story and photos by Jennifer Morrisey
The calendar may say spring, but winter has a way of lingering. On the farm, many days still look and feel a lot like winter: feeding animals during cold mornings, hauling firewood, hands in dirt as seeds are started indoors and navigating that messy freeze-and-thaw stretch where mud and snow alternate in the barnyard.
Indoors, the woodstove keeps the house warm, but months of dry air have already taken their toll. This is the season when winter’s dryness meets spring’s work, and my hands always feel it first. By late winter they’re chapped and irritated, worn thin by dry air, chores and frequent hand washing. It’s the time of year when whatever you reach for to help soothe dry skin needs to actually work, sink in, and keep up with the longer busier days.
This is when an old-fashioned solid lotion bar really makes a lot of sense. Unlike lotions and creams, which rely on water and emulsifiers, a solid lotion bar is made with only rich, hardworking ingredients like shea butter, coconut oil and local beeswax. Melted together, they blend into a firm, waterless balm. It softens with the warmth of your skin, creating a protective layer that seals in moisture and helps repair hands that are tired from winter and gearing up for everything spring demands.
The formula is simple: equal parts shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax. A “part” can be any measurement that is easiest for you; cups, tablespoons, ounces or grams. As long as it’s kept equal, the recipe will work. I use a scale and work in grams, which makes it easy to scale the batch up or down depending on how many bars I want to make and ensures consistent results every time.
I like to keep my lotion bars unscented. I feel plain bars are better-suited for sensitive skin and everyday use; if you’d like to add a small amount of essential oil, a few drops can be stirred into the melted oils and beeswax right before pouring into the molds. But the bars will work beautifully just as it is.
This formula is incredibly flexible, making it easy to swap out oils to suit what you have on hand. For a tallow lotion bar, replace all or part of the shea butter with rendered tallow. The bar will still set up beautifully and creates a particularly durable option for hard-working hands. Cocoa butter adds a deeper conditioning feel and soft chocolate scent.
One of my favorite aspects of this project is that the ingredients are easily sourced – you don’t need to place special orders with a cosmetic ingredient supplier. I use food-grade coconut oil from the grocery store, the same kind you’d cook with, and it works beautifully in lotion bars. Shea butter is typically found at natural food stores or online. When possible, choose unrefined or minimally processed shea butter for a richer, more conditioning feel. Beeswax can often be sourced locally from beekeepers or farm shops. Fresh, local beeswax has a faint honey scent and warm, golden color that carries through into the finished bar, but this is also readily available in pastilles that melt evenly online. Use what’s available, affordable and practical for you.
You don’t need specialty molds to make lotion bars. What matters most is a little flexibility, which makes them much easier to pop out once they’ve set. Silicone molds are ideal, but cleaned yogurt cups also work well and are easy to come by. You just want whatever you’re using to have a slight give in the plastic that allows you to gently squeeze the sides and release the bar without cracking it. Small sour cream or cottage cheese containers work just as well.
For everyday use, a palm-sized, easy-to-hold bar warms up quickly in your hands and works well. A good size is about 2-1/2 to 3 inches wide and roughly 1 inch thick. Filling yogurt cups about 1/3 to 1/2 full creates a comfortable palm-sized bar. Silicone muffin molds or small round soap molds also work well, as long as they flex.
To use, warm the bar between your hands or glide it directly onto dry skin. The bar softens with your body heat and leaves behind a light, protective layer of moisturization that is especially nice on hands, elbows and heels. This is a bar meant to be used often and without fuss, a small, practical thing that quietly does its job.
Basic Lotion Bar Formula
Ingredients
- Shea butter
- Coconut oil
- Beeswax
Use equal parts of each ingredient.
A “part” can be any measurement that works for you – tablespoons, ounces, cups, or grams — as long as all three ingredients are measured the same way.
How to Make the Bars
Prepare your molds and set them on a flat surface.
Using a double boiler or a heat-safe bowl set over gently simmering water, melt the beeswax slowly, stirring occasionally. Beeswax takes the longest to melt, so it goes in first.
Once melted, add the coconut oil and shea butter, stirring gently until smooth. Remove from the heat as soon as everything is fully melted to maintain an even texture.
Carefully pour the warm mixture into the prepared molds, tapping gently to release any air bubbles.
Allow the lotion bars to cool at room temperature until fully set, about one to two hours. For quicker setting, they can be placed in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes.
Once firm, remove the bars from their molds and store them in a tin or small dish away from direct heat
