Calendula Lotion Bars

Every fall, my skin starts to go through a change. Hubs likes to call it alligator skin, but let’s be honest. An alligator’s skin is much more moisturized than mine once October comes. Yep, I’m talking painfully dry, cracking skin. I look forward to it every year…. said no one ever!

This year though, I wanted to use a lotion that’s as close to natural as I could get. I wanted ingredients that I could pronounce rather than a bunch of chemicals. I wanted a lotion that soaks into my skin nicely without leaving my hands feeling slippery or greasy. Because let’s be honest, I love to hold onto my cup of coffee while I am drinking it, not feel like it’s going to slip out of my hands and crash all over my kitchen tile.

Over the last few years, I’ve made lots of changes to our diets, and while it’s still not near perfect, but it’s come a long way. I wanted to do the same to our skin care routine again. Back when my kids were in diapers, we had used natural skin care items because they didn’t cause build up issues in cloth diapers like a majority of the main stream stuff that you find in big box stores. So I had started learning how to make our own diaper creams, balms and salves. Not only did they work, they were also very cost effective too.

Not long after we moved here, I had read up a lot on different herbs that I could grow in our garden, Now that we had a permanent home, I wanted to grow as many herbs for their various health benefits as I could. Calendula, along with lemon balm and bee balm, was an herb that kept popping up in the research I was doing.

Calendula is known for it’s healing properties, partly due to antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties within the flower. It sounded like an excellent first step in getting back into creating our own skin care products, as well as helping my skin be moisturized in the cold PA winters. I picked up a few packs of seeds on clearance at the end of our growing season. It worked out to be a beautiful addition to our garden. I only grew two plants this year, but they both produced really well, and I can’t wait to grow more calendula plants next year.

Before I get started with how to make the lotions bars, I want to mention that this recipe is pretty fool proof. It doesn’t have to be exact, and you can easily swap out ingredients. You can skip an infused oil altogether and use coconut oil, or replace shea butter with cocoa butter. Try different combinations to see what works best for your skin.

What You Need:

Calendula infused oil {see instructions below}
Shea Butter*
Beeswax*
**Optional
Grapeseed Extract* – for added antifungal and antibacterial properties
Vitamin E* – for added moisturization
Lavendar essential oil – for scent

To Make the Infused Oil

Fill a glass jar with your dried calendula petals. It’s important that the petals are completely dry to reduce the risk of mold growing in your oil.
Cover the flowers with a carrier oil of your choice. I used Sweet Almond oil*.
Place in a sunny window for 2 to 3 weeks, shaking at least once a day.
Once infused, strain the oil into a clean glass jar and discard the used petals.

To Make the Lotion Bars

In a double boiler, combine equal parts of calendula infused oil, shea butter and beeswax. Allow the beeswax and shea butter to melt, and all the ingredients to combine. {I used 1/3 cup of each, and it made 6 bars}
Remove from heat and allow to cool for a minute or two.
Stir in 5 drops grapeseed extract and vitamin E, and 20 drops of lavender essential oil, if using.
Pour into molds {I used old canning rings and lids}. Allow to cool completely and harden, then pop out of molds. Store.

Since these were made with fresh ingredients and do not contain preservatives, they will not last as most lotions you can buy at a store. I recommend using them within 3-6 months. Since I only use one bar at a time, I store the unused ones in my freezer for a longer shelf life.