Homemade Hand Cream: Your Soothing DIY Hand Lotion Recipe

Looking for a super soothing homemade hand lotion for dry skin? Look no further!

My DIY hand lotion recipe is all natural, totally nourishing and super hydrating.

I have been making my own natural skincare for some time now and while it has been a great journey of learning to make awesome homemade skincare products, I was ready to challenge myself with something new.

I have loved making oil based skincare products like balms, oils and butters that leave my skin totally pampered and soft. However, I knew if i wanted to make a great homemade hand cream for dry hands, the only way to add instant hydration is to add water.

This is where the process of making this all natural hand cream recipe gets tricky. Adding water to skincare products means additional ingredients will need to be added and the process becomes more challenging than just mixing a few oils together.

A broad spectrum preservative and an emulsifier are necessary ingredients in my DIY hand cream recipe. If you are new to these ingredients they can sound intimidating.

A preservative is necessary in any skincare recipe where water is added as an ingredient to ensure waterborne bacteria, yeast and moulds do not grow. An emulsifier is necessary to help to combine the water with the oils in this recipe. Both the preservative and emulsifier in my best DIY hand cream are considered natural for use in skincare.

This hand lotion recipe is more challenging than my oil based recipes and if you are new to DIY skincare, I recommend beginning with my easier lotion bar recipe or my body butter recipe first and making your way up to this recipe.

However, if this isn’t your first time, I highly suggest trying this DIY hand lotion for dry skin as it is super soothing, hydrating and luxurious. Although this recipe is more challenging than my other recipes, go through the recipe instructions and you will find it easier than you think.

Now, let’s get started and make a homemade hand lotion recipe!

What Is A DIY Hand Cream?

This homemade hand cream recipe is a mix of water and several oils that combine together with a natural emulsifier to create a soothing and hydrating hand cream.

Oil based skincare is great. However, adding water to this recipe means your homemade hand lotion will be more rapidly absorbed by your skin, delivery soothing hydration fast.

When water combines with the nourishing ingredients in this homemade hand moisturiser, it absorbs and releases the nutrients from them. This means it increases the skins ability to absorb all the goodness from your natural hand cream recipe.

This hand cream DIY recipe contains a mixture of purified water, several oils, shea butter, glycerine, xanthan gym, emulsifier and a natural broad spectrum preservative.

The preservative in this recipe is considered a natural preservative for the use in skincare and there is more information about it further in the guide.

Vitamin E oil is also a necessary ingredient in this home made hand lotion as it slows the process of oil oxidation which increases the longevity of the oils in this recipe. Vitamin E oil, however, is not a suitable preservative for skincare containing water despite what many online recipes may say.

Why Make A Homemade Hand Cream Recipe?

There are so many reasons why you should make you own moisturising hand cream recipe and I have listed some of them below!

Super Soothing And Hydrating

This homemade hand cream for dry skin is full of nourishing ingredients and purified water that delivers quick and nourishing hydration that soothes the hands and leaves them looking and feeling great.

All Natural Ingredients

One of the best things about making hand lotion homemade is that you can make it all natural and free of nasty additives that gives you greater peace of mind that what you are putting on your skin is good for you.

A Fun Challenge

Creating your own DIY cracked hand cream can seem a challenge. However, it means you are learning to how to create awesome skincare with skills that you can take onto new projects.

It also feels like a little science experiment that leaves you with an awesome product.

You Control What Goes In

Another awesome benefit of making your own DIY hand cream for dry hands is that you have full control over what is added.

You can substitute certain ingredients for others to make a hand cream perfect for your skin. It’s up to you.

Perfect Gift

An organic hand cream recipe makes a great gift for friends and family. You could choose to customise certain ingredients to suit individual needs and store it in cute bail jars.

Eco Friendly

Making your own homemade hand lotion with glycerine and other natural ingredients is a more eco friendlier option than consistently repurchasing plastic containers/bottles worth of hand cream.

Cost Effective

Hand lotions can be super pricey especially if you are looking for one with natural, nourishing ingredients like those used in my best homemade hand lotion recipe. If you love buying hand creams, creating your own will save you money in the long run.

Ingredients For Making The Best Hand Cream For Dry Hands

There are quite a few ingredients for this easy homemade hand cream, but don’t worry. They are all easy to buy and available in Australia.

eBay and Amazon Australia are quick and easy places to buy ingredients and all the gear you need. Below, I direct you to the best place to buy each ingredient or you can click here to buy now on Amazon or here for eBay.

