Anne L. Watson ~ Smart Lotionmaking (Lotion Making, Make Lotions)

Make your own lotion at home!

Smart Lotionmaking

The Simple Guide to Making Luxurious Lotions

OR

How to Make Lotion from Scratch That’s Better Than You Buy and Costs You Less

By Anne L. Watson

Illustrated by Wendy Edelson

General Info
Reviews and Comments
Contents
Sample Text

Do you love the feel of a good lotion but find yourself unhappy with the cost, or wary of the chemical ingredients? Do you ever wonder if you could make it for yourself at home? Are you afraid to try because the lotion might not turn out well, or might even be unsafe?

Anne L. Watson’s Smart Soapmaking was the first book based on modern techniques that eliminate the drudgery and guesswork from home soapmaking. Now, by popular demand, she continues her handcraft cosmetics revolution with the first practical, comprehensive book on making lotion from scratch.

Whether you want to make lotion for personal use or to sell, Anne allays any fears with methods that are proven safe and approved by experts, yet simple and easy enough to perform in your kitchen. You’ll soon be making lotion that’s better than any you’ve been buying, and at a fraction of the cost.

Anne L. Watson is the first author to have introduced modern techniques of home soapmaking and lotionmaking to book readers. She has made soap under the company name Soap Tree, and before her retirement from professional life, she was a historic preservation architecture consultant. Anne and her husband, Aaron Shepard, live in Bellingham, Washington.

Shepard Publications

Paperback ~ 2012

Ebook ~ 2013

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Reviews and Comments

“The definitive guide to lotionmaking.”—Donna Puizina, Ekoaromas, Lafayette, New Jersey

“Spells out everything and makes it easy to understand.”—Cheryl McCoy, Emerald City Soap, Haven, Kansas

“Anne makes it so much fun, and so easy.”—Mary Jean Hammann, Grandma Jean’s Soaps and Lotions, New London, Ohio

“So logical and easy to understand that my first batch was a success and a sell‑out!”—Susan Dinion, Holiday Farm & Handmade Goods, Berlin, Massachusetts

“A comprehensive guide for those who want to make their own lotions for personal or commercial use.”—Midwest Library Review, Jan. 2012

A FEW FIRST THOUGHTS

LIES AND LOTIONS
(Myths About Lotion and Lotionmaking)

LOTION LINGO
(Learning the Jargon)

WHAT IS LOTION, ANYWAY?
(What It Is and What Goes Into It)

THE TWO WAYS TO SANITIZE LOTION
(And How to Choose Between Them)

WHAT DO I PUT IT IN?
(Choosing Your Bottles)

WHAT DO I USE TO MAKE IT?
(Gathering the Equipment You Need)

Chart: Equipment Checklist

Recipe: Anne’s Almond Lotion

STEP-BY-STEP LOTIONMAKING
(From Prep to Cleanup and Beyond)

TESTING YOUR LOTION
(Making Sure It’s Safe)

MORE RECIPES!
(Different Lotions You Can Try)

Recipe: Anne’s Walnut Lotion

Recipe: Shea Lotion

Recipe: California Lotion

Recipe: Sunflower and Avocado Lotion

Recipe: Star of the Meadow Lotion

Recipe: Almond and Cocoa Butter Lotion

Recipe: Almond and Coconut Lotion

Recipe: Autumn Lotion

Recipe: Rice Bran and Shea Lotion

Recipe: Hemp and Almond Lotion

Recipe: Shea, Silk, and Chamomile Lotion

Recipe: Ingrid’s Magic Potion Lotion

Recipe: Suz’s Light Lotion

Recipe: Milly’s Body Lotion

MILK LOTION RECIPES
(Treating Your Skin to Milk)

Recipe: Linda’s Goat Milk Lotion

Recipe: Deena’s Goat Milk Lotion

Recipe: Almond Milk and Pistachio Lotion

Recipe: Goat Milk, Chamomile, and Jojoba Lotion

Recipe: Buttermilk, Hazelnut, and Honey Lotion

Recipe: Golden Lotion

DESIGNING YOUR OWN
(How to Create Great Recipes)

Chart: Properties of Fats

TROUBLESHOOTING
(Tricks, Tweaks, and Fixes)

MAKING IT A BUSINESS
(How to Go Pro, Not Bust)

WHY? WHY? WHY?
(Frequently Asked Questions)

WHERE TO READ MORE

WHERE TO GET TESTING

WHERE TO GET SUPPLIES

Sample Text

I have no idea why anyone would buy lotion. It’s a mystery.

Maybe it’s because of another mystery: the lotions themselves. With even halfway decent lotions so expensive, they must somehow be hard to make, right?

Not really. If we all knew how easy it was to make our own lotion, the stores could clear a lot of shelf space. Who would buy what they could make better, and at a tenth of the cost?

The thing is, few people believe that lotionmaking could be easy—not before they’ve tried it, that is.

It seems like it would have to be hard. It’s hard to even read the ingredients, when you look at consumer labels. By the time you’ve plowed through methylparaben, triethanolamine, butylene glycol, glycol stearate, glyceryl stearate, disodium EDTA, aluminum magnesium silicate, DMDM hydantoin, and tocopheryl acetate, you’re just about ready to give up—and if that doesn’t do it, you’ll definitely throw up your hands at 3‑iodo‑2-propynylbutylcarbamate. You wouldn’t know where to get that stuff, much less what to do with it once you did.

Honey, I’m running to the store for DMDM hydantoin and 3‑iodo‑2-propynylbutylcarbamate. Anything you need while I’m out?

But, whatever manufacturers do to make bottles of lotion by the millions, handcraft lotionmaking is much simpler. It’s a lot like making salad dressing. Of course, if you make lotion to sell, it will be regulated by law, just like food in a restaurant—but making it for your own use is like cooking at home. You’ll work clean, as you would for cooking, but you won’t be held to commercial standards.

I’ll show you how to make lotion for yourself in a way that’s clean enough—and how to check if that causes any problem. It isn’t likely to. I’ve made lotion for myself for years, and never had any go bad.

In some cases, you should sanitize more thoroughly. So, this book will give two different methods for making lotion. Personal Technique is for simple lotion meant for your own use. This one is quicker and easier. Pro Technique is for lotion you mean to sell, or for lotion with perishable ingredients like milk, or for lotion with no preservative. This one isn’t difficult either—just more painstaking and precise.

But why the difference? After all, you wouldn’t want something insanitary for your own use. Why wouldn’t you follow the same procedure for any lotion?

The answer is that Pro Technique is designed to conform to common laws and regulations for commercial lotionmaking. These laws and regulations have to address almost anything that can happen. They have to prevent the sale of lotion made in filthy conditions by people who have no idea what they’re doing. They have to apply the same way to everyone. And with all that, they’re simply more than you need for most home use.

Still, the difference between the techniques isn’t huge. And whichever you try, you’ll soon be making lotion better than you’re likely to find at any price.

Anne’s Soap and Lotion Books