Body Butter Recipe

[Rubyred16]

Hi all, im new here after a little while of trying to settle on a recipe for my body butter and wondering if anyone can please help.

I want to use a mixture of shea butter, cocoa butter, water, magnesium flakes, essential oils, vitamin e, beeswax and jojoba oil. Occasionally have tried coconut oil too.

Can anyone tell me if i need a preservative/what is the best preservative as i have obviously used water here?

Thank you

 

[bookworm42]

You will need a preservative. I use Optiphen Plus in my recipes.
You will also need an emulsifier if you want to use water in your recipe. Otherwise everything will separate out.

Edit: if your looking for recipes I highly recommend Humblebee and me or Swift Crafty Monkey (subscription). Both are great resources for not only recipes but also to learn what we put in and why.

 

[AliOop]

Hi there! You absolutely do need a preservative, so good job for recognizing that. You can use Liquid Germall Plus at .5%, or Optiphen Plus at 1%.

You didn't ask about this, so I hope you don't mind some feedback about the recipe itself. I am guessing your intent is that the beeswax will serve as an emulsifier to keep the water and oils from separating after you mix them. Unfortunately, beeswax alone really doesn't emulsify anything unless it is combined with borax.

While some mommy blogs claim success with just beeswax, I haven't personally been able to replicate their results unless I keep the product refrigerated and use it up very quickly. Have you considered using e-wax instead of beeswax?

As a final point, the generally accepted usage for the term "body butter" is an anhydrous product, i.e., one that doesn't contain any water, and therefore, no preservative. Once you add water, an emulsifier, and a preservative, you are really talking about a thick lotion or cream. You could call it "emulsified body butter," which does at least clarify that the product contains water, and thus, a preservative.

Please know that I'm honestly not trying to be the word police here. It's mostly that some folks have very strong feelings about not using any preservatives on their skin, so it's one reason for keeping the terms straight. The other reasons include general clarity about what kind of product is being discussed, or what search terms to use when seeking information on the Internet. HTH!

 

[nadsnads]

"body butter" can mean a lot of different things to different people, but there are generally 2 types - anhydrous and emulsified. Anhydrous means it doesn't have water. Emulsified means you mix oils and water. A good rule of thumb is to add preservative to anything that has water. I recommend you start with only oils and butters and then move to emulsified once you've had more practice.

 

[Rubyred16]

Hi there! You absolutely do need a preservative, so good job for recognizing that. You can use Liquid Germall Plus at .5%, or Optiphen Plus at 1%.

You didn't ask about this, so I hope you don't mind some feedback about the recipe itself. I am guessing your intent is that the beeswax will serve as an emulsifier to keep the water and oils from separating after you mix them. Unfortunately, beeswax alone really doesn't emulsify anything unless it is combined with borax.

While some mommy blogs claim success with just beeswax, I haven't personally been able to replicate their results unless I keep the product refrigerated and use it up very quickly. Have you considered using e-wax instead of beeswax?

As a final point, the generally accepted usage for the term "body butter" is an anhydrous product, i.e., one that doesn't contain any water, and therefore, no preservative. Once you add water, an emulsifier, and a preservative, you are really talking about a thick lotion or cream. You could call it "emulsified body butter," which does at least clarify that the product contains water, and thus, a preservative.

Please know that I'm honestly not trying to be the word police here. It's mostly that some folks have very strong feelings about not using any preservatives on their skin, so it's one reason for keeping the terms straight. The other reasons include general clarity about what kind of product is being discussed, or what search terms to use when seeking information on the Internet. HTH!

Thank you so much for your information! Honestly, the more the better so please don’t worry about being word police! I had researched Liquid Germall Plus about 5 minutes before reading your reply so I am certainly taking this as a woowoo sign and going ahead with that preservative.

Interesting about the beeswax. I haven’t consider e-wax but will look further into this today. I really appreciate your advice. Thank you!

 

[Rubyred16]

"body butter" can mean a lot of different things to different people, but there are generally 2 types - anhydrous and emulsified. Anhydrous means it doesn't have water. Emulsified means you mix oils and water. A good rule of thumb is to add preservative to anything that has water. I recommend you start with only oils and butters and then move to emulsified once you've had more practice.

Thank you! I’ve made a batch at home without all ingredients that I mentioned above and obviously in hotter weather there was some separation naturally between the oil and water. It’s going to be a few months of experimenting in the kitchen!

 

[Rubyred16]

You will need a preservative. I use Optiphen Plus in my recipes.
You will also need an emulsifier if you want to use water in your recipe. Otherwise everything will separate out.

Edit: if your looking for recipes I highly recommend Humblebee and me or Swift Crafty Monkey (subscription). Both are great resources for not only recipes but also to learn what we put in and why.

Thank you very much! Will take a look into this.

 

[Rubyred16]

I have looked around and obviously there are so many options. Has anyone had luck with GMCY and Dermasoft 1388 eco? Or is liquid germall plus the most agreed upon for efficacy?

 

[MomInWA]

I use Vitamin E oil in my anhydrous body butters. It's technically not a preservative, so won't work with water-containing products. But it does prevent oils and butters from going rancid.

 

[AliOop]

I have looked around and obviously there are so many options. Has anyone had luck with GMCY and Dermasoft 1388 eco? Or is liquid germall plus the most agreed upon for efficacy?

I haven't tried (or heard of) either of those. I mostly stick with LGP and OP because they work in a wide variety of products, are broad spectrum, have a decent effective pH range, and are a little less expensive than some others.

From what I just read, Dermasoft 1388 eco has an extremely narrow pH range of 5.0 to 5.5 to remain effective. As a hobby maker, having to be so exact would stress me out. It also doesn't protect against molds or yeasts, so it is not broad spectrum without adding the GMCY. The GMCY can't be added to anything higher than 7 pH. One thing I read said that it can be a co-emulsifier, while another said that it can destabilize emulsions if used at more than .3%.

It's those kind of tight guidelines that made me give up trying to use the more natural preservatives. That, and I got mold in one of my creams when I tried Leucidal.

Bottom line, you certainly can try this combo IF you have an accurate pH tester (not paper strips) that you are very comfortable using, and you don't mind using up (i.e., potentially wasting) some ingredients for testing.

Sorry, I'm really not trying to be a downer. Emulsified products are a blast to make, but successfully navigating things like preservation, emulsion, and ingredient compatibility is definitely more complex than soapmaking. The good news is that there are some trusted sources that can help! Have you checked out this site to read about preservatives and find one that fits your needs?