Welcome back! Today I’m really excited to share my formula for solid breast milk lotion bars. Jump straight to the recipe.
Just like breastfeeding, making breast milk skincare for your children is a true act of love. Furthermore, it’s a great way to treat dry skin. Got expired breast milk in the freezer? Great! Making breast milk lotion bars is a good way to use up expired breast milk. Need I mention, you get to have fun in the kitchen making these super fun solid breast milk lotion bars!
This solid breast milk lotion formula creates bars that are so simple, yet work amazingly for dry skin. Chiefly, locking in moisture and protecting from external aggressors, while loading skin with nutrition from breast milk, cocoa and shea butters, and coconut oil.
Solid breast milk lotion bars contain just five ingredients: cocoa butter, shea butter, liquid coconut oil (or any suitable carrier oil), an emulsifier (to properly bind the water element of breast milk to the oils and butters), and of course, your breast milk. 15% of your breast milk, in fact.
Why you should try this recipe for solid breast milk lotion bars
Try this DIY for solid breast milk lotion if you’ve followed the recipes of others, but the recipe is not giving you the results you want. Maybe the recipe splits, or won’t come together properly in the first place. Or perhaps it seems okay at the start, but after a few days it starts to “sweat”.
Many of these DIYs improperly use beeswax as an emulsifier. The problem is, beeswax can never properly bind the water in the breast milk to the oils and butters in the lotion bar. Beeswax is not an emulsifier!
You should also give this recipe a try if you’re avoiding beeswax because you’re vegan.
Ways to use breast milk lotion bars
These solid breast milk lotion bars are suitable for babies, children, and adults. They’re so versatile. Take one out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 10 minutes before using.
The best way to use them is the gently hold one in your hand to warm it through before smoothing over skin. You can also rub the bar over the skin – they melt so readily that they won’t drag the skin.
- Treat dry skin, especially dry and rough patches
- A moisturiser after a bath or shower
- Sore and cracked nipples
- Nappy rash and cradle cap
- Bites and stings
- Helping cuts and scars to heal – great for chickenpox marks!
- Eczema and psoriasis
- Sunburn
There are so many uses for solid breast milk lotion bars! I am sure you can think of many more.
What to expect from these solid breast milk lotion bars
If this is your first time making skincare with breast milk, there are some things you should know. Firstly, it contains a lot of water! Which isn’t a component of solid lotion bars. So in this recipe we’re basically making a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion and using thick ingredients to make it solid. We add the breast milk at cool down to preserve its precious immunological components.
If you’re looking for a true breast milk lotion that is runny, see my formula for breast milk lotion here. It truly is a beautiful lotion. Emulsified and with a light and slightly runny consistency.
Ingredients for solid breast milk lotion bars
Cocoa butter
A fantastic moisturiser, rich in several fatty acids, and occlusive – meaning it traps moisture close to the skin. It’s great for kids, as it’s well tolerated and non-reactive. The lovely thing about cocoa butter is that it is solid at room temperature, but melts against the skin – somewhere around 34 – 38 degrees celsius. Add that cocoa butter is rich in natural antioxidants, it’s a real beauty of a skin care ingredient. I get mine from Mystic Moments.
Shea butter
Soft and buttery shea butter is a skin care ingredient that many can’t live without. It’s particularly useful for treating eczema and psoriasis. Not only is it highly nourishing – it’s also anti-inflammatory. I’m using an unrefined and non-deodorised organic shea butter. You can also get a deodorised version which doesn’t have that potent shea butter odour. Personally, I love the scent of shea butter!
Liquid coconut oil
Liquid coconut oil is a nice light and inexpensive emollient oil with plentiful skin care benefits. You can swap it out for any carrier of your choice. For instance, grapeseed, jojoba, or sweet almond.
OliveM 900 emulsifier
OliveM 900 is a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsifier. I chose it because we’re working with a large oil phase in this formula. If you’ve formulated before, no doubt you’ve come across OliveM 1000, which is an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsifier.
Well OliveM 900 is just as easy to use and versatile. It’s an emulsifier that’s also a thickener. It’s not hard to get hold of, but you can expect to buy from stockists that have a £50 minimum basket charge (in the UK). I buy mine from Bay House Aromatics.
You can use other emulsifiers too, like OliveM 1000 or Vegetal. However, for best results use a W/O emulsifier. I’ve found that because of the high oil content, the mixture curdles when you mix the phases. The end result is still really good though, weirdly.
