Dry, irritated hands? Our hands are one of the most neglected areas of the body and regularly sustain damage due to daily tasks like cleaning, washing up, and even using hand sanitisers.
This tutorial will result in a moisturising cream that’s perfect for our hands: easily absorbed for an instant hydration boost.
Read on for non-greasy, long-lasting moisture!
Recipe
Water Phase
- 67g Distilled Water
- 2g Glycerine
Oil Phase
- 10g Cocoa Butter
- 12g Grapeseed Oil
- 5g Emulsifying Wax NF
Cool Down
- 1g Preservative Eco
- 2g Vitamin E Oil
- 1g (max) Essential Oils
Method
- Measure out your water phase ingredients: distilled water & glycerine and your oil phase ingredients: cocoa butter, grapeseed oil & emulsifying wax
- Over a low heat (e.g. double boiler), melt both phases in separate heat proof glasses
- Once fully melted, combine the two and whisk a little to make sure they’re fully incorporated
- Use an immersion blender or electric whisk to create a stable emulsion. When you’re happy with the consistency, you can move onto preserving and adding fragrance
- Add your Cool Down phase ingredients: natural preservative, antioxidant
- Add any essential oils you’d like for fragrance – max 1g in total
- Briefly mix again either by hand or using a blender to ensure that all the ingredients are evenly distributed
- Pipe into any durable, portable container e.g. a silicone squeeze bottle
This recipe makes 100g. See the interactive cocoa butter hand cream formula to customise this recipe and amount.
Ingredients
Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter is rich in fatty acids which replenish our skin’s moisture and create a barrier on the skin to prevent against further moisture loss. This makes Cocoa butter an excellent choice as the base of our hand cream.
Using cocoa butter as a base contributes to the non-greasy consistency of this hand cream. Other butters (e.g. shea) may absorb into the skin faster, but can result in a “tacky” feeling after application.
As an added bonus, cocoa butter also has phytochemicals that can help to protect against damage from the sun’s harmful UV rays. However, cocoa butter is not a sunscreen replacement.
Vitamin E benefits for hands
If you’ve tried a few of my tutorials before, you’ll know that vitamin E is an essential antioxidant for use with oils and butters. But did you know about its rejuvenation powers? Vitamin E can increase blood circulation, leading to a plumping effect which increases the firmness of our skin. It is also excellent on dry and patchy areas of skin.
Grapeseed Oil
This is a light oil that works well on all skin types, including sensitive skin.
Customisation
Here’s a few ideas on how to customise this recipe:
- Swap honey for glycerine
- Use shea butter as a base instead of cocoa butter – although this may have a “tackier” feel
- Fragrance is always optional and, due to the cocoa butter, this hand cream already has a lovely subtle chocolate scent - but to give it a little boost you can add complementary essential oils. I’m using a little vanilla. You may like to try orange or mint - have fun with it.
Hands TLC
So why not try this DIY Cocoa Butter Hand Cream today for softer, younger looking hands.
Fortunately, our hands are pretty resilient and it’s easy to reverse a lot of the damage to our hands just by using a good hand cream regularly! Try it - your hands will love you for it!
