awesome semi-homemade lotion

Okay, so this has nothing to do with food. If you are looking for a recipe that you can ingest, check back next week. BUT, if you’re interested in something to nourish your body’s largest organ–your skin–then stick around. This is pretty great.

I started looking for homemade lotion recipes this winter when, for the first time ever, my hands looked almost as dry as Nate’s (sorry for putting you on blast, dude). I was applying lotion all day long, but my constant hand washing (due to the super germs that are making ALL of my coworkers sick) was seriously zapping any chance I had of replenishing the moisture I was depleting with each scrubbing. I had tried practically every lotion at the grocery store AND Sephora, and kept coming up short.

So I went online to search for my lotion-y grail. One recipe that kept popping up around the interwebs included baby lotion, Vitamin E cream, and petroleum jelly. I was all for the baby lotion and E cream, but I really have no desire to slather myself in Vaseline. I blame it on the years of applying it to chapped lips, only to be left with a greasy kisser. Yuck. So, instead I decided to go au natural with coconut oil.

First I gathered my ingredients (baby lotion and Vitamin E cream–both purchased at Harris Teeter in the lotion aisle–and coconut oil, bought on Amazon).

I wanted to start with a half-batch, so I used 8 oz of the baby lotion, 4 oz of the Vitamin E cream (the whole container) and 4 oz of the coconut oil. I dumped it all into a bowl and mixed it with my hand mixer on a medium speed until it resembled whipped cream. (Note: I didn’t warm up my coconut oil first to take it from its solid state to a more liquid one, and I wish I had–I have tiny bits of coconut oil in my lotion, which doesn’t bother me since it absorbs very quickly, but it could be smoother.)

I then decanted my lotion into jars using a rubber spatula (you could totally use a ziplock bag and pipe the lotion into containers). Voila! A big batch of lightly-scented, ultra-moisturizing lotion.

I’ve been using this concoction for over a week now, and the results are pretty amazing. My cracked skin has healed and is super soft, and I’ve only used a fraction of the batch I’ve made.

If you’ve been suffering this winter, too, do yourself a favor and try this out. And while you’re at it, make some for your girlfriends. They’ll think you’re magic and you might be able to get them to do things for you. Like bring you drinks with little umbrellas in them. Yum.