Making your own lotions can be a lot of fun, and many people have turned it into a hobby. You might have a good time making lotions that are scented, and you might even give your lotions away as gifts to friends and family members.
It can take a bit of time to get really good at making lotions. When you’re able to start making lotions that you’re proud of, it’s going to be a very happy moment.
What if you’re having some issues along the way, though? Some people find that their lotions are turning out way thicker than they want them to, and this makes them less pleasant to use.
Is there a good way to make lotion thinner without ruining it? Read on to learn more about how you can make lotion thinner and start getting good results with your DIY lotions.
Add Some Water
The best way to thin out your lotion is going to be to add some water to the mix. More water is going to make the lotion less thick than it was before, and it might be just the thing that you need to get your lotions to turn out perfectly.
Try adding more water to your lotion recipes and see if it makes a big difference. If your lotion is still turning out way too thick, then there is likely something off with the amount of ingredients that you’re using.
Thankfully, it’s often going to be easy to see good results just by adding more water. Some people even thin out commercial lotions using a bit of water, but that isn’t necessarily a recommended practice.
You should note that you’re going to need to do more than just add some water to your recipe, though. You see, adding water means that you’re going to need to reduce how much of the other ingredients you’re using to get things to balance out properly.
Reduce Thickening Ingredients
Aside from adding water, the only real thing that you can do to make lotions thinner will be to reduce the thickening ingredients. There are various ingredient types that are meant to thicken lotions up.
You don’t want your lotion to be too thin because it’ll be runny and it’ll just feel as though you’re pouring liquid on yourself. That’s not really lotion, and lotion does need to possess a certain level of thickness.
Lotion should not be a sticky glob that comes out in clumps either. If your lotion is incredibly thick, then you likely went overboard with thickening ingredients.
Common thickening ingredients that people use in lotion include things such as beeswax, cera bellina, candelilla wax, stearic acid, and cetyl alcohol. Some lotions use different kinds of butter as thickeners, such as shea butter, cocoa butter, and mango butter.
If you reduce these ingredients, then you’ll be able to thin out the lotion significantly. Those who are trying to come up with their own recipes might need to play around with the ingredients a bit to determine the ideal amounts to use.
Admittedly, it can take some time to get things right. When you’re very experienced with making lotions, it’s going to be easier to have a good idea of how much of a certain ingredient should be used to reach the desired consistency.
Thinning Out Store-Bought Lotions
Thinning out store-bought lotions is a little different, and it’s up to you if you want to try to do it. The idea isn’t really too different; you’ll just be trying to add some water to a commercial bottle of lotion.
It’s recommended that you try to use distilled water for this process to get the best results. Tap water can contain chemicals and minerals that you might not want to go into the lotion.
Thankfully, distilled water is inexpensive and easy to buy at any grocery store or department store. Once you have some distilled water, you’ll just need to add a little bit at a time and mix the lotion until you think that it’s thinned out enough.
Some people have also gotten good results by adding small amounts of aloe vera gel at a time. You don’t want to add too much because you could make the lotion too thin and wind up ruining it.
As long as you take things slowly, it should be possible to thin the lotion out until it’s just right for you. Just remain observant and don’t get impatient.
Another option involves trying to thin lotion out by adding a bit of almond oil to it. Some people say that this works well enough, but it might not be ideal for several reasons.
Firstly, it’s going to be easier to mess up using almond oil (or other types of oil) than it would be using distilled water or aloe vera gel. Secondly, the lotions already contain oils, and using another oil might not be the best solution as it can throw everything off.
Whether or not it’s even worth it to try to thin out your lotion is another question. It makes a lot of sense for DIY lotions, but it can be somewhat tricky for store-bought lotions.
It’s not impossible, though, and using distilled water or aloe vera gel carefully should get you decent results. If you don’t like thick lotion and want to salvage a store-bought lotion that you purchased, then give it a shot while taking things slowly.
Final Thoughts
Knowing everything that you need to know about thinning lotion out should help you to decide how to proceed. If you’re wanting to thin out your DIY lotion creations, then you can add water and reduce thickening ingredients.
Sometimes it can take time to perfect a recipe and you’ll need to play around with things to get them perfect. Eventually, you’ll get things how you want them to be and you’ll be happy with the results.
It’s possible to thin out store-bought lotions as well, but you’ll want to be careful. If you go too far, then you might make the lotion way too thin or change the lotion too much so that it won’t be very good any longer.
As long as you keep this advice in mind, you’re going to do fine. Enjoy your lotion and know that you can always make adjustments when you find it to be necessary to do so.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Film/Video/Media Studies, as well as an associates degree in Communications. I began producing videos and musical recordings nearly 15 years ago. I am a guitarist and bassist in Southwest MI and have been in a few different bands since 2009, and in 2012 I began building custom guitars and basses in my home workshop as well. When I’m home, I love spending time with my three pets (a dog, cat, and snake) and gardening in my backyard.