Breast milk
The liquid gold! Breast milk contains several fatty acids:
- Lauric acid, known for its anti-microbial qualities. As well as preventing and treating spots, it helps with inflammation, too.
- Palmitic acid, a moisturising and occlusive agent that locks moisture into the skin.
- Oleic acid, moisturising and anti-ageing.
- Conjugated linoleic acid, which moisturises, soothes inflammation, and lightens the skin tone.
Why no preservative?
All beauty products containing water should contain an appropriate level of preservative to ensure their safety. However, milk and other fresh products are difficult impossible to preserve. It’s easier just to make small bars, freeze them, and treat them as fresh in the fridge and chuck them out after 7 days and if any degradation occurs.
Equipment needed
You will need a few items of equipment to make your own skincare. They make a great investment and they’re handy for other uses, too.
- Digital scales – use scales intended for coins etc. They should weigh down to 0.1g.
- Electronic mini whisk with the milk froth blade attached
- Thermometer – I use a dual digital probe thermometer, but you can use any small cooking thermometer
- Moulds – use chocolate or soap moulds, like these. I highly recommend using small moulds, because, like fresh milk, the bars must be used within 7 days. I freeze my extra bars and take them out as needed.
- 70% rubbing alcohol to sterilise your equipment
- 3 glass beakers or Pyrex kitchen jugs
- Small silicone spatula
- Spoons for measuring
- Saucepan
- Bowl for a cold water bath
Before starting, ensure your equipment is clean, dry, and sterilised. To sterilise equipment, I wipe it down with 70% rubbing alcohol.
Ingredients and measures
| 100g | 50g | 25g | |
| Phase A | |||
| Cocoa butter | 52g | 26g | 13g |
| Shea butter | 5g | 2.5g | 1.25g |
| Liquid coconut oil | 5g | 2.5g | 1.25g |
| OliveM 900 emulsifier | 8g | 4g | 2g |
| Phase B | |||
| Distilled water | 15g | 7.5g | 3.75g |
| Phase C | |||
| Breast milk | 15g | 7.5g | 3.75g |
Method
Here are the steps to follow to make solid breast milk lotion bars.
- Gather all the ingredients and sterilised equipment.
- Weigh out the phase A (oil based) ingredients in your largest beaker.
- Weigh out the phase B (water) in your medium beaker.
- Weigh out the phase C (breast milk) in a small beaker.
- Set up the small saucepan with a little simmering water in the bottom – a bain-marie.
- Heat the phase A beaker (oils) to 70 celsius – stirring gently until mixed.
- At the same time, heat the phase B beaker water phase to 70 – it will happen a lot faster so give the oil a head start. This needs to stay at 70 or slightly over before mixing.
- Heat the breast milk to max 40 celsius – this will take a matter of seconds. It doesn’t have to stay at exactly 40.
- Once everything is at the right temperature, take it all off the heat.
- Grab the mini mixer and slowly add phase B (water) to phase A (oil) a splash at a time.
- You will see it become milky, forming an emulsion. Keep going till all the water is in.
- Let the mixture stand while giving the occasional mix with the blender, especially if it looks like it’s falling apart. Cool it to 40 celsius. You can use a water bath, but it isn’t necessary.
- Now we’re ready to add the breast milk. Add a few drops at a time, blending continuously, until all the breast milk is added.
- You should have a creamy thick emulsion.
- Pour it into your moulds, it sets quite quickly.
- Because it’s quite thick, you can level it out to make it flat.
- Pop in an airtight bag or container and put them in the fridge for 24 hours.
The cleanup
A small recommendation: wipe your beakers out immediately with kitchen paper. This formula will clog your pipes if you melt it in the sink!
Storing your breast milk lotion bars
Due to their water content, it’s best to keep the solid breast milk bars in an airtight container. Freeze them for up to one month. Or keep them in the fridge and use within 7 days. Treat them as a fresh product, and throw them out of they show signs of going off.
Improvements to the recipe
The centres can be a little crumbly. If this happens, put the crumbs in your hand and massage them until they become creamy and useable. I’m still working on this, so I’ll update here if I can improve the recipe.
Final thoughts
I hope you enjoyed making these solid breast milk lotion hearts with me. I’m sure you’ll agree they work wonders for skin and are so much fun to make. Let me know in the comments what you think, or if you’ve tried them!
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Until next time!
