared 8 dry skin remedies with my best advice for winter skincare. But, if there’s one remedy for dry skin I’ve found to work when all others fail… solid lotion bars with essential oils!
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What is a lotion bar?
A lotion bar is solid in form, sometimes mistaken for soap. But appearances aside, it’s an alternative to liquid water-based lotion. You get all the benefits of lotion without water, leaving you only excellent moisturizers.
You’ll find ingredients such as shea butter or cocoa butter, vitamin E or honey, essential oils, beeswax, and coconut oil or sweet almond oil in solid lotion bar recipes. All together equating to soft, smooth skin!
Related To: Lemon Lavender Sugar Scrub
Related To: Honey Goat Milk Soap Recipe
How do lotion bars work?
The nourishing ingredients melt on contact with the skin and provide a barrier to lock moisture in. So, unlike water-based lotion, a solid lotion bar will keep working for a long time after.
Are lotion bars greasy? Lotion bar recipes are made with ingredients for quick absorption, yet long-lasting results. Hence, they are not greasy but can be sticky for a few minutes. The key to making lotion bar recipes nongreasy is getting the ratio of ingredients correct.
How do you make lotion bars less greasy or how to make lotion bars harder? Adjust the amount of each ingredient for the perfect lotion bar recipe:
– reduce the amount of the carrier oil if the lotion bar is greasy
– add more beeswax to make lotion bars harder
– reduce the amount of body butter if the lotion bar is sticky
You can remelt lotion bars to adjust the ingredients, but I’ve taken care of the troubleshooting for you. If your skin is dry and cracked rather it’s your feet or hands – you’ve got to make this lavender lotion bar recipe. It’s the ultimate dry skin lotion made with the perfect ratio of intense moisturizers!
How to Add Essential Oils for Dry Skin to Lotion Bars
Carrier oils and body butter aren’t the only remedies for dry skin. Essential oils can provide great benefits to dry skin too. Take rose essential oil, for example, it is especially great for dry skin because it improves moisture in the skin and inhibits water loss. The first step to making lotion bars with essential oils is dilution. Make sure to get it right with an essential oil dilution chart.
The second step is choosing essential oils for dry skin. What are the best essential oils for dry skin? I’ve included a quick list of the best below. You can choose one or blend a combination of 2 or 3 into your lotion bar recipe.
Top Essential Oils for Dry Skin:
From your choice of essential oils to body butter and more – this solid lotion bar recipe is completely customizable. Adjust it for your skin type with our skin type quiz!
Do you have normal, dry, mature, oily, or combination skin? Take our Skin Type Quiz now to discover yours!
Lavender Lotion Bar Recipe Ingredients:
2 ounces coconut oil
2 ounces beeswax pastilles
⅛ teaspoon honey
2 ounces cocoa butter
12 drops lavender essential oil
How to Make Lavender Lotion Bars:
Using the double boiler method (This is the double boiler I use. It’s perfect for skin care recipes), melt together 2 ounces of coconut oil, 2 ounces of beeswax pastilles, and 2 ounces of cocoa butter on low heat.
Stir often with a heat-resistant silicone spatula. Once melted remove from heat and add ⅛ teaspoon honey and 12 drops of lavender essential oil. Quickly stir to combine and pour into an oval soap mold.
Allow to cool and set up for 30 mins to an hour before removing the lavender lotion bars from the soap mold. This lavender lotion bar recipe makes up to 4 solid lotion bars.
Printable Lavender Lotion Bar Recipe:
Lavender Lotion Bar Recipe
Materials
- 2 ounces coconut oil
- 2 ounces beeswax pastilles
- ⅛ teaspoon honey
- 2 ounces cocoa butter
- 12 drops lavender essential oil
Tools
- double boiler
- heat resistant silicone spatula
- oval soap mold
Instructions
- Using the double boiler method, melt together 2 ounces of coconut oil, 2 ounces of beeswax pastilles, and 2 ounces of cocoa butter on low heat.
- Stir often with a heat-resistant silicone spatula. Once melted remove from heat and add ⅛ teaspoon honey and 12 drops of lavender essential oil. Quickly stir to combine and pour into an oval soap mold.
- Allow to cool and set up for 30 mins to an hour before removing the lavender lotion bars from the soap mold. This lavender lotion bar recipe makes up to 4 solid lotion bars.
Notes
If you are keeping all four lavender lotion bars to yourself, keep the extra bars you aren’t using in a sealed container or reusable bag to help preserve them. And store them away from direct sunlight.
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If you are keeping all four lavender lotion bars to yourself, keep the extra bars you aren’t using in a sealed container or reusable bag to help preserve them. And store them away from direct sunlight.
How to Use a Lotion Bar
To use simply warm the lavender lotion bar between your hands. Then rub the solid lotion bar on your skin and feel it begin to slightly melt and become very pliable. You can apply it to your hands, knees, heels, elbows, or anywhere else you’re in need of dry skin remedy.
If your hands are quite chapped keep one in a reusable bag in your handbag, nightstand, or desk drawer to give your hands some TLC throughout the day. They are really great to use after washing dishes too.
Can you use lotion bars in the shower? I love to use one of these lavender lotion bars after a shower. It pairs well with my DIY chamomile lavender body wash. When your skin is damp and still warm from the shower they glide across the skin. (Just don’t store a lotion bar in the shower.)
I also enjoy applying a lotion bar to my feet just before bed. I rub the lotion bar across my heels and bottoms of my feet before slipping on a pair of socks. The warmth from feet inside the socks and the ingredients in the lotion bar help to nourish my skin all night long.
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Be warned, if you share one of these lotion bars with friends, they’ll be asking you to make more and more! So pin this lavender lotion bar recipe or print it out above to share or keep yours all to yourself! You’ll find solid lotion bars are easy to make and so incredible for dry skin. Tag #lifenreflection on Instagram to share yours!
How long do lotion bars last? they are not spoiled by having honey? thank you 🙂
Roxana, the honey is a natural preservative. Store the bars in an airtight bag or container, away from heat and direct sunlight and they will last for months!
First, I love your lotion!! I am having a few problems with it though. The honey all sinks to the bottom of the bowl and creates a sticky pocket (usually at the bottom of my mold) in my last bar. I have put the honey in both after removing the mixture from the heat and while still in the double boiler to heat it some. I have also stirred the mixture as I poured it into the molds, but that didn’t work either. Also, my lotion bars don’t come out of my hard plastic molds. 🙁 Do you have any advice? Thanks!
The honey defiantly needs to be mixed in well before pouring. Sounds like you may need to heat it at a higher temp. And I don’t recommend hard plastic molds. They never work well for me either. Use a silicone mold instead (these are my favorites).
Hello! On the list of ingredients, there is no shea butter listed, but on the procedure, it is included. Should I add it or not? Thank you!
It is cocoa butter as included in the ingredients list. Thank you, I updated the notes. But you can truly use cocoa butter or shea butter to make lotion bars. I’ve done both and they are equally amazing!