has anyone made massage bars? if so, how did it go? if you were pleased with the result, could you post the recipe you used?

i'm toying with the idea of making some, and i'd like info. =) thanks!

I haven't made one yet, but here's a site that tells you how to make them. http://www.pvsoap.com/massage_bar_recipe.htm
But I have to wonder about the possible flammability of the cocoa butter- I'd be very careful melting it.
Add this is sort of off topic, but if anyone here knows basic carpentry, they can make their massage table:>http://cnets.net/~eclectic/massage/

it may be oil, but if you melt the cocoa butter in a container that is resting in simmering water, it should be fine. if you keep an eye on it, nothing too terribly bad will happen.

i mean, look at mcdonalds...they have boiling oil for all their fried stuff, and they don't burn down every other day. heh. :-)

LOL. I have been wanting to get a double boiler..
So does anyone know where to get the cocoa butter? I'm assuming that you need *pure* cocoa butter and in my area all they have are the assorted creams and lotions with cocoa butter.
And way off topic, but typing in cocoa butter is making me wish that there actually was some sort of chocolate butter. Mmmm..choco butter!

I've had best luck getting ingredients like cocoa butter at local health food stores. Sometimes it costs a little more that on-line connections but I like to be able to talk to the people I'm buying the stuff from because they are usually a wealth of info. and if I have any problems I can come back. That's where I got my bees wax, sweet almond oil, etc. when I last made lip balm.

flammable?
eek!

maybe i should stay away from this then. i haven't had the best of luck with flammable material in the past. =/

i've been searching online, and i've found several different recipes. i wonder which would work best. i am feeling a little brave. =]

Three Recipes from the Toiletries list:

Lotion Bar # 1

2 tablespoons beeswax beads
2 tablespoons cocoa butter
2 tablespoons palm oil
2 teaspoons jojoba oil
1 vitamin E capsule
10-15 drops of essential oil or fragrance oil

Lotion Bar # 2

2 tablespoons beeswax beads
2 tablespoons cocoa butter
1 tablespoon shea butter
1 viatmin E capsule
10-15 drops of EO or FO

Melt first 4 ingredients together. Remove from heat. Add vitamin E and EO
or FO. Pour into molds and let set up. If they don't come out of the molds
easily, place them in the freezer for 1/2 hour and hold your hand over the
back of the mold. They should drop out. Makes about 3 oz. If you find
that your bars are too soft, they can be melted and a few more beeswax beads
can be added. If they are too hard, they can be remelted and a bit more of
one of the softer oils added ie..palm oil or shea butter.

6.5 oz. cocoa butter
1.5 oz. mango butter
5 oz. apricot oil
5 oz. beeswax
vit. e, fragrance

Melt all together, pour a tiny bit on a plate and let set up-may have to add a tiny bit more of beeswax until you can tell the cooled mixture melts on contact with your fingers, but will stay solid at room temp. Sold 20 of these in two days, 1 oz. each, $6.00 each.

Are these perishable items like the stuff Lush sells in their store refrigerated sections? Any special storage/expiration directions to include if using these as gifts?

I don't hink I could use massage bars on my own skin (prone to break outs) but I think it would be a great gift. I'd love to do a version of that Lush chocolate bar one-yummy!

--Libby (she who should get off this site and back to work! yeah, right!)

Hey, thanks for the heads up about the cocoa butter Libby. I just wish I *had* a health food store near me. And I just found Lush, I'd love the chocolate and Fever massage bars. They look well, ..lush, don't they?
As for being perishable, I imagine they sort of are. But they probably hold up pretty well for winter gifts depending on where you are in the world. Why not just make a tag that says to keep in the fridge until you want to use it, etc?

I'm getting off the initial subject a bit but speaking of Lush - have you ever actually been to one of their stores? A friend of mine kept going on and on about the stuff and it smelled yummy but then we went up to Vancouver BC and went to a store. Wow! The wonderful smells that hit me right when I walked in the door - my friend smiled knowing that I finally "got it"! I love that place. I'm hoping to go up for a week next summer (for an art exhibit at a museum there) and a trip (or two?) to Lush will def. be on my list! (My fave is the karma soap - yummy!)

