Nourishing Shea Body Butter Recipe
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This nourishing shea body butter uses just 3 main ingredients, and comes with a full set of troubleshooting tips learned from actually working through the recipe over time.
Homemade skin care is easy and non-toxic, since you know exactly what goes into it. This homemade skin nourishing shea butter recipe is non-greasy, cost-efficient, and extremely moisturizing for dry skin. With just 3 main ingredients, this simple skin nourishing shea body butter comes together easily.
During the winter months, skin needs a lot more moisture than in summer, thanks to the dry weather — which is why shea body butter is the go-to choice for the season, nourishing as well as moisturizing for the cold.
Table of Contents
Why Shea Body Butter
Shea body butter brings real benefits for the skin, and it works out economical per use too. Making organic skin care at home is genuinely the most cost-efficient option, with the added confidence of knowing exactly what went into it — the purest ingredients, nothing else. Skin loves shea butter for its nourishing effect, leaving it soft and smooth.
Skin is the largest organ in the body, and it absorbs everything applied to it. Since diet also plays a big role in skin health, care goes into avoiding junk on the inside too — an earlier post covers more reasons behind making homemade skin care in general.
About Shea Butter
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Shea butter is the fat extracted from the nuts of the shea tree, solid at warm temperatures and off-white or ivory in color. Shea trees are native to West Africa, where most shea butter comes from. It’s been used as a cosmetic ingredient for centuries, thanks to a high concentration of vitamins and fatty acids and an easy-to-spread consistency — genuinely great for conditioning the skin.
Benefits of Shea Butter in Skin Care
Ingredients List
- ¾ cup shea butter
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
- Essential oils (optional)
Cooking Instructions
Real Benefits, Backed by Regular Use:
Shea butter is packed with essential nutrients that can enhance a natural complexion and help skin glow from the inside out — and raw shea butter is easy to spread too. Among the most important benefits: anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties; support for cell regeneration; suitability for all skin types, especially sensitive skin; deep moisturizing; help reducing wrinkles, age spots, and scars; hydrating and repairing damaged skin; a great source of fatty acids and vitamins A and E; antioxidant support against signs of aging; and improved skin tone overall.
Using It Straight from the Block:
Shea butter’s real specialty is that it can be used as-is, rubbed directly onto the skin — just cut off a small piece and rub it in, letting it melt easily with body heat.
Whipping It Instead:
For whipped body butter, melt the butter on low heat and mix it with a carrier oil, adding a few drops of essential oil for fragrance. Cooling and whipping it afterward gives it a light, fluffy, cream-like consistency.
Troubleshooting Tips
Can you remelt whipped body butter? Yes — if the consistency doesn’t come out right the first time, remelting, cooling, and whipping again hasn’t affected the recipe in any way. Some genuine trial and error went into these recipes early on before landing on the right consistency.
Why does body butter turn grainy? This happens when whipped body butter experiences a temperature increase and then cools too slowly. Gently remelting it — without melting it too quickly — and cooling it again fixes the grainy texture.
Tips to Make Nourishing Shea Body Butter
Add arrowroot powder for a non-greasy finish: a teaspoon while whipping cuts down on the natural greasiness of homemade body butter — add a bit more if it still feels too oily.
No need to refrigerate: keep the body butter in airtight jars at room temperature instead.
Scale up if needed: the quantities can be increased easily, just keep the same basic ratios.
A good Christmas gift: this body butter makes an ideal gift for natural-loving friends.
Watch citrus essential oils: they’re photosensitive, so avoid the sun after using them on the skin — the body butter is still fine to use at home.
Personal favorites: sandalwood, lavender, and frankincense are the essential oils reached for most often here.
A Few More Notes
It’s best to store any DIY product containing essential oils in a glass container — a shallow, wide-mouth jar makes it easier to get all the lotion out. If a child will be using the body butter, halve the essential oil quantity. Equal parts of mango butter or cocoa butter can also be substituted for the shea butter.
Watch the Video
Recipe Card
Nourishing Shea Body Butter Recipe
- Total Time: 50
- Yield: 50 servings 1x
Description
A non-greasy, cost-efficient, and extremely moisturizing shea body butter recipe — whipped up with just 3 main ingredients for dry winter skin.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup shea butter
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 15 drops essential oils (optional)
- 5 drops vitamin E oil (optional)
- 1 teaspoon rose hydrosol (optional)
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
Instructions
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Melt the shea butter and coconut oil in a double boiler.
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Once the ingredients have melted, remove from the heat.
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Cool it shortly and add the rose hydrosol if using.
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Place the bowl in the freezer until set — you don’t want it solid, just firm.
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Add vitamin E oil and essential oils if using any.
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Slowly add the arrowroot powder while mixing with a hand mixer.
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Continue mixing until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
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Transfer to an airtight glass container.
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If you don’t have a double boiler, make one by placing a bowl over a pot of boiling water.
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If stored properly, whipped body butter can easily be stored for up to one year — an airtight sterilized glass jar gives the best results.
Notes
If you’re in a warm climate or making this in summer, whip it early morning or late evening in a cool room, or speed up the process by placing the whipping bowl in a bowl of ice and water.
- Prep Time: 40
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Natural Skin Care
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 50
- Calories: 5
- Fat: 5
Frequently Asked Questions
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