Learn how to make an all-natural homemade sunscreen with cocoa and lavender that is perfect for protecting your skin from the summer sun. This DIY sunscreen will not only protect your skin from the sun, but will leave it feeling moisturized and soft.
Table of Contents
- Learn how to make an all-natural homemade sunscreen with cocoa and lavender that is perfect for protecting your skin from the summer sun. This DIY sunscreen will not only protect your skin from the sun, but will leave it feeling moisturized and soft.
- Problems with conventional sunscreen
- Tips For Making Homemade Sunscreen
- How To Make Homemade Sunscreen:
- Do you want to get started with using essential oils?
- Homemade Sunscreen With Cocoa Butter And Lavender
- Homemade Sunscreen With Cocoa And Lavender Recipe
I just love summer. Being able to spend as much time as we can outside playing in the yard, gardening, going to the pool, and so much more.
There is so much to love about summer.
Summer in the midwest means lots of warm days and lots of mosquitos.
I teamed up with my sister over at Our Oily House to share with you two natural summer essential recipes: bug spray and sunscreen.
This recipe is moisturizing and soothing while protecting the skin for the suns harmful rays.
While the sun does have its benefits, when we know we are going to spend a long amount of time outside with the potential for sunburn we use this awesome recipe.
Problems with conventional sunscreen
Everyone has heard that sunscreen prevents skin cancer.
Some research suggests, though, that the chemicals found in conventional sunscreen actually do more to cause cancer than to prevent it.
Not only do the chemicals absorb into the skin and interfere with our hormones, sunscreen blocks the Vitamin D from the sun, which our bodies rely on to support immune function that keep degenerative diseases, like cancer, at bay.
Vitamin D is one of the most common deficiencies in our country, and most people are coming up short.
Basking in the sun, during the hours which it is not at its peak, is actually a very healthy practice to keep our vitamin D at healthy levels.
Unless we are going to be at the beach all day, during the hottest hours, I skip the sunscreen all together.
However, burns are not a good idea, so if we are going out for several hours during peak exposure, I keep this healthy homemade version handy. It smells oh so lovely.
Tips For Making Homemade Sunscreen
- Try to use as few dishes as possible because this stuff is very water resistant and hard to clean.
- It’s great when your kids jumps in the pool and it doesn’t wash right off, but not so great when you are making a batch.
- I love adding lavender essential oil to this recipe, but you can use a different essential oil like peppermint (for a cooling effect, but only use a few drops). Don’t use any photosensitive oils like orange, lemon, etc.
- Apply every few hours to help ensure protection.
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Tools you may need:
Glass bowl
Saucepan
Whisk
Silicon Spatula
Ingredients you will need:
- Shea butter – 1/4 cup- Ultra moisturizing for your skin.
- Beeswax – 1/4 cup – Helps emulsify the ingredients and make this sunscreen more water resistant.
- Coconut oil – 1/4 cup – Coconut oil actually has some natural SPF to it, but I love to add it to this recipe for not only that, but also to moisturize the skin.
- Olive oil – 1/2 cup
- Non-nano zinc oxide – 1/4 cup – This is what gives the sunscreen SPF to protect your skin. You want to get non-nano zinc oxide to ensure that it doesn’t absorb into your skin and leaves a barrier on top.
- Cocoa butter – 1/4 cup, optional – I love adding cocoa butter to this recipe, it smells amazing, adds some thickness, and is nourishing.
- 10 drops lavender essential oil
How To Make Homemade Sunscreen:
- Put all ingredients, except zinc oxide and lavender essential oil, in a glass bowl and place over a pot with a little boiling water in the bottom.
- Heat until melted.
- Allow to cool a bit before adding in zinc oxide and lavender.
- Whisk in the remaining ingredients. I just left mine out on the counter for a few hours, going over occasionally to give it a whisk. This gave it a whipped effect without me actually having to use my mixer.
- Pour homemade sunscreen mixture into a glass jar and seal with an airtight lid.
I hope you have a lovely Summer!
Do you want to get started with using essential oils?
You can get started by going to My Doterra Store and either buying at the retail price or the wholesale membership by clicking “Join and Save”. This will allow you to get 25% off retail prices for a whole year.
You can get the best discount by starting with a kit, which waives the $35 wholesale fee.
You can check out more info on this page or by checking out my webinar replay here.
