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Making your own homemade body butter recipe is a fun project and you will also know exactly what’s going into the mix, as many drugstore brands have chemicals and preservatives which can irritate the skin. Since this DIY body butter keeps for quite a while, you might even want to make a big batch of homemade whipped shea butter and give some as gifts! You can also use different essential oils to make different scents, so you can apply whichever happens to suit your mood!
Body butter helps keep skin soft and healthy. But drugstore versions can be expensive. This homemade whipped shea butter with lavender is easy to make and really delivers!
If you’re into making things, don’t miss these DIY orange bath salts or citrus shower steamers, or else maybe try something new like composting for beginners!
Note: I recommend performing a patch test 24 hours before using homemade body butter. Apply a little of the product to your arm and rub it gently. If you experience any discomfort or signs of an allergic reaction, do not use.
Why You’ll Love This
It’s 100% natural: All you need to make homemade body butter is 6 different ingredients, all of which are completely natural. You won’t get all those chemicals and unknowns you find in drugstore body buttes.
Super-easy recipe: Making your own whipped body butter is not hard at all! You simply have to melt the ingredients together and that’s about it!
Customized fragrance: If you buy body butter, you have a choice between several scents. If, on the other hand, you choose to make it, you can mix and match any essential oils you want and come up with totally unique blends limited only by your imagination! Try citrus oils for an energizing body butter or eucalyptus and mint for a breathe-easy blend.
Whipped Body Butter Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below
Unrefined shea butter: Unrefined shea butter hasn’t undergone processing at all. Refined shea butter, on the other hand, has been through chemical treatments like bleaching, deodorization and hydrogenation, so stick with the unrefined kind that’s natural and gentle when making a whipped body butter recipe.
Coconut oil: This ingredient is something you might already have in the kitchen as it’s so good to cook with! Like shea butter, coconut oil melts on the skin but is a solid at (cool) room temperature.
Sweet almond oil: This gentle oil (here) features in many beauty products because of its skin and hair benefits. You can substitute olive oil or any other neutral liquid oil when making homemade whipped body butter.
Cacao butter: Cacao butter, also spelled cocoa butter, is another ingredient featured in beauty products. It forms a protective barrier over the skin to lock in moisture, and can also be helpful if you have dermatitis, eczema or very sensitive skin. Cocoa butter pairs very nicely with shea butter in skincare preparations.
Arrowroot flour: There’s a fine line between beautifully moisturizing and annoyingly greasy, which is why arrowroot powder is a good ingredient to incorporate into your homemade body butter. If you don’t want to leave every door handle you touch slippery and have your clothing stick to you, don’t forget the arrowroot powder!
Essential oils: Lavender essential oil is lovely to use because it has relaxing properties and most people love it. But feel free to use any essential oil or essential oil mixes you prefer, or have fun experimenting with blends!
How to Make Body Butter
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card
Melt the ingredients: Put everything except the essential oil into a small slow cooker (or double boiler on the stove) and melt everything together gently.
Cool the body butter recipe: Take the mixture off the heat and wait for it to come to room temperature.
Add essential oil: Mix in the essential oil while the mixture is soft.
Whip it up: Whisk the body butter with a hand mixer or stand mixer for a few minutes or until it’s firm enough to form stiff peaks.
Stash it: Transfer the body butter into clean glass jars.
Body Butter Variations
The sky’s the limit when adding essential oils. Here are a few different essential oil blends you might want to try out:
- Warm orange: 40 drops orange, 8 drops clove, 8 drops cinnamon
- Ultimate relax: 40 drops lavender, 10 drops frankincense
- Gingerbread dream: 30 drops ginger, 5 drops nutmeg, 5 drops cinnamon, 5 drops clove
- Creamsicle bliss: 30 drops orange, 12 drops vanilla, 5 drops ylang ylang
- Sensual spa (also a good decongestant): 15 drops eucalyptus, 10 drops pine, 10 drops mint, 8 drops rosemary
How to Use Lavender Shea Butter
Rub whipped body butter over your body after a bath or shower, gently massaging it in to the skin. Allow to dry for a few minutes before dressing.
How to Store Lavender Shea Body Butter
Store: Keep the body butter in clean glass jars, preferably somewhere cool and dry. If it’s very hot where you are, keep it refrigerated. It should keep for months (and smells and feels so good you’ll probably use it up within a few months anyway!)
Top Tips
Get creative: The essential blends above are just a few ideas. You can blend whichever essential oils you like to make your own personalized mixes! So, have fun creating!
Melt it slow: If you have a small crockpot, that’s perfect for melting the ingredients together. If not, you can use a pan over a double boiler. Just make sure you’re melting it gently.
Double up: Since this lasts for months on end (or more!) you might as well make a big batch. You can divide it up and add different fragrances to each one, and also make up some body butter for gifts!
Whipped Shea Body Butter with Lavender FAQs
Although most are not bad per se, there are parabens in a lot of them which have been linked to some health issues, along with BHA, an ingredient many people try to avoid. The synthetic fragrances are basically chemicals and then a lot of drugstore body butter is largely water. Anything made with water is susceptible to mold, which means the product will also contain chemical preservatives to balance that out. The skin is the body’s largest organ, so you’ll want to slather only good things on it! Our body butter recipe is all-natural.
If it’s melting, that might be because you’re somewhere hot. If this happens, simply pop it in the refrigerator. If it’s really hot where you live, slathering on chilled body butter will be a refreshing experience anyway! Just ensure you tell anyone else you live with it isn’t food!
Yes, use 1/2 cup shea butter, 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup sweet almond oil, along with your essential oils for a cacao butter free version of this recipe for whipped shea butter.
Also called Butyrospermum Parkii butter, shea butter comes from the nuts of African shea trees and has been used on skin and hair for hundreds of years. It also boasts anti-inflammatory and healing properties and contains fatty acids, as well as vitamins and minerals. It’s gentle on all skin types and also suitable for dry or sensitive skin. It’s solid at room temperature but melts when applied to the skin, which is why it’s perfect for homemade body butter recipes.
Whipped Body Butter Recipe
Homemade Whipped Shea Butter
Equipment
Supplies
- 1 Cup unrefined shea butter
- ¼ Cup coconut oil
- 1 Teaspoon sweet almond oil
- 1 Teaspoon cacao butter
- 1 Tablespoon arrowroot flour
- 40 to 50 Drops essential oil, lavender, or any others you like
- Small crockpot or double boiler
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for the lavender essential oil to a small crockpot. Alternatively, you can melt this on the stovetop, but I recommend using a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler pot, you can improvise by placing a larger pot filled one-third of the way with water on the stove and bringing to a LOW boil.
- Add all of the ingredients except for the lavender essential oil to a smaller pot and then place the smaller pot in the larger pot to gently melt all of the ingredients.
- Once the ingredients are melted, remove from heat and begin the cooling process. You only want the melted mixture to come to room temperature. There is no need for refrigeration. Before the mixture is solid, while it is still somewhat liquid and soft, add the lavender essential oil.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, slowly whisk the body butter and work your way up to a medium mixing speed. Whip well for 3-5 minutes. The mixture should be creamy and should form stiff peaks.
- Once you are happy with the consistency, transfer the body butter to the clean jar(s) of your choice. Glass will be the best option.
Notes
This DIY body butter is so quick and easy to make. You’ll never want to use those chemical-laden drugstore body butters again! Lavender body butter is soothing and moisturizing, although you can swap the lavender for any essential oil or essential oil blend you happen to like, or even make several different body butters to match your every mood! Once you know how to make whipped body butter, you’ll want to try a variety of blends. Lavender body butter is always good, and you can make other scents of body butter too.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
