This hand cream recipe is a simple blend of four ingredients to naturally nourish dry winter skin.
❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
- It’s beginner-friendly: it makes a great gift and is a very easy project, one that kids can make with a little help.
- If you are afraid of soap and lotion making, this is a great way to get into the world of homemade body products. If you are already a soap maker, you probably have most or all of these ingredients already.
- This recipe makes a very thick, balm-like hand cream. It will melt on the skin and will absorb after a few minutes.
🧂 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You’ll find the full measurements and instructions in the printable recipe at the bottom of the page.
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You’ll need the following for this project:
- Olive oil. Any kind will work. Don’t waste an expensive extra-virgin olive oil on this recipe.
- Coconut oil. If you make a lot of soap or other bath and body products, get a variety that’s not food safe. It’s much less expensive. (You can get well-priced bulk oils at Nurture Soap.)
- Beeswax. You will want to get the little beads, which are easier to measure out. Beeswax is very hard and difficult to work with in big pieces. (I use this kind of beeswax.)
- Mango butter or shea butter. You only need a small amount. I prefer mango butter, which absorbs better on the skin. (I like this brand.)
- Fragrance oil or essential oil. Make sure it is skin-safe.
🥣 Equipment
- A hand mixer or stand mixer. It’s nearly impossible to whip this by hand!
- A digital scale. You won’t regret having one. I use mine daily for soap, bread, and other kitchen projects. Here’s the one I have.
- A clean storage container. You can buy special tins for body butter and hand cream, or use a shallow mason jar.
🍴Instructions
Step One: Measure, melt, and cool oils
Measure all the ingredients using a kitchen scale.
Melt over a double boiler, or just a bowl set over a pan with an inch of water. The beeswax has a high melting point, so it may take a little longer than you expect.
Then let it cool on the counter until it looks like this: (Might take over 4 hours, up to overnight.)
Step Two: whip
Then whip until it is fluffy. If you have a stand mixer, that works best. A hand mixer will work fine, it will just take longer.
Step three: store
Scoop the hand cream into a clean container and store it at room temperature.
🥫 Storage instructions
If your house gets very warm (above 80 degrees), it may melt and need to be rewhipped.
🔍 FAQs
No, the cream will be too thin and won’t have any “body” to it.
Nope, since there is no water in this recipe, you don’t need to worry about mold growing. It’s almost like a whipped chapstick!
You can make tweaks and substitutions, but the consistency will change. That doesn’t mean it won’t work, just that it will be different. I would recommend not increasing the amount of olive oil or beeswax, as they dramatically affect the finished product.
👩🏻🍳 Expert tips
- Use a stand mixer if you have one; it’s much easier
- If you don’t have an “official” double boiler, a bowl set over a pan of simmering water is all you need.
- This recipe can also be simply melted and cooled and used like a balm without the whipped consistency.
📘 Related Recipes
- Learn if cold process soap making is right for you.
- Make a pumpable, commercial-quality lotion with a few other ingredients.
- Use the rest of your beeswax to make beeswax and honey soap.
- Things to Make with Beeswax
- Goat Milk and Beeswax Lotion Bars
📖 Here’s the recipe
Please note that the finished product is very rich and stiff. If you want a softer cream more like a traditional store-bought cream, you will need to add emulsifiers and preservatives. My favorite body cream recipe can be found here.
Homemade Hand Cream for Winter
Ingredients
- 3 ounces coconut oil
- 1.75 ounces mango butter
- 1 ounce olive oil
- 0. 125 ounces beeswax
Instructions
- Melt the oil, butter, and beeswax in a double boiler set over low heat.
- Remove from the heat and add the fragrance oil and essential oil, if using. Stir well until fully combined.
- Set on the counter to cool at room temperature until solidified, at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Whip until white fluffy using electric mixer, about ten minutes. If consistency does not change after whipping, place the oils in the fridge for 15 minutes and try again.
- Store in clean container at room temperature. May melt if stored above 80 degrees.
Thank you Katie for sharing this recipe and can’t wait to make.
Question and sorry for my ignorance- when you say to melt the oils, I take that to mean the solid oils obviously, but what do I do with the olive oil? I did not read or missed when the olive oil is added to the melted solid oils.
Can you use another oil in place of the coconut oil? Asking due to skin sensitivity.
