Making lotions from scratch - formulas

How to Formulate a Lotion Recipe
You can formulate your own lotion recipe by using the percentages below.

Water - 70%
Liquid Oil - 15%
Butter - 5%
Emulsifying Wax - 5%
Stearic Acid - 3%
Fragrance or Essential Oil - 1%
Preservative - 0.1 - 1.5% (based on your preservative’s recommended usage rate)

Basic Lotion Recipe Example:
Water - 700 grams (24.69 oz.)
Grapeseed Oil - 150 grams (5.29 oz.)
Mango Butter - 50 grams (1.76 oz.)
Emulsifying Wax - 50 grams (1.76 oz.)
Stearic Acid - 30 grams (1.06 oz.)
Essential Oil - 10 grams (0.35 oz.)
Optiphen Plus - 15 grams (0.53 oz.)

The above recipe makes a thick cream-like lotion that can be put into jars.

Modifying a Recipe
The above percentages are recommended as a starting point. If you want a lighter or heavier formula you can adjust the water, liquid oil, butter, stearic acid, emulsifying wax…etc. Fragrance and preservative percentages should remain the same.


Some Considerations When Making Lotion

Equipment Required
Two heat-safe containers to heat the water and oil mixture
Immersion blender to emulsify lotion
Scale to weigh ingredients
Spatula or spoon
Hair net and gloves
Heat & Hold to Kill the Nasties & Stabilize Emulsion
For preservatives to best work, your lotion needs to be as free from contamination as possible during manufacturing. A common practice in lotion making to kill off bacteria, mold and yeast is to heat and hold your raw materials. Heating and holding at 160º-170ºF for 20 minutes will kill off many contaminates including some mold, yeast and bacteria that might have been introduced from the manufacturer, your environment or equipment. To heat and hold you can use two methods:
Place water into a heat safe container and oil soluble ingredients (oils, butters, emulsifying wax and stearic acid) into a separate heat safe container and place in double boiler. Heat to 160º-170ºF and hold for 20 minutes.
Place water into a heat safe container and oil soluble ingredients (oils, butters, emulsifying wax and stearic acid) into a separate heat safe container and place into your oven turned onto lowest setting (warm setting is usually around 170ºF). Heat to 160º-170ºF and hold for 20 minutes.

Do not heat & hold heat-sensitive ingredients such as fragrance oils, essential oils, preservatives, hydrosols, some oils/butters etc., save those for the cool down phase.

Heating & holding also helps ensure a stable and strong emulsion. Sometimes when your water and oil-soluble mixture are different temperatures or not melted enough, emulsions can suffer instability.

Click to expand...