A year or so ago, I made some lotion for myself out of lard. Yeah, that sounds pretty weird, right? You tell someone you are using lard lotion, they are going to imagine you rubbing bacon grease on yourself.

 

My neighbor came over one day. I told her about my lotion, and asked her if she wanted to try some. She said, 'NO!'

What a shock. (Sarcasm alert!) I told her to smell it. She sniffed reluctantly, while making this face as if she were smelling a dog turd... A look of amazement came over her face. 'This smells BEAUTIFUL!' she said. (Of course it did. Who WANTS to smell like pork?! Essential oils are your friends here!)

Well, after some thinking, she, (again, reluctantly), got a dab of my lotion and rubbed it over her hands. She sniffed her hands deeply and was still quite surprised at how nice it smelled. After some mama-talk and coffee, she went home.

The next day I got a call from her. She said the lotion worked better on her hands than ANY other lotion she ever bought and can I PLEASE make her a jar?!

Why, of course!

Fast forward a year or so to the present.

She is going on vacation next week to visit family. Apparently, she has let them all try her lotion at one point or another, and they ALL love it and they ALL want some. Her mother has some kind of skin issues going on, and this is the ONLY lotion that helps!
She asked me if I could whip up a bunch of jars for her to share with her family members. She said she would pay me for my time and materials, and she is a lovely friend and neighbor, so naturally, I agreed.

I made the lotion today, and I will share with you how I did it!

 

Now, just for your information, I know that what I make is technically called a salve. I get it. A lotion is actually an emulsion of oils and water. I used to make actual lotion, but I find this salve I make works better and is MUCH less work! I have always called it lotion, and I feel weird calling it a salve, so bear with me....

We decided on a carton of 12 half-pint jars. Plenty of little jars to go around.
 

 
Now, I am typing this up after the fact. I have made the lotion, and it ended up making too much. Not sure how, because I was positive it would be just right, with only a little left over, but it ended up being a LOT left over. Like a pint jar and two coffee cups too much. That's okay though, Ill keep the extra lotion.

My original recipe was lard only, but for fun, I decided to add some coconut oil in there.

 

I have some home-rendered lard, and some store-bought, because I was too lazy to render more to make enough...

The first step is to melt the beeswax.

I placed it in a large pot on low heat and let it melt. Ignore the black specks, they are just chips in the enamel.

Next, add the lard and coconut oil.

(Or the total amount in lard only, if desired.)
Stir occasionally until melted. The mixture will be hot.

Now just add in the essential oils of your choice.

My friends loved the flowery scent last time, so I tried to recreate it. I don't remember which oils I used, except for jasmine. I decided to go for jasmine, (which is not a true essential oil, it ended up being a 'scent oil blend', which I discovered after purchasing), lavender, rose geranium, tea tree, and rose absolute, (which is a 5% oil blend).

My goal here was smelling nice, rather than using pure oils only, since the people I am making this for do not care if they are pure essential oils or not. If I were making it for myself, I would take out the jasmine and rose absolute, and pick something else. Peppermint, perhaps, maybe even citronella...

 

 

Now, the recipe I created called for about 3-4 teaspoons worth of essential oils, but just to make good and sure the lotion didn't smell 'porky' at all, I added some extra. (No, I didn't measure the individual oils. Ya'll should know by now I am not big on measuring...)
 

When it is mixed up quite well, go ahead and pour it into your containers.

 

 

If you use canning jars, you can pour the hot lotion in them, and they will seal shut. For small batches around the house, I just pour into coffee cups, or other small containers or jars, whatever's handy.
 

"Why make lotion out of lard?!", you may be wondering...

 
Most people make homemade lotions out of coconut oil, or even olive, or others. But lard?! Here's the thing. Plant-based oils are good for your skin, sure. BUT animal-based oils are closer in chemistry to the natural oils your skin produces, and therefore are more easily assimilated by your skin! I used to make coconut oil-based lotions, and they were okay, but I found for my own use, they just could not compare to lard. The lard lotion leaves my skin SO soft and moisturized. A little goes a long way!

The lotion has solidified and is ready to go! I'm going to take it down the street to my neighbor so she can pack it up to take with her! I'm sure she will be thrilled with it! I tried some of the extra lotion, and it smells absolutely LOVELY!! ♥

Feel free to share any lotion/salve recipes you use in the comments below, or any tips! I may have left something useful out! (With my severe case of mom-brain going on, I probably have!)

 

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful day! ♥