Is making homemade lotion more cost effective than buying manufactured lotion?
I'm really interested in making my own lotion because the ones I buy all tend to have a high water content. That's probably because I tend to buy cheaper lotions as to not spend a lot of money on them. If I decided to invest in quality ingredients to make my own homemade lotion, would this end up being cheaper than buying pre-made? I need some help on the cost-benefit analysis.
Answers ( 1 )
I've been making my own facial moisturizing lotion for about a decade now, but not other lotions, so I can't really speak to the validity of all lotions. What I make suits me, and I was somewhat forced into making my own, when a product I'd used since I was 21 changed their formula, and I couldn't tolerate whatever was new that they changed. I went to making a mixture of organic canola oil, vitamin A, vitamin E oil, glycerin and jojoba oil with some water added. I also add some Royal Jelly. And I've added too on occasion a bit of stearic acid. From my experience, it works great on my face, but it needs a little more something else for the hands or body, more to make a creamier solution so it spreads more easily, and I've not quite defined that yet.. The good news is that it does soak in well, doesn't leave face or hands oily. So, I still do use a commercial hand lotion on top of the homemade, Vaseline Intensive Care Advanced Repair, which is unscented. I can't tolerate fragrances, so that works best for me.
Honestly, I wouldn't pay a lot of money for lotions, I've done that, and while some may be good, I believe you can find a way that's more affordable. Some would be mixing more pricey ingredients with a lower-priced lotions. What I did find is that adding a few drops of the canola oil to a lotion makes that even more effective, so cheaper can be an option by supplementing. How I came up with my formulation was by reading the ingredients from the label on my favorite lotion, and just experimented to see what I could produce. Now, in my mix, the thing I've had to replace multiple times was the canola oil, and the other ingredients, since I only add a few drops to the oil, they last for a long long time. So, you'd spend more in the beginning, but they last. And the good news too, is that the mixture, I use a few drops of that added to my hair conditioner. I'm of a certain age where hair started getting very dry and breaking, so that's saved my hair too.
I'd give a look to what ingredients you have in your favorite lotions, see what you come up with. Since water is the first ingredient in most lotions, you could just use a small container and experiment with a few different combinations, see what works for you. And to note, when you use oil, it's always oil over water - the oil works as a seal to hold in water, so it helps moisturize if you splash a bit of water first, then use the lotion. And for water, use filtered water, always - not distilled, just even a Brita filter or bottled water.