Easy to Make Skin Softening Body Bars

Lotion bars, Body bars, and what I like to call Butter Bars, are all the same things! Regardless of what you call them, they are an easy, portable way to work with oil-based preparations in a no-mess way. This is your how-to inspiration guide for creating your own vegan aromatherapy lotion bars with a few simple ingredients and a lot of leeway for creativity.

Butter Bar vs. Lotion Bar?

Do you find it ironic how “lotion bars” have nothing to do with lotion? By definition, “lotion” contains an aqueous component. Lotion bars are, rather, more like harder salves that incorporate butters (e.g., cocoa, mango, shea) into wax and liquid oils. Definitions matter, because they help everyone get on the same page! So, let’s call these “Butter Bars” for the fun of it during this article.

How is a Butter Bar Different from a Salve?

Salves often feel greasy & oily to the touch whereas Butter Bars are hard and firm, almost “soap-bar” like. Yet once hardened and “set”, the surface of a Butter Bar melts against the warmth of your skin thanks to the inclusion of “butters” in the formula. This is what makes these unique: the warmth of your skin melts the surface of the “bar” ever-so-slightly and spreads on easily in a thin film. Like butter!

Container or No Container?

When you work with a wax (which is hard and has a high melting point) AND a butter (higher melting point than liquid oils…), you end up with a finished product that is relatively “dry” and often solid to the touch. This gives you flexibility to create stand-alone “bars” (using molds, such as silicone) or containers (such as these). Choose what fits your needs and plan accordingly.

Melting Point Matters

Butter Bars are what they are thanks to playing with the concepts of rigidity and melting point (which are intimately linked!) as they pertain to different ingredients.

• Think of how coconut oil can be solid at one temperature (70 degrees F), then liquid at another (85 degrees).
• Take a piece of beeswax and melt it with cocoa to see which melts first.
• What happens when you spill a bottle of sesame oil? Does it stay put or get all over the place?

Melting point has a LOT to do with the consistency and structure of your product; this is similar to candle making. Heat and melting points have a LOT to do with product making, but that’s for another blog post…

Butter Bar Formulating Guidelines

The general guideline when working with beeswax for “Butter Bar” formulating is working in thirds. Below is a listing of ingredients from hardest to softest for a classic “Butter Bar”:

• 33%Wax (e.g., Beeswax)
  • Gives rigidity and stability to the liquid oils.
• 33%Butters (e.g., Cocoa, Shea, Mango and several others!)
  • Easily become soft to the touch & most melt on contact with body heat.
  • Likely to sit on top of the skin due to their saturated nature.
  • Solid to relatively solid at room temperature.
• 33%Liquid oils at room temperature (e.g., Sunflower, Sesame, Cranberry and hundreds of others!)
  • Easily absorbed into the skin due to their liquid nature and lower melting points.
  • *Remember: an oil like Coconut easily melts at 78 degrees F….making it a go-between liquid and solid.
• 1% (1-3%) Essential Oils are an optional addition.

Vegan Butter Bar with Cocoa

Here’s a Real-Life Example

Rather than working in “thirds” we have to adjust the ingredients to account for the hardness and higher melting points. 15% Candelilla wax (by weight) 50% Cocoa butter (by weight) 32-35% Liquid Fixed oils (by volume) 1-3%* Essential oils (by volume) *Read here for essential oil dilution rate information

Quantity: This formula is for 30 ml (2 ounces) of product, which gives me enough to fill 2, 15 ml cardboard tubes (pictured above). 4.5 grams Candelilla wax 15 grams Cocoa butter ~5 ml Avocado oil ~5 ml Sesame oil 30 drops of Essential oils This blend of essential oils is intended to promote a calming slumber: 8 drops Rosewood leaf (Dalburgia sissoo), 6 drops Fragonia (Agonis fragrans), 3 drops Vetiveria zizanioides & 3 drops Valeriana officinalis.

Supplies & Ingredients for Making Butter Bars

• Double boiler
• Heatproof beaker, such as “Pyrex” brand, for melting and pouring
• Scale
• Graduated cylinder/beaker
• Stirring rod or spatula
• Silicone Molds (if making bars) OR Containers depending on application preference
• Candelilla wax
• Butters such as Cocoa, Mango or Shea
• Liquid Nut/Seed oils
• Essential oils of your choice
  • Stick to 1%-1.5% oils maximum in a formula. (See more about dilution rates.)
  • Choose to combine 2-3 oils to support your intention