It’s a great time to think about making body butters to keep your skin feeling soft and moisturized as the weather gets colder.
Today I’m going to share one of our classic recipes that is great for all skin types and packed with nutrients and antioxidants. It is sure to delight you, your friends, family, and customers of your small business. Making your own skincare is easy and fun. Even if you are just starting out this is a great recipe to try out.
Whipped Lavender Shea body butter contains whole, unprocessed ingredients that are some of our favorite skincare staples. They’re affordable and easy to keep on hand, which means whipping up a fresh batch of body butter every few weeks doesn’t take much time and you get luxury products for much less than you would spend at a store for pre-made products.
First a bit about the main ingredient in this recipe, Raw Shea Butter:
Shea Butter is wonderfully soft, smooth, and easy to cut with minimal effort. Cosmetic Shea Butter is generally available in different refinement levels. Ours is always unrefined to retain all the beautiful nutrients in the butter. It has a soft, nutty/smoky smell naturally and a color that can range from off-white to buttery yellow. Fresh batches are always coming in, so any slight variance in the butter is natural due to the growing season and locale of the shea nut trees.
What’s the benefit of using shea butter on your skin? It contains vitamins A, E, F, and fatty acids which moisturize deeply, promote cell turnover, boost collagen production, and shield against oxidative pollution. Protecting skin with these nutrients helps in the healing process of eczema, psoriasis, and a stressed out skin barrier. This helps blemishes, discoloration and wrinkles fade naturally and increases radiance. The best part, is that this versatile butter is suitable for all skin types. Remember, all skin needs moisture! Even if you’re dealing with oily or acne-prone skin, shea butter provides a boost your skin needs to help with healing and maintaining balanced moisture.
Next is Coconut Oil, a decadent fruit-based oil, coconut oil is beloved around the world for its many therapeutic properties. It easily penetrates skin and hair and is antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal. It creates a long-lasting barrier that locks in moisture. We include it in our Homemade Body Butter DIY Kit and our Whipped Cocoa Body Butter DIY Kit because it creates such a beautiful texture combined with our butters. Plus, shea butter and coconut oil even have some naturally occurring SPF.
I used a couple carrier oils in this recipe, the first being Organic Apricot Oil, it is a delicate carrier oil pressed from the seeds of apricot fruits. It has a nutty, natural light smell and seeps into the skin quickly, leaving it feeling silky. You often hear it said that apricot kernel oil is great for sensitive baby or mature skin – that’s because it’s very gentle, non-irritating and promotes healing. It’s a light oil and one of my favorite carrier oils as it contains tons of vitamins that promote circulation.
The other oil I chose is Almond Oil, a very soothing, universal nut oil with moisturizing properties. Almond oil has a very faint nutty scent and feels moisturizing and smooth when you apply it to the skin. Almond oil is useful for nearly any cosmetic purpose due to its light texture and fast-absorbing qualities. It also contains plenty of minerals from the almond nut – which is a nutritional powerhouse both inside and out.
In this recipe I chose Lavender Essential Oil, just like the oils and butters I use in this, Lavender essential oil contains essential skin nutrients that help your skin look its best. It also contains antioxidants that help guard your body against pollutants and irritants. It’s a soothing and relaxing fresh floral that is calming to your nervous system, as well as possessing antimicrobial and wound-healing properties. Lavender also pairs with the natural nutty/smoky smell of shea butter nicely.
While this is one of my signature recipes, it’s always possible to substitute with what you already have on hand. With a shea butter base, almost any carrier oil will provide great results. (For example, you can try olive, jojoba, or avocado for different skin-loving benefits.) The essential oils can also be changed up to what you like. Lavender essential oil is a clean, classic scent choice, however I also love using essential oils like rosemary that combine well with the nutty aroma of shea butter.
Now that you know the benefits of each ingredient in the recipe, you’ll love having them on hand to create your own personalized treat whenever you want. Now for the recipe on how to make a whipped shea body butter:
Whipped Shea Butter with Lavender Recipe
Ingredients:
- 8 oz Unrefined Shea Butter
- 2 oz Apricot Oil
- 2 oz Almond oil
- 3 oz Coconut oil
- 6 g Lavender essential oil (I prefer using grams instead of drops because you get the same result each time)
- Optional: Mica
- Cut up shea butter into small pieces and place into your glass measuring cup or similar container
- Melt this in a double boiler on low heat until mostly liquid
- Add your coconut, apricot and almond oil to the shea butter and mix until combined
- Remove from the heat and let it sit for a few minutes
- Cover the container and place in the fridge for a couple of hours, until slightly solidified but still some liquid
- Remove from the fridge and mix in essential oil and mica to add shimmer if you would like.
- Using an electric mixer whip the shea butter mixture for about 10 minutes until it is to the desired consistency
- Scoop into your jars and it is now ready to use.
The shelf life of these butters is 6-9 months… but it’s difficult to keep them around for that long! Since no water is added to the recipe, there’s no need for preservatives. Body butter is very dense and rich – as you’ve seen in the process, it’s 100% pure butters and oils. This is totally different than store-bought lotions and creams, which contain water and fillers. Just a little of your new butter goes a long way. You’ll see and feel the difference in your skin very soon.
The recipe tutorial video for this whipped shea butter recipe is included here as well:
Thanks for trying this out with me. I hope you enjoy discovering a new world of clean, wholesome beauty. As always please comment below with any feedback or questions you might have.