Making body bars

[kestratroi]

Hi guys. I'd like to try my hand at making body bars, like the ones I love to buy from Lush. So I want to try to duplicate them as much as possible. The website helpfully lists ingredients, which I will use as a guide, but doesn't give proportions. Is there a rough guide out there to help me make body bars that will remain solid at room temp, but

Comments

[atalanta0jess]

One thing to be aware of (and I am FAR from an expert on this) is that home made stuff made from things that spoil...will spoil. If you put banana or avocado in a body bar, it will go bad. You can totally use fresh ingredients like that in home made concoctions that you plan to use very quickly, but I'm guessing body bars don't fall in that category.

[kestratroi]

Well, I would have thought so too. But that's how they make them at Lush, just puree bananas and avocados with oat milk and pour it into the oils. No preservatives. You can see a video on the website here:

https://www.lush.co.uk/product/252/King-of-Skin-Body-Butter

[atalanta0jess]

I am highly suspicious. Anything with water can spoil. The oat milk makes it even worse. You're right though, it clearly says no preservatives. And that people thought it couldn't be done, so I guess I'm one of those people, and I guess us people are wrong. :p

[mycologynerd]

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/05/question-how-does-lush-use-fresh-fruit.html?m=1

[atalanta0jess]

Oh, thanks for posting this. Very informative. I guess that at the very least, it's only a tiny bit of fresh avocado that they really use. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that sounds rather fishy!

[kestratroi]

Did you watch the video on the website? It shows them taking whole bananas and avocados and pureeing them. I don't know how big the vat of oils is that they then add it to, but it looks like a fairly substantial amount. But maybe the "perfume" ingredient acts as a preservative. But how could they claim that it's preservative free? I've used this bar, and it didn't go bad or anything, it does have a best before date, like all their products. But I think it was a pretty long way off, like 6 months or a year.

[atalanta0jess]

One of the things discussed I think in the comments of the blog entry, or maybe in one of the entries it links to, is that yes they add whole avocados and bananas. But that the amount of oil they add them to is quite large. That's why I said they only add a tiny bit. Per bar, there may not be much fresh produce in there.

Really though, I just can't see how there is any possibility they are not being deceitful in some way. I could be wrong, but IMO , either they are not adding fresh fruit like the video shows (like, they are using dried powdered fruit) or there is a preservative. It may be that one of the listed ingredients (like the perfume as you suggest) is acting as a preservative, but something in there is preserving. Because we all know that you cannot keep a banana or an avocado for months. Stuff with water in it goes bad. I find it really hard to believe they've found some magic way around that.

[kestratroi]

Yeah, I guess we'll never know. Maybe I can corner a Lush employee sometime and make them explain. But I think I'll omit the fresh fruits, maybe add some avocado oil instead. I was going to simplify the recipe anyway, as I think Lush stuff is a bit too fragrant most of the time, and I don't have all those eo's.

But I finally found a recipe for body bars that doesn't have beeswax in it, which this Lush bar doesn't.

[cordelia_sue]

I totally agree with you.

[fiercereaper]

Linalool and limonine can both be used as pantimicrobials, so they're fudging their advertising.

ETA: I'd correct that spelling mistake but pantimicrobials is too fantastic a typo.