Body Butter 1.0

I am pretty much just like everyone else.  My skin gets drier in drier climates and in the winter. There is a difference I have seemed to notice though (unless no one is talking about it).  My hands, especially, will get to the point that they crack open and bleed.  This leads to a lot of lotion use and a search for a good one all around.  This seems to be a hopeless search.  I figure that I can make something that at least works pretty well and does not have any dirty stuff in it.  LET THE RESEARCH BEGIN!!!

Did I ever research.  I came across many recipes, some simple, some not.  I settled on one that had ingredients I was familiar with and would be easy to get through the magic of the internet and not too costly.  It was this body butter recipe from domaphile that I settled on.  The ingredients can be altered based your preferences.  The original recipe states that the 3 parts solid to 1 part liquid ratio needs to be maintained however.  Coconut oil can be counted as either.  I will probably play around with it some on my next batch but I wanted to stick to the recipe on the first go.


Basic Body Butter

1 cup shea butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sweet almond oil

*I try to find food grade ingredients when ever possible.  The way I see it is if I would not eat it why am I putting it on my skin.

**You may use some essential oils as well for fragrance if you like

Step 1

Melt the shea butter and coconut oil in a double boiler.  I just put mine in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water. Stir until everything is melted.

Step 2

Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the almond oil.  Let the bowl and mixture cool to what you feel is a reasonable temperature to put in the freezer. (Mine was still pretty warm but cool enough for me to handle with bare hands).  Put the whole thing in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Step 3

When you take the bowl out of the freezer the contents will still be mostly liquid but there will be some that has solidified on the edges of the bowl.  Scrape the sides of the bowl so that the solid parts are in with the liquid. (I just used one of the beaters).  Whip the mixture until it becomes a nice solid butter consistency.

** After the freezer and before the whipping is where I would add the essential oils if you are using them.  Start out with 10 drops and see how you like it.  You can adjust on additional batches if need be.

Step 4

You are done!  Store the body butter in any container you like.  I would not store it in any place that gets very warm so it does not melt.  You do not need to refrigerate it though.

I gave out some samples around work and everyone seemed to like it.  I personally find it a bit too oily/ too low of a melting point.  It will start to melt as soon as it touches skin.  It does do a good job though and is not sticky at all if you do not use too much.  I find that for hands you only need a very small amount (about the size of a pea).  I have also put some into an old cocoa butter tube I had and find it works well if I keep the tube in the freezer.  If I let the tube sit out at room temperature it melts to quickly once it makes skin contact.

For your convenience his is where I purchased the ingredients I used.

shea butter

coconut oil

almond oil

If you try making this please let me know what you think.

Here I Go

Ok, I am finally doing this.  I have told a few of you that I would be so here it is.  Some of you may know that I have thought to one degree or another about what is in my household and body cleaning products for years now.  Most of the effort I have put into changing from the standard products has been to buy less objectionable products.  This all changed about a month and a half ago.  I am not sure why or exactly what triggered it but I just kind of snapped.

I decided that I am done with products that have long lists of items especially when I cannot pronounce most of then or even know what they are.  The way I see it people were cleaning themselves and their homes a hundred years ago and what was so wrong with the way they were doing it?  More importantly I know a lot what is wrong with the way most of us do it today.

I will not go into a big rant here but it pretty much boils down to this.  More and more people are thinking about what they eat and how harsh chemicals effect their bodies.  However, our digestive systems have filters in place to help us out when we make not so great choices.  Well here in the thing, the products that we put on our skin, directly or indirectly, get absorbed in and are quickly moved into our blood stream with no filters in-between.  This can cause a myriad of issues when it involves a lot of the standard commercial ingredients today.  A few of which are hormonal imbalances, Alzheimer's disease and ADHD.  

You are probably reading this because you agree to some extent but maybe you do not know where to start.  Maybe it is that you do not feel you have the time or energy to try out a new method.  Well this is where, hopefully, I can help.  I will be posting about the things I am trying and whether they work or not and whether I like them or not.  Keep in mind just because I may not like the end result does not mean it will not work for you.  If it sounds worth your time and effort give it a go and let me know what you think.