Hi, I was wondering if its possible to swap the beeswax for something vegan, say candellila wax? Thanks in advance
I have not made this recipe…yet. I’m excited to try it. If I add a fragrance oil – how much? Just add drop by drop until I think it smells good ? 😂
honestly… yes 😂😂😂 i mean really we’re talking DROPS since this is a small batch.
I made this recipe for my daughter. She has dry hands that crack and bleed. It did not work at all. Super greasy and doesn’t ever seem to absorb. I also couldn’t get the same consistency as in the video, even with putting it in the fridge. Next time I will omit the coconut oil and massively increase the beeswax. This isn’t working for her poor hands.
hi Bethannie I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you! Be careful increasing the beeswax it can make things VERY hard!
I would switch the coconut oil out and replace it with caster oil.
How much does this recipe make? I want to make it for Christmas gifts!
about half a pint! 🙂
Could you sub mango butter for shea butter?
yes definitely!
I have made this and it is amazing. I use it on my feet and the residue left on my hands is enough rubbed it. The key I find is not to use too much at a time so it absorbs quickly. My hands and feet are now very soft. I love it
yay! i’m so glad the cream is working well for you! i totally agree about the small amount i will need to add that to the post.
I have atopic skin. My hands are so dry, I can use them as a replacement for a sandpaper. And every handcream I tried (even those recommended by pharmacists and my doctor) further aggitated my skin. Your recipe helped me a lot. Now my hands are soft and they do not hurt or itch.
Though, I have to admit, I accidentaly rised the amount of beeswax to 1,125 ounces. It was hard to whip, but I managed it and it came out fine. Nex time, I will try the correct amount and see, what works for me better. Thank you.
monika i’m so happy the hand cream is working for you! i am curious to see whether the increased beeswax is better for you. you could always just melt and shake thhe ingredients and skkip the whipping. it is more like a balm that way but still very moisturizing.
Hi Katie. I used up my first batch of hand cream. It was almost prefect but a little bit grainy. Maybe I did not mix the beeswax in well enough. But I decided to make the cream this time with only 0,125 ounces of beeswax. It did not work well for me. I realized, my beeswax is very different from the one you used in the video. Mine is yellow and looks like a chocolate bar. I melted the cream down again and added 5,125 ounces of beeswax, let it cool down and whipped it again. Now it finally looks like yours. The texture is amazing.
Thank you again.
Hi, how long does this last? Please let me know, thanks 🙂
hi ella, there’s no water in the recipe so it should last a year at least!
How many essential oils do you use for this recipe?
i just use one
Hi I am from Pakistan. Currently living in a small military town. I won’t be able to find beeswax here. Is there any alternative. Can I use candles wax instead?
there are some alternatives, but without knowing what the candle wax is made of, i cant be sure. i would just leave it out. 🙂
Hi Katie,
Can I find ingredients in Mexico?
I would think so, none of them are that unusual. You may need to order the shea butter and possibly the beeswax.
I made this for the first time, and I have a question. As I looked back at the recipe, the amount of beeswax is printed as 0. 125 with that space in there, how much beeswax do you mean? I took it to mean 0.125 or a little more than 1/10 of an ounce. Is that correct? I ask because my mixture sat overnight but was still pretty liquid in the morning. I had to put it in the refrigerator before I could whip it.
I live in Phoenix and I’m sure my kitchen is warmer than most in the north.
Kathie yes that’s the correct amount of beeswax. I’ll fix that space, it’s very strange looking! 🙂
How long will this keep for and do you need to keep on fridge. Look forward to making it. Thanks for sharing.
you don’t need to refrigerate it. if it melts, its still usable. you can always refrigerate it and re whip if you. want to too
Hi, in the recipe it calls for 0.125 oz of beeswax, but in the video it calls for 0.25.
it’s .125
This came out so oily I don’t even want to use it!! Is there any way to fix it?
joy, if you are used to store bought creams it will indeed feel heavy. the only way to get a texture like that is to add water to the recipe and you’ll need preservatives. this is just a different type of cream. it does sink into the skin after a bit and the greasy feeling goes away.
I find adding arrowroot powder greatly resolves the oily feeling. In this size recipe I add 1/2 tsp before letting solidify.
I don’t have a scale. Can you provide measurements?
Please where can I get Beeswax and Mango butter. I stay in Abuja
you can find them both on amazon! https://amzn.to/2S5BM9N
This looks so amazing! A friend made me something like this once and I absolutely loved it. It was such a good moisturizer! Thanks for the recipe!