Lo-Bars 🧴🧼

By Julie Miller and Max Hutson

The product we made is a barred lotion. We made lotion bars because it's not that hard to make. Also it’s fun, so I advise you to do it with friends and family. The reason our product is the best possible version is because our lotion is for everyone. Our product is for people with and without sensitive skin. There are also different scents of lotion so you don’t have to just get one. It's worth someones while to use our steps and ingredients because we have easy steps to create it. Also its easy to gather these ingredients at a local store. Our experience with making this product wasn’t that hard. It wasn’t because we made lip balm before and they basically contain the same ingredients. Yes it came out as expected. Next time we would get different molds and different scents.

The first ingredient we used was shea butter. We used ¼ cup of shea butter. You can buy shea at beauty/ cosmetic stores, as well as places like walmart and CVS. Shea butter has deep moisturizing and healing capabilities known to heal and revitalize the skin. It is full of vitamin A and fatty acids are known to treat stretch marks and numerous skin conditions such as blemishes, wrinkles, dermatitis , and the like. Shea better is known to repair damaged skin and increase the collagen production. Shea butter is made from a tree, and nothing gets added, but sometimes stuff is extracted or it is refined to make a different version of it. This supports the claims of shea butter being healthy. (https://www.organic-beauty-recipes.com/how-to-make-lotion-with-shea-butter-5-minutes-2-ingredients/) The second ingredient we used was beeswax. We used ¼ cup of beeswax. Beeswax can be found at many Walgreens, Walmarts, and craft stores. Beeswax is all natural and good for you. This is proven by the fact that it is anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory, and made completely naturally by bees. (https://bestbees.com/2016/08/09/health-benefits-of-honey-and-beeswax/)

The third ingredient we used was coconut oil. We used ¼ cup of coconut oil. Coconut oil can be purchased at a lot of stores, considering it is used very often in a variety of many different beauty products, or on its own (ex. Walmart, target, dollar general, etc.). Coconut oil is very beneficial for your skin and hair. Coconut oil is moisturizing and even edible! This is proven by the way it is very high in fatty acids, and it is extracted from actual coconuts. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil)

The last ingredients we used are a variety of different essential oils, and hemp oil. To be specific, we used lavender, orange, and peppermint scented essential oils. Both oils can be found online on websites like amazon. They can also be bought in some health stores. We used the hemp oil in place of vitamin E oil. Hemp oil is used for its hydrating properties and comes straight from the seed of a hemp plant. The essentials oils are used for the scent. Proof of this claim about hemp oil is that it consists mostly of fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It is healthy and seems to be very natural. (https://www.healthline.com/health/hemp-oil-benefits)

The procedure we used was very simple and enjoyable to make. We took ¼ cup shea butter, ¼ cup beeswax, and ¼ cup coconut oil and put them into a jar of some sort. Using a double boiler method, we melted them all together. Once melted, we put in a few drops of hemp oil (10-15) we varied the amount to see how each turned out. We also put in 5-10 drops of essential oils in each mold and mixed them once they were poured. We used a different scent in each one. We mixed it and then used a pipette to transfer the liquid into the molds. I highly suggest a rubber mold. Let dry. A mistake we first made was metal molds and we had to scrape the product out and it ruined them. We then put them in a rubber mold. We also found out that freezing them made them easier to remove from a rubber mold, so they are hardened and do not bend when taking them out. Then you have your very own lotion bar.  For the most part, we followed online instructions but varied some amounts and ingredients to make it our own.

In conclusion, we made our very own lotion bars in chemistry. We used very common ingredients to make this. Our product is important because it is made with a lot of products that are good for you and it contains a certain combination of products that you rarely see in other lotions. It is a fun alternative to using boring old wet lotion. The ingredients are very good for your skin and mostly natural. We took an already made recipe and made it our own. It is creative, fun, and fairly simple to make! It is very accomplishing to use a product that you made instead of purchased.