My whipped body butter turns chalky and hard after just an hour of being fluffy?!

[sudsylavender]

Hi there! I'm new to making whipped body butters, and I have done three trials so far.

My third trial has been the most successful. However, after just an hour of being fluffy and applying smoothly (and being piped into air-tight mason jars), it turned chalky and basically solidified!! Now, I have to pinch the whipped body butter (not rly whipped anymore) and it comes out of the jar in crumbles. What can I do?

Here are the method and ingredients:

Ingredients:
10% Oils (grape seed and jojoba)
62.5 % Mango butter
25% Shea Butter
1% Mica (blue color)
1% Arrowroot powder

Method:
Melt butters together, take off heat and whisk oils and arrowroot powder together. Chill in freezer for 15 min until solid-ish/consistency of soft butter. Whip for 5 min, add mica, whip for 25 more min and done! Pipe the fluffy whipped butter into 4 oz mason jars. Nice and fluffy. For an hour.

SOME NOTES PLZ READ:
- I lowered my percentage of oils to 10%, bc 15% from the first two trials was too greasy and wouldn't absorb
- I made my mango butter percentage more than double the shea butter to prevent greasiness as well, since I read mango butter is apparently less greasy

I've been researching for hours and no one has a solution other than to add more oils. Any and all help is appreciated, thanks!

 

[lsg]

I don't melt my butters before whipping. You will need to chunk it up into small pieces so it is easier for the mixer to whip, whip it until fluffy and then add the other ingredients. Turn mixer on low and whip until ingredients are combined, the turn mixer on high and whip for 2 or 3 more min.

https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...to-make-whipped-body-butter-on-soap-queen-tv/

 

[TheGecko]

SOME NOTES PLZ READ:

- I lowered my percentage of oils to 10%, bc 15% from the first two trials was too greasy and wouldn't absorb
- I made my mango butter percentage more than double the shea butter to prevent greasiness as well, since I read mango butter is apparently less greasy

I've been researching for hours and no one has a solution other than to add more oils. Any and all help is appreciated, thanks!

That's probably because the solution IS to add more oils. My whipped body butter is pretty much 1 part Soft Oils to 2 parts Hard Oils. Mango Butter can be really drying and the small amount of Soft Oil could be why it is crumbling.

You can increase the amount of Arrowroot Powder or even try Tapioca Starch.

 

[dixiedragon]

Remember that friction = heat. So when you are whipping it, you are heating it up a bit. Plus it's winter so it needs to be softer than it would in the summer.

Trial and error - make a batch and plop some into a container. In 1 hr, if the butter in the container is too firm (or too soft) plop it back in the mixing bowl and add a bit more. Keep notes of how much you add, so when you reach the sweet spot, you know the recipe.

 

[Arimara]

Mango butter is a harder butter than shea. You'd actually want to bump that up. Also, you might want to consider another soft oil than grapeseed oil, if you can. That oil does not last long and might shorten the life span of your product.

As far as technique goes, heat up the butters separately till softened. It's more of a waste of time to melt them completely. I also can't remember if one has a higher melting point than the other at the moment.

 

[glendam]

I do not have experience making whipped butter, however, yesterday I was watching this video and was tempted to try. She did not melt her shea butter, similar to what @Isg said. At the end she did a comparison on varying the amount of shea butter and showed how different it turned out, perhaps some of the tips would be helpful and you could adapt to your recipe:

 

[sudsylavender]

I don't melt my butters before whipping. You will need to chunk it up into small pieces so it is easier for the mixer to whip, whip it until fluffy and then add the other ingredients. Turn mixer on low and whip until ingredients are combined, the turn mixer on high and whip for 2 or 3 more min.

https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...to-make-whipped-body-butter-on-soap-queen-tv/

Thanks so much! I will definitely try this, although I heard Shea Butter needs to be melted due to its graininess?

 

[sudsylavender]

Mango butter is a harder butter than shea. You'd actually want to bump that up. Also, you might want to consider another soft oil than grapeseed oil, if you can. That oil does not last long and might shorten the life span of your product.

As far as technique goes, heat up the butters separately till softened. It's more of a waste of time to melt them completely. I also can't remember if one has a higher melting point than the other at the moment.

Oh wow, I didn't know that about the grape seed oil, thanks for the tips!

 

[sudsylavender]

That's probably because the solution IS to add more oils. My whipped body butter is pretty much 1 part Soft Oils to 2 parts Hard Oils. Mango Butter can be really drying and the small amount of Soft Oil could be why it is crumbling.

You can increase the amount of Arrowroot Powder or even try Tapioca Starch.

Interesting, I'll definitely give more soft oils a go. Thanks so much!

 

[sudsylavender]

Remember that friction = heat. So when you are whipping it, you are heating it up a bit. Plus it's winter so it needs to be softer than it would in the summer.

Trial and error - make a batch and plop some into a container. In 1 hr, if the butter in the container is too firm (or too soft) plop it back in the mixing bowl and add a bit more. Keep notes of how much you add, so when you reach the sweet spot, you know the recipe.

Just to clarify, by "add a bit more" do you mean more soft oils? Thanks so much for the advice!

 

[Arimara]

Just to clarify, by "add a bit more" do you mean more soft oils? Thanks so much for the advice!

Not Dixie but I'd say so. If you did try the 1 part soft/2parts hard oil ratio, you'd definitely need more soft oil (it's what keeps an anhydrous whip from completely solidifying). Let's say you made a 300 gram batch, you'd want 100 grams of that to be a soft oil or blend of your choice and the rest can be whatever percentage of shea to mango butter mix you want.

 

[sudsylavender]

Not Dixie but I'd say so. If you did try the 1 part soft/2parts hard oil ratio, you'd definitely need more soft oil (it's what keeps an anhydrous whip from completely solidifying). Let's say you made a 300 gram batch, you'd want 100 grams of that to be a soft oil or blend of your choice and the rest can be whatever percentage of shea to mango butter mix you want.

Omg this was so helpful, thanks!! What do you recommend for a mango to shea ratio? An equal amount of both butters since I need to up the shea? Also, some folks are saying to not even melt the butters. What's your favorite way to do it (I'm trying to limit the amount of dishes needed)? Thanks again I really appreciate it

 

[Arimara]

Omg this was so helpful, thanks!! What do you recommend for a mango to shea ratio? An equal amount of both butters since I need to up the shea? Also, some folks are saying to not even melt the butters. What's your favorite way to do it (I'm trying to limit the amount of dishes needed)? Thanks again I really appreciate it

I would heat up the mango butter to soften it a bit (use a microwave if you have one). Shea is softer than Mango butter so you don't need to really heat that up. Other than that, you'd really have to play about with your ratios to find what you like.

 

[sudsylavender]

I would heat up the mango butter to soften it a bit (use a microwave if you have one). Shea is softer than Mango butter so you don't need to really heat that up. Other than that, you'd really have to play about with your ratios to find what you like.

Wonderful, thank you!