This recipe doesn’t use any animal products (unless you count the breastmilk) and is based on (but not exactly the same as) my easy vegan hair conditioner/lotion bar recipe.

If you are breastfeeding and want to try making cosmetics, this is a fun one to try. It’s super thick when it goes on your skin so perfect for hard skin on your feet, chafing or sore areas, and knees and elbows. Otherwise, due to the low melting point you can use it like a Lush massage bar (I use it on my C-section scar and rub the oil in using gentle circular movements; I’ve been doing this since 7 months post CS). If you use this on oily areas, it can cause spots as it’s very rich.

I haven’t tried this out on babies so I don’t know how it would go. My baby has super-sensitive skin and I find he is fine with the melt and pour breastmilk soap and otherwise I apply breastmilk directly from my boob to his skin if he gets a rash. However, everyone’s baby is different and yours may be more sensitive than mine (or have different allergies).

Once the breastmilk has gone in, this is 100% a lotion bar not a conditioner (breastmilk is super-cleansing for hair but not very conditioning, despite the fact it’s great for skin).

This recipe doesn’t use a huge amount of breastmilk, but it’s little and powerful when combined with the rest of the ingredients. This bar is scented. If you prefer unscented (e.g. if you have very sensitive skin), leave out the lavender oil and it will smell like a combination of the other ingredients (when I make this unscented, mine has a strong shea/cocoa butter smell).

This recipe makes 1 bar of lotion in a standard rectangular mold.

You will need:

• A glass jug
• A spoon for mixing
• A soap mould
• 40g shea butter
• 30g olive wax
• 20g cocoa butter
• 20g coconut oil
• 10ml breastmilk
• 10ml avocado oil
• 15 drops lavender oil

Method (no microwave… scroll for microwave method)

1. In a saucepan, boil some water and place your glass jug in it.
2. Add the cocoa butter and olive wax as these take the most heat to melt.
3. When they have melted, add the rest of the ingredients except the lavender oil and breastmilk.
4. Once the whole lot has melted, remove jug from saucepan, add breastmilk, lavender oil and mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into your soap mould and leave it to harden. This takes about 2-3 hours.
6. Pop it out of the mould. Wrap to keep moisture out immediately and it’s ready to use!

Microwave method:

1. Put the cocoa butter and olive wax in the microwave and heat in 30-second bursts until they have melted.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients except the breastmilk and lavender oil. Heat in 20-second bursts until everything has melted.
3. Add the breastmilk and lavender, pour into a mould and leave to harden for 2-3 hours.
4. Pop out of mold. Wrap. Enjoy.

This bar may crack after hardening. This usually happens when it cooled too fast. It’s still usable if this happens. Don’t melt it again after adding breastmilk or essential oils as it will denature the breastmilk/essential oil and speed up expiry.

This bar has unpasteurized breast milk in, so will last about 2-3 weeks before it might go off. You can prevent this by adding preservatives, but I haven’t tried those or researched them (except to know they exist and are mandatory in all liquid cosmetics sold in the EU) so I can’t recommend any.