A couple of ingredients are only available on a specialist site. I also link to that where relevant.

These are the places where I buy all these ingredients.

You don’t have to use the same oils that I do and can replace the avocado and sunflower oil with different oils if you would prefer. You can also switch the shea butter to a different butter or an oil if that would suit you better.

Or you can decrease the amount of ingredients you need to buy by combining the oils and just getting either avocado or sunflower oil. Whatever you prefer.

This means that if you are looking for a coconut oil hand lotion recipe or a homemade hand cream with olive oil, you can simply modify the recipe below to replace avocado or sunflower oil with the oil you want to use.

Olivem 1000

Olivem 1000 is a product that is derived from olive oil. It is a natural emulsifier. It is a white and flaky wax and it is a product that is used to help combine water and oil together to create a number of different skincare emulsions.

It is a great product for thickening creams/lotions and enhancing the spreadability of your skincare products. You can create a wide variety of emulsions from olivem 1000 including lotions and creams, body butters, cleansers, conditioners and more.

Olivem 1000 is combined with skincare products during the oil heating phase which is then added to the water phase when making your emulsions. It also has a wide pH range between 3 and 12.

This emulsifier adds moisture to skincare products, and it is hypoallergenic – meaning it is not known to cause allergic reactions and can be used on sensitive skin types. I enjoy using this in my DIY anti aging hand cream because it is easy to use and natural.

Click here to buy it now.

Avocado Oil

I love using avocado oil on my skin as it is nourishing and soothing. It contains protein, fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E and beta carotene, all of which are great for your skin.

Avocado oil benefits the skin in a number of ways from nourishing, moisturising, anti aging, skin cell regeneration, skin softening and more.

You can find avocado oil in refined or unrefined varieties. Refined avocado oil is thin, light in colour and has no aroma. Unrefined avocado oil is green, thick and has a strong scent.

Both varieties are absorbed quickly into the skin, but this is the one time I recommend only using the refined version of this oil.

This is a great choice of oil for every skin type but especially those with mature and dry skin and eczema. I enjoy using avocado oil in this DIY essential oil hand cream as I find it moisturising and soothing on my skin.

Click here to buy it now.

Sunflower Oil

Sunflower oil is a light and super absorbent oil that is good for all skin types and is non comedogenic.

It is high in essential fatty acids, linoleic and oleic acids and antioxidants that your skin loves.

Sunflower oil effects on the skin are softening, nourishing and moisturising.

When purchasing your sunflower oil, ensure you are only buying the unrefined/cold pressed variety rather than the refined cooking oil type.

Click here to buy it now.

Shea Butter

Shea butter is a great ingredient in this DIY hand cream for cracked skin as it is super moisturising and soothing. It contains several different vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and fatty acids that soothe, soften and moisturise your skin which leave it nourished and protected.

Shea butter is an awesome product for dry skin types and it is easy to use as it melts when it comes into contact with the skin. It contains occulsive and emollient qualities meaning it softens your skin and provides a barrier on the skin to lock in moisture.

It contains anti-inflammatory properties which is nice for soothing irritated or inflamed skin. However, if you have oily or acne prone skin, shea butter is not always recommended because it can further clog pores on individuals with these skin types.

I love using shea butter in my DIY hand cream for dry cracked hands as I find it gives a rich and creamy feel and is soothing and moisturising on my skin. Ensure you are only using unrefined shea butter in this recipe.

If you want to make a DIY hand cream without shea butter, you could try making a DIY hand cream with coconut oil or cocoa butter instead.

Click here to buy it now.

Distilled Water

The main ingredient in this hydrating hand cream is distilled water and while this may seem like a self explanatory ingredient, it is very important to only use purified/distilled water in your DIY hand cream for dry skin.

Using tap/bottled water is not the same as distilled water and the process of making distilled water makes it free of any impurities that may disturb your hand cream homemade recipe.

Using distilled water instead of plain tap or bottled water ensures your water is completely ridden of any impurities. Distilled water is made by bringing boiling water to a vapor and then condensing it back to a liquid in a different container.

Click here to buy it on eBay now.

Glycerine

Glycerine is a natural, cheap and easy product to find for purchase. It is popular for use in skincare products as it is a natural humectant which means it attracts water to the skin.

