We made lotion today and here are some pictures of the process.
Here is the "water phase" containing the distilled water, goat milk, aloe vera, and silk being heated to a minimum of 176 degrees and held for a minimum of 20 minutes. The heating process is used to kill potential bacteria and mold spores.
We use a canning kettle as our makeshift double broiler when heating the water phase.
Here's the "Oil Phase" and it contains the Abyssinian oil, Fractionated Coconut oil, Rice Bran oil and the emulsifying waxes. The oil phase is heated so that the wax melts. In this picture the mixture has not yet been heated and so you can still see the wax.
The oil and wax blend has been heated, the emulsifying wax is melted and is now added to the water/milk phase.
Using an emulsion blender we mix the oil and water phase together.
We chill the mixture in a sink of cold water, blending periodically.
While the water and oil mixture chills in the sink we measure out the silicones.
The water and oils are now cool enough to add the silicones.
Using a a hand drill and mixer attachment we mix the silicones in.
The mixture is thickened and once cooled to room temp it's ready to be fragranced and bottled.