It’s time for a small confession. I am horrible at following and making recipes! Many times I post something and link it to another blog and it’s something that I already know how to make. I do this because I have never taken the time to figure out the amounts I use to make various things. I love to experiment and sometimes it leaves me with a lot of disasters but it often leaves me with some amazing masterpieces…….that I have no clue how to replicate! One of my goals has been to be more conscious of how I make things so I can share the love with you!
I’ve been making body butters for years and I love it! My basic recipe goes something like this.
Opens Cabinet to see what’s inside: Huh, there’s some shea butter, coconut oil, mango butter, beeswax and essential oils.
Tosses various amounts of everything but essential oils (because when you heat essential oils, their scent/effectiveness dissipates so you always want to add it last and once everything has cooled) into a double boiler and melts.
Now, I am aware that coconut oil goes from solid to liquid at 76 degrees and that beeswax makes body butter a bit firmer, so I often use less of these two ingredients than the butters but there are no measurements. You know what’s cool? It’s really hard to screw up body butter! If you add too much coconut oil, you may have to store it in the fridge but then you have the benefit of it melting into your skin in such a luxurious way. Most times I don’t even add beeswax. (I also don’t add cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Some people do because it takes away the greasy feeling that some body butters have. I find that if you wait until your skin absorbs it; it goes away on its own.)
I stir the melted butters and pour them into a bowl to cool. Once the bowl is cool enough I place it in the fridge (or freezer if I’m impatient) until it’s starts to solidify but is still soft. Sometimes I miss that point and it’s hardened and then I take it out to soften a bit and either say, “Meh, I’ll just use it as is” or, if my attention span is particularly lengthy I’ll take it out and actually make body butter out of it by whipping it with a hand mixer. It’s fun and like magic to watch it turn from one thing into something you’re thinking about dipping your finger into and tasting. Then I add a few drops of essential oils, blend some more, scoop it into containers and voila, I’ve got body butter!
You can store your butter in the fridge if it’s coconut oil heavy. (The body butter pictured is about two years old and stored in my bathroom cabinet. Iwasn’tfan of the scent I created while playing mad scientist.……)
That being said, you probably want a real recipe, right? Lucky for you, while going through some old papers, I found a recipe I’d created and wrote down. (It was from when I first started making body butters and felt a need to measure.) I also found an ingredients list with benefits of each ingredient and some uses. I’ll post that below…….because it will help with the recipe which is still slightly…… Schanna like.
1 cup of butter (shea, cocoa, mango, can be mixture)
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup carrier oil (olive, jojoba, sweet almond, avocado, grapeseed, etc….)
15-30 drops essential oils
Combine butters and carrier oil in double boiler and melt while stirring at a medium heat. Remove from heat to cool. Pour in glass bowl and move to fridge until softly solid. Mix with mixer for 5-10 minutes until whipped and fluffy while adding essential oils. Scoop into jars and return to fridge to set for a few minutes.
By the way, after looking at the ingredients list, I don’t know that it will be helpful for this particular recipe but it might help you…….in life? I’m posting it anyway!
Body Butter Ingredients and Benefits
1.Cocoa Butter- very moisturizing,, is an antioxidant, is rich in vitamin E, balances skin, promotes collagen production, helps with wrinkles, age spots, has properties that prevent cancer, is easily absorbed into the skin. It is very smooth and soothing.
2.Mango Butter- reduces degeneration of skin and restores elasticity, like cocoa butter it is a natural emollient and antioxidant. Mango butter promotes healing, and is a treatment for signs of aging. It relieves itching, dryness, peeling, sunburn, small wounds and cracks, frost bite, muscle fatigue, skin allergies, eczema.
3.Shea Butter- evens skin tone, absorbs quickly, moisturizes, revitalizes skin, is rich in vitamins A, E, & F, restores elasticity, helps with skin irritations, has healing properties, protects from UV rays, helps prevent toxins in the air from penetrating skin, firms aging skin, helps with eczema, joint pain, muscle aches, drains toxins from skin, fortifies cuticles and nails.
4.Jojoba oil- works like sebum oil (the oil our skin naturally produces), balances our sebum oil, is anti- bacterial, helps with acne, prevents moisture loss, works well on wrinkles and eczema, is anti-inflammatory and restorative. (Jojoba oil is not an actual oil but a liquid wax)
5.Sweet Orange Oil- is used in aromatherapy for its calming properties, detoxifies and boosts the lymphatic system, helps with collagen formation on skin, has anti- inflammatory, sedative, and antiseptic properties, helps with dull skin.
6.Tea Tree Oil- has anti-fungal properties and is used in the treatment of dry skin, acne, ring-worm, cuts, scrapes, blisters, burns, rashes, oily skin, cold sores, insect bites, warts, yeast infections, lice, cysts, and athletes foot. It encourages healing, and prevents infection. It repairs skin, penetrates well,
7.Peppermint Oil- applied to forehead reduces nausea, headache, and relief from stress, depression, anxiety, pain relief. The Menthol in peppermint oil is cooling and nourishes and improves dull and/or oily skin. Prevents clogged pores.
8.Aloe- improves skin’s ability to hydrate itself, great for burns and wounds, allows skin to heal itself. Stimulates collagen and elastin and helps with age spots, wrinkles and creases. Prevents suppression of skins immune system, protects against UV rays even if applied within 24 hours after being exposed. Aides in the removal of dead skin cells, penetrates well effectively carrying healthy additives into the skin. Helps with joint and muscle pain, arthritis, is an anti- inflammatory.
9.Vegetable Glycerin – Great for moisture retention, draws moisture from the air into the skin, is a natural preservative and has anti bacterial properties,
10.Coconut Oil –great moisturizer, delays wrinkles and sagging of skin, helps to treat psoriasis, eczema, ring-worm, thrush, herpes. It has anti-fungal, anti-viral, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties. When applied to wounds it forms a chemical layer that protects from dust, air, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. It is helpful in speeding up the healing process of bruises. It is also a stress reliever when massaged into skin.
With the exception of the Tea Tree oil, this body butter is edible! None of the ingredients clog pores and this butter can be used on the face, body and hair. Your butter will melt when rubbed between palms and if left in heat will return to its original state once cooled. For hot oil hair treatment, wash and towel dry hair. Then put a small amount of butter in a microwave safe dish. Put in the microwave for about 30 seconds and apply hot oil to hair. Leave in for 15-20 minutes (or just leave in) and rinse out with water or after applying conditioner.
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See? ^^^^^Helpful, yet not very helpful at all. It’s how I roll.