Other Natural Handmade Recipes
- How To Make Deodorant With Essential Oils
- Easiest DIY Foaming Hand Soap Recipe
- Homemade Lavender Sugar Scrub
- DIY Whipped Body Butter Recipe- All Natural
- Best Diaper Rash Cream All Natural with Bentonite Clay
Homemade Sunscreen With Cocoa Butter And Lavender
If you try this recipe and love it, I would appreciate if you could come back, commented on the post, and give it 5 stars! Thanks.
Homemade Sunscreen With Cocoa And Lavender
Equipment
- Glass bowl
- Saucepan
- Whisk
- Silicon spatula
- Storage jars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup shea butter
- 1/4 cup beeswax
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup non-nano zinc oxide
- 1/4 cup cocoa butter, optional
- 10 drops lavender essential oil
Instructions
- Put all ingredients, except zinc oxide and lavender essential oil, in a glass bowl and place over a pot with a little boiling water in the bottom.
- Heat until melted.
- Allow to cool before adding in zinc oxide and lavender.
- Whisk in the remaining ingredients. I just left mine out on the counter for a few hours, going over occasionally to give it a whisk. This gave it a whipped effect without me actually having to use my mixer.
- Pour ingredients into a glass jar and seal with an airtight lid.
Notes
- Try to use as few dishes as possible because this stuff is very water resistant and hard to clean.
- It's great when your kids jumps in the pool and it doesn't wash right off, but not so great when you are making a batch.
- I love adding lavender essential oil to this recipe, but you can use a different essential oil like peppermint (for a cooling effect, but only use a few drops). Don't use any photosensitive oils like orange, lemon, etc.
- Apply every few hours to help ensure protection.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Pin it for later:
This post was updated December 2019.
Dawn Dish Detergent is also amazing for getting out beeswax…I use dawn with a brillo pad and its clean in no time! I love everything about what you do Lisa! My style to the T 🙂 Thank you for all your hard work in sharing.
This stuff stays on really well through a busy day and it smells amazing!
I love how easy this is to make!
I love this so much and you made it so easy to make!
What is the SPF of this recipe?
There is no way to know the SPF of this product because it has not been professionally lab tested. Furthermore, a poorly formulated (aka DIY and untested) sunscreen can be more harmful than not wearing any at all.
When the zinc oxide is not suspended correctly in the base (in this case, the oils and beeswax) in creates patchy coverage similar to swiss cheese. When viewed through a microscope, the holes in the coverage act as a magnifying glass and intensify UV rays in those unprotected areas, causing increased damage.
Achieving this correct suspension is incredibly difficult due to zinc oxide’s strong polarity, aka: it’s natural inclination is to clump together. Even professional cosmetic chemists with proper lab equipment struggle to get it right and pass testing.
There is a reason sunscreen is regulated by the FDA as an OTC drug! Please do not trust this recipe. While many products can be safely made at home, sunscreen is not one of them!
If you are concerned with using chemical filters such as avobenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, etc (which I personally do not use either due to sensitive skin), there are many professionally formulated zinc oxide based options to choose from.
That’s exactly the info I was looking for before deciding whether to try this recipe. Proper UV protection is not something I want to mess with. I went with a store-bought mineral based sunscreen instead, but I’ll definitely be trying Lisa’s regular body butter recipe! Thanks Diana!
Is there a reason why the cocoa butter is optional? Is it better to add it or just adds smell or whatnot?
Do you use fractionated coconut oil or the solid coconut oil when making the sunscreen? Thank you!
I have found that olive oil (maybe other oils too) is a charm in removing beeswax while it is melted/warm. If something has dried/hardened beeswax in it, add a little olive oil and set it on the stove on the lowest setting until the wax has melted; then, pour it out (in trash bag), wipe clean with a napkin, and wash. Works every time! I use stainless steel measuring cups, so putting them on the stove’s burner is no harm. If your container is glass or plastic, you’ll need to heat them differently.
Oh awesome! Thanks so much for that tip. 🙂
What do you use when you clean your stuff when making home made products that has bees wax in it?
I have a hard time getting my stuff clean so I just use the same stuff over and over and wipe them off before every use.
I love the idea of using the same dishes over and over, especially when you make a lot of homemade products. I should really do that! I usually just wipe them out really well with a tea towel first, and then once the beeswax is almost completely off I clean them with really hot water and my foaming hand soap, with castile soap and lemon essential oil.
Would you be able to tell how much this recipe makes? I am wondering how many jars I would need and what size. Thanks so much! I am looking forward to trying it!
It makes about 12 ounces. 🙂