My great aunt Carolyn gave me some of this lotion to try and forwarded the recipe to my mom, who wanted it for "family records, but didn't know where to keep it when she got it, so I offered a place to store it (in my recipe book of course). After that a year or two passed.
After we moved to Florida we found the bottle Aunt Carolyn gave us and started using it, we discovered a few things about this recipe which dates back to at least the mid 1800s, possibly later: one: it's not non comedogenic (that means it does clog pores), and it is therefore not a great face lotion, and two: it feels great on a sunburn if you don't have any aloe.
Yesterday, when I was putting some of this lotion on Carl's sunburn (courtesy of his new work assignment outside in shorts), I was wondering what makes it smell so good, and what I'm going to do when we run out (soon), so I went and found the recipe. Aside from the fact that the instructions sound unusual and there are some ingredients I've never heard of, it sounded pretty easy. I turned the page over and discovered that Aunt Carolyn had added about seven generations of her direct matriarchal line on the back (to show where the recipe came from). I decided to check this morning to see if new family search had all that information (I almost didn't, thinking, "it must be there, I would have added it when I got this page"). I'm so glad I checked. Family Search only had 5 of the 7 generations listed! Now I need to call my aunt and find out if she has dates to go with these names she gave me, so these people can be found and remembered.
The Recipe:
This recipe was recorded by Cora Belle Barney and titled, "Grandmother's Lotion."
Place 1/2 oz of gum traacant into 1/2 pint of water.
When soft, add
2 Tbsp of glycerin oil
1/2 pint of bay rum
1/2 pint witch hazel
1 teas tartaric acid (Cream of tartar)
Few drops of perfume notes from Carolyn (Cora's granddaughter): gumtreaacant= gum tragacanth, available from Midwest herbs (midwestherbs.com, located in Cedar Vale, KS)
