For
several years, I have been a big fan of The
Body Shop’s line of luxurious body butters that come in variety of scents.
The only thing I don’t like about it is the price. It’s quite expensive for a
small tub of body butter. I use body butter like lotion so a small tub only lasted
less than a month for me. So when I found out how easy it is to create a
customized body butter, I did not hesitate to give it a try. It is also more
cost-efficient since you can buy 500g of shea butter for less than a thousand
pesos and that is enough to make several batches of body butter.
First
of all, there are actually two types of body butter. The first one is the emulsion
body butter which contains water in the ingredient so it is thinner in
consistency and less greasy. The Body
Shop’s body butters are good example of the emulsion type. The other type
is the anhydrous body butter which doesn’t contain water so it is
thicker, creamier and a little bit greasy. For this DIY project, I’ll be doing
the anhydrous version because it is less complicated than the emulsion type.
The
anhydrous body butter is a moisturizing skincare product that consists mainly
of butters, carrier (vegetable) oils, fragrance/essential oils and antioxidants.
Since it doesn’t contain water, it doesn’t need a preservative. However, be
very careful that you don’t contaminate the product by accidentally introducing
water into the body butter during the process of making or using it.
The
star ingredient of this recipe is the shea butter. Shea butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea
tree. It is rich in fatty acids, most especially oleic acid that has skin
softening properties making it an effective emollient.
Shea butter is also high in antioxidants like vitamin A and E which help
prevent signs of skin aging (e.g. wrinkles, fine lines, etc.). Most people find
shea butter greasy but it is the richness of this butter that makes it an ideal
moisturizer for people with dry or aging skin.
Image Credits: Lotioncrafter
It
is important to know that shea butter is available in two variants: unrefined (raw)
and refined. Unrefined raw shea butter has a strong nutty smell (which
some people don’t like) and light yellow in color. Meanwhile, refined shea
butter has very minimal scent and creamy white in color. Selecting which
shea butter to use is a matter of personal preference. Personally, I prefer to
use the refined version because it has less tendency to get grainy in texture (a
typical problem of any butter).
For
the carrier (vegetable) oil, I’ll be using coconut
oil. Since I want the tropical scent of coconut oil to linger in this body
butter, I intentionally did not add any essential oil. Although coconut oil has
a pretty stable shelf life, I also added Vitamin
E – an antioxidant that will slow down the rancidity rate of vegetable oil.
Rancid oil doesn’t smell good and we definitely don’t want smelly body butter!
Ingredients
(Makes 50g of body butter)
40 g shea butter (refined or unrefined)
9.5
g coconut oil
0.5
g vitamin E
Special Equipment
Instructions
- Combine the coconut oil and shea butter in a heat-resistant container. Place the container over a small pot of simmering water (a.k.a. double-boiler/water bath method). Over low heat, stir until the shea butter has completely melted.
- Cover the container either with aluminum foil or kitchen paper towel and place it in the freezer to set. The cover makes sure that no water drips into the mixture which can contaminate the body butter.
- Once the mixture is semi-solid in texture (not too hard, ideally you should still be able to make a dent with a finger), remove from the freezer. Add the vitamin E.
- Using a fork/wire whisk/electric mixer, mix the shea butter mixture until creamy in texture (consistency is like whipped cream).
- Transfer the body butter into a clean container and store in cool, dark place.
The butter is ready for mixing/whipping once the texture is semi-solid (can still make a dent with a finger)
Tips
- After placing your mixture inside the freezer, make sure to check it every now and then because if it gets too hard, then it won’t be possible to whip it.
- If the mixture did get too hard, then simply put back the container to the pot of simmering water to soften it a little.
- If you want an extra fluffy body butter, then you need to use an electric mixer instead of manually whipping the butter using a wire whisk.
Where to buy the materials
- I bought the refined shea butter from Craftology Essentials.
- The extra virgin coconut oil can be bought in any supermarket. I bought mine from Landmark Makati.
- Vitamin E capsule can be bought from any drugstore. I bought mine from Watsons pharmacy.
There
you have it, your very own body butter at a fraction of the cost of
store-bought version. Again, this body butter is a little bit greasy so I only
use it at night in place of body lotion. The shea body butter is really effective
in moisturizing the driest parts of my body (e.g. soles of my feet, elbows,
etc.). Since it doesn’t contain water, the body butter will last for about 6
months. In future DIY projects, I’ll try to formulate a non-greasy body butter
(probably the emulsion type) so watch out for it J
P.S.
To always get the latest blog updates, don’t forget to follow me on Facebook.
Disclosure: This post contains
affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and
purchase the products, I’ll receive some commission.