Glycerine is sweet and mild. It is thick and sticky in consistency and a little goes a long way meaning only a small bit is needed in this DIY hand cream for wrinkles.

Glycerine is also a nice choice in skincare products for oily and acne prone skin types as it pulls water from the air to the skin to keep it moist.

Click here to buy it on eBay now.

Xanthan Gum

You may have seen this ingredient a number of times before listed as an ingredient in packaged foods. Xanthan gum comes from the fermentation of sugar and is a natural gum. It is a popular ingredient for use in packaged foods and the food industry for its thickening effect.

When used in skincare it works in the same way by thickening skincare products. It can also provide gel like textures in skincare products which is nice for products like my homemade eye gel.

Xanthan gum feels nice and smooth on the skin.

Click here to buy it on eBay now.

Vitamin E Oil

Vitamin E oil is great for the skin – it is an antioxidant that helps to soften, smooth and repair your skin. In this DIY hand cream with essential oils, the vitamin E oil is mainly being used to increase the longevity of the oils in this recipe.

When oils are exposed to air they will slowly start to oxidize – which is what causes oils to go rancid. Vitamin E oil is a great ingredient to delay this process happening and can extend the shelf life of your DIY hand repair cream.

Vitamin E oil is great for protecting the oils in this recipe but it is not an effective ingredient to preserve the water in skincare products despite what many online recipe may say.

Click here to buy it now.

Benzoin Essential Oil

Benzoin essential oil is a great essential oil for its sweet vanilla like scent and the many benefits it has to offer to skin and mood.

Benzoin oil is astringent, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, a sedative and a diuretic! It is a great choice of oil for helping to heal and soothe chapped, dry, inflamed and irritated skin and that’s a big reason why I love it in this homemade hand cream for cracked skin.

Other great benefits of benzoin oil is its cooling and calming effect on the nerves, that promotes relaxation and rest and alleviates tension and stress. Benzoin oil, however, should not be used on young children.

Click here to buy it now.

Lavender Essential Oil

Homemade lavender hand cream? Yes please! There are so many benefits of lavender essential oil, and it is my personal favourite essential oil.

Lavender oil is a great choice for unwinding and relaxing while still remaining focused. It can be used to heal bites, rashes, burns and scars and it is soothing for dry skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. It also contains antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, fungicidal and antiseptic properties and can reduce the look of wrinkles and stretch marks.

Lavender oil can also be used to ease muscular aches, inflammation, joint pains, stress and anxiety.

Lavender oil can be used by all skin types but can cause dermatitis if overused. If you are someone who has oily or acne prone skin, lavender oil could be a good choice for you as it unclogs pores and kills bacteria.

I love using lavender oil in this DIY hand lotion with essential oils as the aroma alone is enough to unwind and relax me.

Click here to buy it on eBay now.

Do You Need A Preservative?

Yes, you need a preservative. When water or water based ingredients are used in skincare products, a preservative is necessary to ensure waterborne moulds, bacteria and yeasts do not grow.

Using a broad spectrum preservative is essential in protecting your water based skincare products against these harmful bacteria, yeast and mould.

It is not helpful that several online skincare recipes containing water do not use a preservative. You could also choose not to. However, there is a real risk of harmful microbes growing in your handmade hand cream recipe.

Preservative Eco

Preservative eco is a mix of benzyl alcohol, salicyclic acid, glycerine and sorbic acid. It is considered a natural preservative and is used in preserving water based skincare products.

The compounds in preservative eco are naturally found in willow bark, pine resin and rowan berries. Preservative eco contains no parabens, isothiazolone or formaldehyde where several other preservatives do.

It is a liquid preservative and it is added to skincare products during the cooling phase when creating your healing hand cream recipe. It smells lightly of almonds but when it is added to your DIY hand cream with glycerine and other ingredients, the smell is not noticeable.

It can be used to create a heap of different water based skincare products.

Click here to buy it now.

How To Make Your Own Hand Cream

Like I mentioned earlier, this is one of my trickier DIY skincare recipes to make.

It is tricky because you have to mix together the water ingredients and mix together the oil ingredients and heat the water ingredients and oil ingredients in separate lots. Both have to be heated to 70 degrees Celsius at the same time.

It does, thankfully, sound trickier than what it actually is and if you just follow my natural hand lotion recipe instructions, I promise you will be able to do it.

