What is a Body Butter?
A Body Butter is a nourishing skin product that can be used in place of lotion to keep your skin moisturized. Body Butters are full of beneficial vitamins and essential amino acids. Body Butters have anti-inflammatory properties that soothe conditions such as eczema. The nourishing properties of body butter also help to approve the appearance of skin
Choose Ingredients for Your Body Butter
Butters
Natural Butters are the primary Ingredients in Body Butters. Butters make up at least 60% of a homemade Body Butter.
Mango Butter, Cocoa Butter, & Shea Butter are all great options for DIY Body Butters. They can be used alone or in combination to create unique blends.
Mango Butter: My Favorite butter for Body Butter
Mango Butter is made from the seed of a Mango and is a white butter that is solid at room temperature. Mango butter melts on contact with the skin. Mango butter can be whipped into a fluffy butter for easier application. It can be used alone or in combination with other kinds of butter and oils.
Cocoa Butter
Cocoa Butter is very hard a room temp and does not melt on contact with skin. In order to use Cocoa Butter in a homemade body butter, you must melt it and blend it with other butters or oils. I use Cocoa Butter in wafer form for DIY body butters because it easir to melt than when in a solid form.
Shea Butter
Other Butters for Body Butter
These butters are a little more exotic and harder to find, but still great options for a homemade body butter.
Kokum Butter
Avocado Butter
Capuacu Butter
Oils
Oils are optional in a body butter recipe. They can be added to the butter and whipped together for additional beneficial nutrients and a more creamy texture
- Jojba Oil
- Castor Oil
- Sweet Almond Oil
- Castor Oil
Essential Oils and Fragrance
Unscented Butters and oils have mild earthy scents. The addition of essential oils can add a boost of aromatherapy. You could choose lavender essential oils for a soothing night time body butter.
Sweet Orange and other Citrus Oils are great options for a morning boost of energy.
Finding the Ingredients for Homemade Body Butter
There are a few options for purchasing the ingredients for homemade body butter. When you are first experimenting with homemade body butters you may want to purchase smaller quantities. I will explain where you can find body butter in small and large quantities.
Most butters used in body butters are available on Amazon. However, they are often sold in 1 lb or more quantities. This is a good option if you plan on making body butter often. However, if this is your first time making body butter, you may want to buy smaller quantities.
Ingredients for body butter can get pricey, especially if you want to use some of the more exotic butters. Etsy is good for experimenting with body butters. You can buy small quantities of body butter from Etsy.
I made a body whipped body butter that could be used for hair or body. It required quite a few butters and would have cost a small fortune just to test out. I purchased quantities as small as 2oz to try out that recipe. Read more about that experience. DIY Whipped Mango Butter (NO Shea Butter & NO coconut oil)
Mountain Rose Herbs is another good source for the ingredients to make body butter at home. They also offer quantities of less than 1lb for first body butter makers.
Carefully mix your Body Butter
Experimenting with body butters is fun. Some body butters, lake shea butter, can be whipped with no added ingredients into a fluffy butter that is easy to use. Other butters are too firm and need to be melted and blended with oils to be used as a body butter. Keep reading to learn more about a technique that works every single time to create a body butter.
Some butters like cocoa butter need to be melted before being added to a body butter. This should be done using the double boiler method. Melting body butters at extremely high temperatures can denature the body butter degrading the nutrients contained in the body butter and resulting in a grainy texture.
It takes a few minutes for the butters to melt. Stay close to the fire to avoid schorching the butter. After the butter is melted add any oils and essential oils.
Adding the oils after the butter is melted allows the oils and butters to combine smoothly. It is important to wait until after the butters are melted to add any essential oils. Essential oils can be damaged by melting the butters, even when using the double boiler method.
I allow the mix of butters and oils to cool before whipping the body butter. For a fluffy texture whip the butter using a hand mixture after it has cooled.
