This creamy homemade body wash works amazingly in conjunction with your favorite moisturizer. It’s like a cross between a body wash, shower gel, and a creamy lotion, all in one.
DISCLOSURE: SavvyHomemade.com is reader-supported. The ingredient and equipment links below are affiliate links, If you buy via the links we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
Learn more here..
Place the glycerine into a small beaker/container, add the xanthan gum and stir until fully dissolved. If you have a small milk whisk this is great for this job.
11 grams Glycerine, 1 gram Xanthan Gum
Weigh out and place the distilled water and the Olivem1000 into the heatproof container.
140 grams Distilled Water, 20 grams Olivem 1000
Place the water containing the water and Olivem1000 into a water bath to melt. You can do this by filling a saucepan with a couple of inches of water and bringing it up to a simmer.
Once the Olivem1000 has melted remove the container from the heat and give it a good brisk stir. Then, add the glycerine and xanthan gum mixture.
Continue to stir until it starts to cool and becomes thick and creamy. To begin with, it will have a slimy consistency; this is totally normal. Once again if you have a small electric whisk this is a good time to use it. You can also speed up the cooling time by placing the container into a bowl of ice water whilst you stir it.
Once the cream has cooled to 40c (104f) and it looks thick and creamy, stir in the essential oils.
1-2 grams Essential Oil or Fragrance Oil
Now we can add the coco glucoside. As this is a surfactant, we want to stir this in slowly and gently. If we stir vigorously, it will agitate it and cause foaming. We really don’t want this. However, we also have to make sure it's thoroughly combined. This can take a few minutes to do. Just be patient and thorough with this step.
24 grams Coco Glucoside
If you are adding color, you should do this now. Otherwise, skip to step 9. This creamy body wash looks pretty good without adding color to it. But if like me you can't resist, add a drop at a time until you are happy with the result. Be sure to stir slowly so as not to agitate the surfactant.
1-2 drops Liquid Soap Dye
Next, we need to ensure that our product is the right PH. For this recipe, we’re aiming to have a mild body wash, somewhere between 4 and 6 is good. To test the PH, dip one of your universal indicator strips into your body wash mixture. Compare this to the scale that comes with your strips.If it’s a little too high, you can add a couple of drops of lactic acid to bring it down. However, you can also use citric acid, but it will need to be diluted in a solution of 10% citric acid to 90% distilled water. Because this recipe contains a surfactant, it is highly unlikely that your body wash will test lower than a 4 on the PH scale, so don’t worry too much about needing to raise it.
PH Modifier
Add your preservative then re-test the PH. Sometimes your preservative can increase the PH of your product after it has added. If it has, add another drop of lactic acid or citric acid to bring it back down to between 4-6.
2 grams Preservative
Transfer the body wash to a suitable bottle and let it sit for 24 hours, to allow the Olivem to fully settle.
8 oz PET Plastic Bottle
Notes:
The ingredients should almost fill an 8 oz bottle, but could possibly be slightly less.
With the preservative, this should last around 9 months.