Winterproof Body Lotion

Tired of itchy, dry, and cracked winter skin? Tired of spending an arm and a leg on lotion that doesn't really do its job? Why not try this DIY body lotion blend and experience soft, moist, and supple skin this winter?

What You'll Need

• 27 oz baby lotion
• 7.5 oz pure petroleum jelly (appr.)
• 8.0 oz vitamin E cream (2 - 4 oz jars)
• 2 tbsp olive oil or extra virgin olive oil (optional)
• handmixer
• spatula
• big mixing bowl
• extra containers to hold the excess lotion*

* _{Once you make your lotion mix, you can load it back into the petroleum jelly jar and the vitamin E cream jars, but your baby lotion bottle will no longer be of use, so you'll need extra containers to hold that amount of lotion mix - which will be about 27 oz. I used an old Chinese take-out soup container and an old hairpin contain, which held the excess nicely.}

What You'll Do

Step 1

Empty the baby lotion out into your mixing bowl as much as you can. Because of the baby lotion bottle's small opening, you will need to cut your bottle open to get out every drop. Use the edge of your scissors to poke a hole into the bottle's middle and then use the hole to cut your bottle in half. Then you can use your spatula to scrape out the remaining lotion.

Step 2

Add in the vitamin E cream, petroleum jelly, and olive oil (option). Also use your spatula here to make sure you get all of your ingredients out of their containers.

Step 3

Using your handmixer, blend your ingredients together on high speed. Blend for as long as you can (at least fifteen minutes) to make sure all the ingredients are well-combined.

Step 4

When you're done blending, the mixture should be smooth and satiny. Test some of the mixture out on your skin. It should leave your skin feeling moist and soft with a slight sheen (no worries, the sheen will disappear in a few minutes once the lotion sinks into your skin).

Step 5

If you're satisfied with the smoothness of your lotion and you're sure everything is well blended, you can go ahead and bottle your new winter lotion. You should be able to easily load the lotion into the vitamin E cream jars and the petroleum jelly jar. The rest of the mixture will need to be put into other containers. You can use glass or plastic jars/containers (with openings big enough to scoop your hand into) or you can put the excess into ziplock bags.

Tips

• Don't be afraid to buy bargain brands for any of the ingredients. I did. (If you go all-bargain-brand, this should cost you about $7.50 for about 42 oz of winter-lotion. If you go all-name-brand, it'll cost you about $18.)
• For the baby lotion and petroleum jelly, in addition to the 'original' formula, you can find each in different varieties (like baby fresh scent, cocoa butter, honey apple, vanilla oatmeal, aloe vera, lavender, etc.). You can buy whichever variety you like.

Do the Math!

• Bargain Brand Home-Mix - $7.50 for 42 oz - it cost me $7.50 to purchase all the materials for this winter-lotion since I bought all bargain brands.
• Name Brand Home-Mix - $18 for 42 oz - if I had bought all name brand materials, it would have cost me about $18 to make this winter-lotion.
• Store Bought - $10 for 42 oz (name brand) or $8 for 42 oz (bargain brand) - if I had bought Jergen's Ultra Healing Lotion, it would have cost me $10 to purchase two 21 oz bottles. If I had bought Equate's Ultra Lotion (Walmart's bargain brand), it would have cost me $8 to purchase two 32 oz bottles. Both would have been more expensive than the winter-lotion and not even half as effective. (I used to buy both Jergen's and Walmart's brands before I started using this mix.)

Final Comments

If you suffer with dry skin in the winter or dry feet year-round, definitely give this a try. I was so surprised at the difference between this and my usual lotions. It worked 10x as better as any lotion I've tried (I have especially bad skin in the winter). It's really easy to make (it's basically just dump everything in a bowl and blend). It's cheaper!