First Body Butter

[BridgetPS]

I've used up my mango butter. But I've got a lot of cocoa butter left over and tiny bit of Shea. What can I do with the cocoa... It's so hard

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Lin, I recently switched to homemade deodorant and I love it! I'm not sweating less yet, but it is working as well on the smell front! If anything, I like the way the homemade smells better, and it doesn't linger forever and a day the way storebought does. (I was trying to clean out old containers from storebought, and the smell lingered strongly even after several rounds of washing and soaking.)

And I'll have to pay attention to what days I'm noticing the irritation! I noticed I would get it on some days but not others, and haven't been able to figure out why... but I shaved last night and this morning I'm noticing a little irritation. Coincidence? Hmm... :think:

 

[Lin]

Yea, quite possible you're getting irritation after shaving the way I do after epilation. At first I thought it was the baking soda, until one day I tried putting on pure coconut oil when I got out of the shower and had epilated before getting in. I can't remember why I did it... I think because the coconut oil having its own deodorant abilities that it adds into the mix. But I actually got the WORST reaction yet with the painful bumps, so I realized what was going on. Its funny though because I slather on my body butter (and used to use pure coconut oil) right after epilating my legs but never got the problem there.

You can do all sorts of things with cocoa butter. Lotion bars, lip balm. Since you're struggling with the body butter maybe you'd prefer the cocoa butter in a lip balm? Do you have beeswax? I made this recipe as one of my first lip balms substituting more cocoa butter for the shea. you can also remove the peppermint EO for just chocolate. http://www.crunchybetty.com/3-simple-homemade-lip-balms-your-lipsve-never-been-yummier I ended up remelting it and adding a bit of extra beeswax though because I wanted it firmer, I keep the tubes in my pockets though. I also accidentally added an extra half tsp cocoa powder which may have made it a bit softer to start. I only made it the one time, but I did take what I learned to help develop the chocolate mint lip balm I still make by weight. Swiftycraftymonkey blog has lip balm recipes and directions by weight

OH, also I'd recommend skipping the honey in the recipe. I've never had luck trying to use honey. I've used stevia though to sweeten, but I don't think its even needed here.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I've put on pure coconut oil without irritation... Though it doesn't have nearly the same deodorizing power that my deodorant does. Good enough for hanging around the house, but not so much for, say, going to work. I tried epilating my legs once... Painful as heck and it was taking forever without making much of a dent in the amount of hair on my legs.

 

[Lin]

lol. I have a really high pain tolerance to start with. And you get used to the pain and it hurts less. Also, if your legs are really hairy is when it hurts the most. The hair doesnt all grow back at the same speed, so if you keep up with it then it doesn't hurt as much each time you do it. Wait too long though (like I constantly do, haha) and you're back at square one. Or if you use a razor the hair from the razor all seems to grow back at the same rate plus it gives the other hairs time to grow in. If I'm super hairy and my skin is really sensitive that day I'll kinda go ever so lightly across at a decent speed to sort of thin the hair out before I do it my usual way where I start in one area and get that entire area clear before moving on (doing a combination of back and forth and circles.)

Its not for everyone though. I love that my legs stay smoother longer (and underarms, IREALLY hate shaving my underarms. Especially because of how you still end up with hair under the skin giving that shadow) and its not messy like waxing and sugaring. Cheaper too, because I've had my epilator since 2005 so I haven't needed to buy disposable razors etc. And after a long time, the years like for me, the hair does start growing back thinner and finer.

 

[BridgetPS]

What kind of Epilator is best? I had to buy razor blade refills yesterday and it's just ridiculous how much they cost.

 

[shunt2011]

My body butter is 75% Unrefined Shea and 25% oils (Argan, Meadowfoam, Jojoba, Sweet Almond, Fractionated Coconut) and vitamin E & preservative. I add about 1% IPM for the greasiness. I don't melt my shea I just whip it in my Kitchen Aid and add the rest. I love it and it sells really really well for me. It stays nice and light.

 

[kmarvel]

shunt,

I am thinking of making some whipped body butter for personal use and would like to use the oils you are using. How do you figure out how big a batch you are making? What size jars and how many jars do you fill?? What is IPM?? Do you split the 25% oils between the different oils??

Kathie

 

[holistichonnies]

Iv made a lot of body butters and tried so many recipes. Best I have found is simply shea butter, olive oil and essential oil. Keep whipping for about an hour ... Yes a whole hour and mine turn out soft fluffy and NOT greasy at all.

 

[kmarvel]

I would say the greasiness and the hardening is a result of your recipe, which is primarily hard butters and a teeny amount of oil, and with that ratio of butter to oil there's no need for beeswax which would also be hardening the end result.

I would add an additional cup and a half of a light easily absorbing oil like the sweet almond oil. A good basic recipe for body butter is 1/3rd hard oil (mango, shea), 1/3rd coconut oil (which is sort of an inbetween soft and hard oil), and 1/3rd soft oil (sweet almond). Omitting coconut oil I would start with a 1:1 ratio of hard to soft oils and change up from there for personal preference. You can decrease greasiness with the ingredient choices, mango is less greasy than shea. Sweet almond oil, avocado oil, meadowfoam oil are going to be less greasy and faster absorbing than olive oil. And adding in some cornstarch or arrowroot for a more silky feel helps as well.

Beeswax can also result in a greasier feel from forming a more occlusive layer on the skin that lasts for a while, think about beeswax in lip balm to get an idea. Unless you're adding beeswax in for a specific reason I wouldn't use it. Some reasons I use beeswax are: to get that heavier occlusive layer for extra protection of the skin in winter holding in moisture, to add a bit more stability and resistance to melting depending on the recipe for hot summer use.

My body butters are extremely light and fluffly, like whipped cream. They melt immediately at body temperature where if there isn't a lot on my fingers it only takes a couple seconds to become liquid. Then they absorb quickly into the skin without a lasting greasy feel.

Lin, what do you use as a preservative?? Do you use a little Vitamin E also?

 

[shunt2011]

Lin, what do you use as a preservative?? Do you use a little Vitamin E also?

I'm so sorry, I somehow missed your previous post. I just figure out how much butter I want. My 4 oz jars for example hold about 2.2 oz. I generally make a 2-3 lb batch at a time. I like smaller batches. I use optiphen and I do add about .50-1% Vitamin E. Then I just whip it really well and measure a little bit more than I'll need for however many jars I'm making of a scent. If I want 4 jars I'd measure out about 19 oz of butter. Any extra I put in little sample jars that I pass out with larger purchases. I also keep one out for samples. I have a container with little spatulas for one time use. HTH.

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

I do 1/2 firm butter, 1/4 coconut oil, 1/4 liquid oils. For my hands, I use maybe 1/2 to 1/3 of a pea size- that's all it takes to moisturize, and that absorbs quite well. Use more (like you do lotion), and you'll be greasy for sure. But the thing that I think really makes it amazing is tapioca starch. Makes it drier feeling, and SO silky!

 

[jules92207]

^^^That. I use equal parts shea, cocoa butter, coconut and almond oil. Cool, whip, repeat. It soaks in pretty fast.