Do you prefer cold whipping or melting body butter?

[sudsylavender]

Hi there! I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to try to cold whip my mango and shea body butter or melt then whip it. I'm still experimenting with my recipe, and I have a limited amount of ingredients, so I would love to know which method works better for you.

I am worried about not melting the shea butter because of graininess. What are your thoughts? I am also unsure of when to add in the jojoba and macadamia nut oil if I do the cold whip process.

All advice is appreciated, thanks so much!

 

[SeaSationals]

I was curious myself of cold whipping vs melting, found an article on it and hope it helps.
How to Make Whipped Shea Butter? Melted or Cold? | Better Shea Butter

“If you are like me, once you learn one way of doing something, you stick to it. Whipping shea butter is no different: I learned to first melt it all the way, then add other ingredients (carrier oils, vitamin E, essential oils), place it in the fridge to partially solidify, then whip it to perfection.”

“The problem after a few years of doing it this way has been time and space: if you have a small batch of about 1-2 lbs of product, following this method of melting, cooling, whipping takes a couple of hours and results in a beautiful creation.”

“However, when you start melting 5-10 pounds of shea butter, plus other ingredients, it starts to get overwhelming: your double boiler system takes a long time to slowly melt the butter, removing it from the heat without spilling anything is nerve wracking, and finding room in your fridge is the next challenge (by the way, make sure you cover your container of melted shea when you place it in the fridge or it will pick up some of the smells from other items stored). And that’s when I realized that, besides needing a dedicated room with a stove and fridge for my whipped skin care concoctions, I should probably consider not melting the shea butter and just whipping it like you whip – guess what? – edible butter. Or cream cheese.”

 

[linne1gi]

Hi there! I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to try to cold whip my mango and shea body butter or melt then whip it. I'm still experimenting with my recipe, and I have a limited amount of ingredients, so I would love to know which method works better for you.

I am worried about not melting the shea butter because of graininess. What are your thoughts? I am also unsure of when to add in the jojoba and macadamia nut oil if I do the cold whip process.

All advice is appreciated, thanks so much!

If I were you, I would temper the Shea Butter, to get rid of the graininess. Melt it completely, and then set in the refrigerator to cool down quickly. If left to sit out - different fatty acids solidify at different rates, hence the graininess. If you cool it quickly - no graininess.

 

[AliOop]

Before you try cold-whipping, make sure that your shea isn't already grainy from having been heated and cooled during shipping.

To test what you have, break off some small chunks from different parts of the package. Rub it between your fingers, or on your forearm, and see if you get any little hard pieces - "grains" - that don't want to melt easily.

If it is already grainy, then you will need to temper it (by heating it slowly and cooling it fast), because cold-whipping will rarely break up those grains to give you a smooth final product.

But if it isn't grainy, then cold-whipping does save a LOT of time, and the product turns out just as nice.

 

[arienraya]

I melt because I have other ingredients too. Then put in freezer for a bit. And then whip just before it gets too hard. Then I put it into my containers and chuck it in the fridge. Works pretty well for me.

 

[AliOop]

I typically mix my shea with mango and soft oils - no beeswax, cocoa butter, or other ingredients that need melting.

 

[lsg]

I prefer cold whipping.

 

[TheGecko]

I am worried about not melting the shea butter because of graininess.

If you have a good quality Shea Butter that hasn't been overheated in the process, it shouldn't be 'grainy'.

I use Cocoa Butter in my recipe so I melt them. I do use the residual heat from the Cocoa Butter to melt my Shea and then I stick it in the freezer until it's about like shortening.