Making Lotions & Creams 101

In this class you'll learn how to make from scratch, wonderful lotions & creams for the body. We'll discuss all necessary ingredients like emulsifiers, humectants, emollients, as well as standard equipment and supplies needed to get started. You'll learn about the properties and shelf-life of vegetable/nut carrier oils and butters (like shea butter and mango butter), and how and when to use antioxidants and preservatives; a necessary part of making lotions and creams as they always contain water-based ingredients. NOTE: Since there are no proven truly "all-natural" preservatives on the market, we do use a synthetic preservative (but it is paraben-free).

We'll demonstrate two fantastic recipes, a nice light body lotion and a wonderful shea butter hand/foot cream. The batches we make in class will be unscented and uncolored and you'll get to add your choice of essential oils, fragrance oils and color. Popular scent combinations include lavender & mint, lemon & rosemary, and geranium, ylang ylang & sweet orange. Once finished scenting and coloring, you will package and label your custom product.

You will leave with a 3 oz. bottle of body lotion, a 2 oz. jar of shea hand & foot cream, and handouts complete with both of these tested recipes, detailed instructions, information on each of the ingredients, and recommended suppliers. Due to the necessity of making emulsion products in batches, this class is primarily demonstration / lecture style, with hands-on elements.

Once you take this class, you will never buy commercial lotions or creams again!