Make your own healthy body butter with this easy body butter recipe. Popular lotions and body butter products contain unhealthy ingredients which we can easily avoid by making our own.
Why a Healthier Body Butter Recipe
While I was pregnant with my youngest child, I began transitioning to a diet of almost no processed foods. I’ve been cooking this way for almost two years now, and on my journey to a healthier, less processed life I’ve become more aware of the things I put on my body in addition to thing things I put in my body.
I began studying the ingredients in the bath and body products my family was using as well as our household products. The results were frightening. The air “fresheners” we’d used for years contained volatile organic compounds. Our shampoo contained parabens. The popular body butters and lotions I’d been using for years were considered “high hazard” by the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep Database.
I’d bought these things as a life-enhancing indulgence, and all along, they were hazardous to my health and the health of my family.
So I began to seek out safer products and decided to begin making many of my own, and found that not only did the household and beauty products I made myself work “as well” as their mass-produced counterparts, they often worked better!
This healthy body butter recipe is highly emollient, but absorbs very quickly into the skin without leaving a greasy layer. Not only are the ingredients safe, they are beneficial to your skin’s health!
Body Butter Recipe Ingredients
Shea Butter is sourced from the seed of the Karite tree. Karite literally means “Tree of Life”. It has anti-inflammatory properties, protects against sunburn, can aid in healing minor cuts and abrasions. It is also incredibly moisturizing. Edible, but not tasty.
Coconut oil is the oil extracted from the meat of matured coconuts. It is
Jojoba oil is a liquid wax (not really an oil) derived from the seed of the jojoba plant. It has antiviral, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It seals in the skin’s moisture. Edible, but non-caloric and non-digestible.
Body Butter Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. Shea Butter
- 1/4 c. Coconut Oil
- 1/4 c. Jojoba Oil
- 5-10 drops Essential Oil (I recommend lavender for a relaxing body butter, peppermint for an invigorating sensation)
Directions
- Place shea butter, coconut oil and jojoba oil in a glass bowl or measuring cup inside a saucepan. The saucepan should have enough water in it that the water touches the bottom of your glass double boiler, but doesn’t spill out.
- Over medium heat, whisk the oils together until they are melted and combined.
- Mixture will go from white to semi-clear when ready.
- Refrigerate melted oils for an hour or until white and solid.
- With a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the oils until they are fluffy like whipped cream. Add essential oils and beat to incorporate.
- Fill your desired container with the whipped body butter and refrigerate another hour.
Recipe Notes
This body butter will keep about 6 months at room temperature. It may soften in warm weather because of the coconut oil. If this happens it can be stored in the refrigerator.
I love using body butter on my skin after dry brushing or taking a detox bath.