I'm in Texas, so no Lush stores for me. Unless they want to expand? I can wish, can't I? If I ever manage to get up north though, I'll be there. :)
BTW, how does Lush compare to the Body Shop store?
And the Karma soap does look nice, but the bath bombs are my favorites. The one that looks like the Earth looks so cool.

okay, i clicked on this thread b/c i've been mostly posting in the lifestyle section lately and i wanted to get back to crafting.

can i tell you all that i thought 'massage bars' were like some kind of theme bar where you went and people massaged you as you had some kind of cocktail?? damn. i've lived in trendy cities wayyy too long.

i'm curious - is it just something you use when you give someone a massage instead of lotion or oil?

Are these the same thing as lotion bars?

i don't know what a lotion bar is, so i can't say for certain.

if you go to www.lushcanada.com, you can see pictures of massage bars there.

in the lush catalog they described it as "solid massage oil".

i kinda hope lush never comes to the us, i want to be the only girl in my town that knows about them!

This is in response to Cloudberry. In my opinion Lush is wayyyy better than body shop. They are quite different from each other, lush's products use a lot more natural ingredients whereas bodyshop uses lots of synthetics, especially in their fragrancing. I am super sensitive to fragrancing, so lush is the way to go for me, also Escents is kick arse(I work there so I have to say so). Lush has these awesome natural deodourants, my fave is the tea tree/citrus one. I have the karma perfume that lush sells, but it isn't nearly as good as the soap(the soap totally rocks!). If you can mail order it I highly suggest getting the stuff.
On the massage bars going bad note, at Escents we have a bunch of massage bars with the cocoa butter base and they never go bad, the girl at lush told me they refrigerate them so they don't melt in the store. I've had a couple of bars for at least 3 years and they still smell great and not at all rancid so I think they are still good.

Did a little Christmas shopping today and bought two lotion bars at some NW Shop out here. They look like a cake of bees wax - sort of stop-sign shaped with little honey comb imprint on the rim and a bee shape inthe middle. They come in tins and are large enough to just wrap your hand around. They soften a bit in the warmth of your hand (even worked in my cold ones!) which give a light layer of "lotion" and then you rub your hands together to distribute it. They had regular and vanilla. The regular one smells wonderful so I got two to use as gifts but until then I'd like to try to make a similar one myself. The ingredients were like bees wax, shea butter, sweet almond oil, vitamin E (isn't that supposed to help it from going bad, too?), etc. I usually don't like lotions but this one felt wonderful and smelled soooo goooood!

RE Lush, I've done well ordering from them on-line and the US - Canadian exchange rate helped ease my mind since the stuff can be a bit pricey. I love that Karma soap, the solid deodorants (but they make my underarms turn red if I use them too many days in a row - sensative skin I guess), and the cinnamon-clove bath bomb. The "T is for Toes" powder is nice, too. Oh, what am I saying?! It's all wonderful! (And is in my humble opinion so much better than Body Shop, Garden Botanika, ....)

so, i'm sorry to just _not_ be getting the concept.... someone bring me up to speed with the rest of the class?

do you use the whole bar when giving a massage? or just smoosh it on your hands a bit so it lasts for many?

just melt the desired amount of the massage subject and go nuts!

Vitamin E is used in alot of products my work sells as a natural preservative.
I had the same prob with the solid deodorant (the one that smells like patchouli), but now they have this great line of baking soda based ones and I have had no prob, you just can't put it on if you are just out of the shower, the baking powder reacts with the water and it kinda stings. otherwise it is the best!! Or what works really really well is mixing a 5ml bottle of lavender with a 30ml container of comfrey gel. then pat down with a little baking soda. For some reason cream of tartar tends to work well with the baking soda. Using pure lav can make your skin little sore, but I do on days where I need extra stress relief, the lavender takes me away......

*bump* for esty.

and for myself. damn, i want to make some!

thanks, athos! I'll get in touch w/you re: the recipe book!