The basic proportions are:
Body Butters
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% hard oils
- 25% wax
- 35% soft oils
- 40% hard oils
Body butters are thicker than creams and lotions. This allows them to stay on one spot better for more moisturizing capabilities. Body butters need to be in jars with wide enough mouths to be scooped out. They are typically too thick to be put in lotion bottles or bottles with pumps. They are used for general and spot moisturizing. The more soft oils used, the softer the final product. The more butters used, the firmer the final product. Firmer body butters are harder to spread, but stay in place better and keep their shape better after being whipped.
Why can't I just use plain shea or cocoa butter directly on my skin?
- You can! Plain shea or cocoa butter is great for moisturizing skin! It can be a little hard for some people to spread around – this problem can be solved by adding a soft oil. Another bonus is that you can add other ingredients easily, like essential oils.
Directions for Body Butters
Choose a recipe and decide how much finished product is needed. Because these products do not go through any chemical reactions, they are only being melted and mixed together, the measurements do not need to be exact; it does not matter whether or not they are measured by weight or volume.
- Take the percentage you are wanting to use and turn it into a decimal. A percentage is out of 100, so divide the percentage by 100 (or move the decimal two places to the left) to get the equivalent decimal. (50% = 0.50; 20% = 0.20; 75% = 0.75)
Measure out the oils. Choose the best melting method for your needs (for the most part, they are arranged from fastest method to slowest method but this can vary). If you have a really good blender or mixer, this does not need to be heated - just incorporated very well.
- Melt in the microwave in a microwave-safe jar, cup, bowl, or other container.
- Melt over low heat on a stove.
- Melt in a double boiler.
- Melt in a slow cooker.
- Note: Shea butter likes to get grainy if heated up too high so a slower method is advised.
Once everything is completely melted (or blended/mixed well) and combined, remove from heat and add any remaining ingredients (i.e. vitamin e, essential oils, clay, charcoal, etc.). Mix everything together very well and pour or scoop into final containers or molds. Let cool completely before using. It can be used right away if you used the non-heating method. The cooling process can be sped up by placing it in the refrigerator.
I am going to make a basic body butter with sunflower oil and shea butter.
A benefit of using canning jars is that they typically have measurements along the side of the jar for easy reference. My jar has three reference marks (since I am basing my recipe on volume, I do not need to even know what the marks actually measure!). I am going to do 40% soft oils and 60% hard oils (3 * 0.40 = 1.2; 3 * 0.60 = 1.8). I pour the soft oil first because it will not have spaces between it throwing off the measurement. My pouring is very approximate. I pour until I pass the first marker and stop a little less than a quarter to the second mark. I then put the shea butter in and make sure I push it down below the soft oils (to get a more accurate measurement) until I hit the third mark.
I slowly heated them on low/med-low in a double boiler, constantly stirring, until they were all completely melted together. This took about 15-20 minutes.
I took it off the heat and left it alone to cool. I let it cool over night. To cool it down faster, you can put it in the refrigerator. After it had completely cooled down, I stirred it to make it easier to scoop out and spread.
Since shea butter is one of the softer butters, I'd recommend using a smaller amount of soft oils than what I used in this recipe (unless you want this really spreadable). The recipe shown is very soft and melts quickly when it comes in contact with body heat.
This basic recipe can easily be altered to suit your needs.
They can also be stirred periodically while cooling or whipped to make it easier to scoop out of a jar and more spreadable.
Basic Body Butter Recipe
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Calamine Body Butter (not tested, concept recipe)
- 10-47.5% soft oils
- 40-77.5% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- or 80-95% base recipe
- 5-20% calamine powder or zinc oxide
- calamine powder is 99.5% zinc oxide with optional 0.5% ferric oxide (also known as iron (III) oxide – which gives it the classic pink color)
- also it is suggested to use non-nano zinc oxide – sources have suggested that zinc oxide powder that is nano-sized can enter through the skin into the bloodstream and potentially cause harm
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Calendula Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with calendula flowers
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Calming Lavender Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with lavender flowers
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- lavender essential oil
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Coconut Body Butter
- 20-50% coconut oil
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Coffee Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with coffee bean grounds
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Comfrey Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with comfrey leaves
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Chamomile Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with chamomile flowers
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Chocolate Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% cocoa butter
- optional: cocoa powder (for color)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Charcoal and Clay Body Butter (not tested, concept recipe)
- 14-47% soft oils
- 45-77% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- or 89-94% base recipe
- 1% charcoal powder
- 5-10% clay (bentonite, kanolin, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Cuticle Butter
- 20-50% soft oils (recommended: grapeseed)
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- ???
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Dandelion Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with dandelion flowers
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Eczema Body Butter
- 17.5-48.5% soft oils (recommended: jojoba or almond) infused with chamomile and calendula flowers
- 48-79% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- or 95-97.5% base recipe
- 2.5-5% colloidal oats
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
- because of the nature of the ingredients in this recipe (i.e. the oats), it is recommended to either add a preservative, store in refrigerator, and/or only make enough that you can use within a week – this is to prevent mold and bacteria growth
Face Butter
- 20-50% soft oils (recommended: safflower, sunflower, jojoba – low pore clogging)
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.; recommended: shea)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Foot Butter
- 20-50% soft oils (recommended: grapeseed)
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- ???
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Frankincense Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- frankincense essential oil
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Magnesium Body "Butter" (not tested, concept recipe)
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- magnesium oil (preferred double strength, but normal strength will work)
- may need emulsifier??
- can magnesium chloride flakes dissolve in oil or wax??
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Mint Chocolate Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% cocoa butter
- mint family essential oil (peppermint, spearmint, etc.)
- optional: cocoa powder (for color)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Neem Body Butter
- 5-45% soft oils
- 5-15% neem oil
- soft oils and neem oil together should total 20-50%
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Oats and Honey Body Butter (not tested, concept recipe)
- 17.5-47.5% soft oils
- 47.5-77.5% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- or 95% base recipe
- 2.5% colloidal oats
- 2.5% raw honey (normal works too)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
- because of the nature of the ingredients in this recipe, it is recommended to either add a preservative, store in refrigerator, and/or only make enough that you can use within a week – this is to prevent mold and bacteria growth
Pine Tar Body Butter
- 0-45% soft oils
- 5-20% pine tar
- soft oils and pine tar together should total 20-50%
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Plantain Leaf ("Medicine Leaf") Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils infused with plantain leaf
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Pumpkin Spice Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils (optional: infused with paprika or annatto seed - for color)
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- cinnamon, clove, orange, EO
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Stretch Mark Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- ???
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Sun Screen Body Butter
- 17-40% soft oils
- 48-70% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- or 80-95% base recipe
- 5-20% zinc oxide
- also it is suggested to use non-nano zinc oxide – sources have suggested that zinc oxide powder that is nano-sized can enter through the skin into the bloodstream and potentially cause harm
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Vapor Body Butter
- 20-50% soft oils
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- eucalyptus, peppermint essential oils
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
Witch Hazel Body Butter (not tested, concept recipe)
- 20-50% soft oils infused with witch hazel leaves and bark
- 50-80% hard oils (specifically butters: shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.)
- optional: vitamin E oil and/or essential oils
If you have any other ideas for body butters please let me know.
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