To do the heating phase, you will need to use a double boiler or set up a bain-marie. I usually opt for a double boiler when making my skincare (you can buy one like mine on eBay). However for this particular recipe, I find it simpler to use beakers, particularly for the water ingredients.

It is easier because i can easily heat both the water and oil ingredients in the same pot and it makes weighing the water ingredients before and after easier.

You will need to weigh the water ingredients before and after you have heated them to check how much water evaporated and then replace this amount. If you use a double boiler, you can also do this but it won’t be as easy.

If you choose to use beakers to heat your ingredients you will need to put something metal in the bottom of the pot for them to sit on. Do not ever put beakers directly on the bottom of your pot. I chose to use cookie cutters!

Once both the water ingredients and the oil ingredients have been heated and you’ve added any lost water, it is very simple. Simply combine the oil and water ingredients with a stick blender.

Once you have done this, let your lavender hand cream recipe cool down to 40 degrees before adding your essential oils, vitamin E oil and preservative because these particular ingredients can degrade if they are heated beyond this temperature.

Once you have finished making your DIY non greasy hand cream, you can store it in whatever you want. I personally love bail jars (on eBay) or pump bottles (on eBay) for this. The advantage of a pump bottle is that you don’t need to use your fingers to get the cream out which means you can’t accidentally add any nasties to the cream.

If you wish you had a video of me making this essential oil hand cream recipe, I recommend you watch my body cream here. The process is exactly the same in both recipes.

Soothing Hand Lotion Recipe

Yield: 100g

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

This DIY natural hand cream is the perfect mix for dry, normal or mature skin. It's formulated to be super hydrating and nourishing for your hands especially in dry weather with ingredients that are hydrating while being light and easily absorbed into your skin.

Print

Ingredients

• 5g Olivem 1000
• 4g Avocado Oil
• 4g Sunflower Oil
• 7g Shea Butter
• 75.1g Distilled Water
• 2.5g Glycerin
• 0.3g Xanthan Gum
• 0.1g Vitamin E Oil
• 0.5g Benzoin Essential Oil
• 0.5g Lavender Essential Oil
• 1g Preservative Eco
• Bail jar

Instructions

1. Weigh and mix together the olivem 1000, avocado oil, sunflower oil and shea butter. Place in a heatproof beaker, bowl or double boiler ready to heat
2. Mix the weighed xanthan gum and glycerine in a small bowl
3. Weigh and add the distilled water and glycerine and xanthan gum mix in a heatproof beaker, bowl or double boiler. Mix together
4. Weigh the water mixture in its container and write down the amount so you can compare it later
5. Heat both the oil mixture and the water mixture in a double boiler/bain-marie setup. You want them both to heat to 70 degrees Celsius around the same time. Use thermometres to check this and stir regularly
6. Once both have reached this temperature and are the same heat, remove from the heat
7. Weigh the water mixture in its container again. This will tell you how much water has evaporated. Add more distilled water to take it back to the same weight it was before
8. Blend this water mixture with a stick blender for 20 seconds to mix it together
9. Add the oil mixture to the water mixture and blend with the stick blender for another 30-60 seconds until well mixed. It will be white and still quite fluid
10. Cool the product to 40 degrees Celsius while stirring. You can speed this up by placing the mixture and its container into a cold water bath
11. Weigh the vitamin E oil, essential oils and preservative eco and add one at a time to the mixture stirring thoroughly after adding each one
12. Place into the packaging you want to use - a bail jar is perfect.
13. Enjoy!

Notes

If you want to be extra sure that this DIY body lotion non greasy will last, you should check the pH of the end product to check that it's between 3 - 8 which is what is required for the preservative in this recipe to work. This is a big range and it's highly unlikely this won't be the case though.

How To Use Your DIY Hand Cream (Non Greasy)

Now you have made your non greasy hand cream recipe, it is time to use it!

Using your essential oil hand lotion recipe is the easy part.

Simply take a small amount of your hand cream and rub it into clean and dry hands to feel instant soothing hydration and relaxing aroma.

Final Words

I hope you have enjoyed learning to make your own hand lotion. This homemade shea butter hand cream is such a treat for the hands. It is soothing, hydrating and so luxurious.

I hope you are feeling inspired and give it a try for yourself.

Want to make more great lotions and creams? Try my body cream here and face lotion here. You may also enjoy my foot balm here. Find all my best DIY skincare recipes here.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.