Barter Your Surplus – Moisturising Body Whip

I made some whipped moisturiser to help my little girl with some troubled skin… she loves learning how to wash the dishes but the detergent is not great for her skin. Of course, it’s great for mine as I’m not the one washing the dishes! (just kidding, I totally try to help her)

Moisturising cream with healing essential oils
Moisturising cream with healing essential oils

The recipe

  • 1/2 cup shea butter
  • 1/2 cup cocoa butter
  • 1/2 Cup apricot oil
  • 30 drops of your choice of essential oil

Measure (glass or metal instruments help as you can melt the oils off later), melt in a double burner (as you do for chocolate), chill briefly, whip with hand held or electric beaters.

To easily dispense, put in sandwich bag, seal, push down to one corner and cut that corner off… pipe in.

I had some nice small glass containers to hand and knew that I was making more than I needed… so the desire to barter was born.
Of course, I’d been lurking around the wonderful world of Facebook to see how bartering worked for a while. I took as nice a photo as I could manage, saving myself the trouble of writing the essential oils down so I wouldn’t forget their names… by including them in the photo below.

The fancy black background is our stove 😉

To date, just for two of my spares, I’ve received a nice pink frangipani cutting, a lot of citrus fruit and a killer sense of getting a bargain. Like that special sense that superheroes use when they are needed… like that… except for a bargain!
I’m still waiting on my homemade slice and the pasta sauce… for another two jars… one lady had a sick little baby so delayed somewhat and another lady wanted to catch up soon. So I’m assuming that will go ahead.
In terms of cost, it wasn’t that cheap an exercise… the little containers were $1.10 each, with perhaps 12 drops of essential oils in each. (see this table for costs if you’re setting yourself up to do the same)

However 2/3rds of the oils were a result of a barter which I consider a total bargain (my usual sweet potatoes with a half dozen eggs). And I’ve got heaps left… plus wax as well.
So I think I’ll do this one again… when the creative urge rises 🙂

By the way, for those that are interested in those blasted sweet potatoes (just kidding, I love them a little too much), I managed to sell a few. It’s late in the season as I’ve given away a number of full bags of them, plus armfuls to any local neighbourhood kid who is interested enough to have a dig when I’m doing the same. In time, some of these kids might do all the work for me… wouldn’t that be awesome? I tell them we’re hunting for treasure. What’s your retirement plan? 😉