Rebatching lotion?

[Rosies]

I have my lotion in a zippered bag and want to know if I can add another oil to it and mix it in the bag just as you would add fragrance to a base. If I add another oil will it seperate? If that won't work would it work to put it in another container, add the oil and stick blend? The lotion isn't bad but it still needs a little something.

I'm still new to lotionmaking. Only made two batches which wasn't bad but not quite what I'm looking for yet. Oh, I forgot about the very first batch I made before I found this site and did a lot of reading. That stuff was awful!! I found the recipe on the net and it was mostly oils. Talk about greasy and no wonder! I now know what the percentages should be (thanks to someone on this site) but I'm still trying to find the perfect oil blend for my skin.

I know I can just do this on my own but thought I might save the lotion by someone elses experience.

[SpaceGirl]

Sorry upfront - I'm not sure if this answer is quite what you're looking for, but I'll give it a go....

Can you just add another oil and try to mix it in? If you're doing it cold (room temp) then I seriously doubt it will work. Most emulsions are formed at a higher temp or by high sheer mixing that forces the molecules to coexist when then don't want to otherwise. If you were just adding a really small amount (relative to the amount of existing lotion) then you could try it to get an idea of how the finished product might feel, but given time it may separate right back out.

You can try to heat up the entire mixture and add your oil - you may have to add emulsifer depending on how much your original recipe called for (remember you are now affecting the percentages of all your ingredients by adding another oil). You will need to add some additional preservative as well, as most are compromised by heating above a certain temp - that will depend on the preservative you are using.

Those two courses of action being said, if I were going to rebatch I would go with reheating, but also remember that if you like how your modified recipe turns out you are going to want to make it that way from scratch to test again and make sure you end up with the same result through a changed process. Sometimes the way you get to the end result matters, sometimes it doesn't. I'm of the opinion that two people could follow the same set of instructions, use the same ingredients but still get two different results just because of the way they go about the process -- the personalization aspect. I'm sure others may disagree, tho.

If you are willing to experiment and learn (and realize that you could end up with some failures) - divide up your batch and try it both ways. See for yourself what results you get back... and let us know how it goes. Good luck!

[Rosies]

Thanks Spacegirl. I think you pretty much answered my question. I really didn't think it would work but didn't think of all the reasons you gave but they make sense. I'll just keep trying for that prefect lotion.