Super Silky Oh So Fluffy Coco Butter Body Butter Recipe

My latest batch of liquid soap came together beautifully. That gave me the courage to retry making the coco butter soap recipe from this soap making book that I messed up so horribly it came out like Flubber. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.) I learned from my mistakes and had e a perfect batch of coco butter soap cooking in the slow cooker. I also had a wee bit of melted coco butter and coconut oil leftover – too little to use it for soap, too much to throw away. I am just about out of moisturizer and coco butter is one of my favorite types of lotion and body butter. Hey, let’s make some!

Except.

I don’t like how my previous homemade body butters made coconut oil eventually lose their fluffy texture, the oils started to separate,  and coconut oil turn grainy in the jar.

So much so that I told myself the next time I make it, it will not include coconut oil as an ingredient and that I’d make a lotion instead of a body butter. (Lotion= moisturizing oils/butters+emulsifier+ distilled water. Body butter= moisturizing oils/butters only.)

Which I remembered after I had measured and combined the melted coconut oil, coco butter, and vitamin E oil in the measuring cup I use for water. D’oh!

Can these homemade moisturizer ingredients be saved? Yes! Keep reading to find out how!

All is not lost! First up, using a high speed stick blender or mixer (like a like this KitchenAid Stand Mixer) over a hand mixer will help loads but to really keep the ingredients fluffy and from separating you need to use an emulsifier because well, that’s what emulsifiers were born to do. 

For this handmade lotion recipe I am using emulsifying wax which gives also this body butter a nice “slip”. To work best, emulsifying wax needs a co-emulsifier. I am using stearic acid which also helps thicken and “fluff up” of the body butter as well as helping  keep them together. Don’t the names of these scary sounding emulsifiers deter you because both are made from plant based ingredients. I have links to examples of both in the ingredient list below. 

This body butter recipes makes approximately 20 ounces of body butter which should last a long time even if you use it every day like I do. Which means for safety sake you need to add a preservative. “But Lisa,” you say, “you have Vitamin E in your recipe. Isn’t Vitamin E a natural preservative?”

I’m glad you asked!

Because the answer is yes, sorta, and no.

Vitamin E is a fantastic moisturizer, soothes itchy skin, and is an anti-oxidant . Many homemade health and beauty remedies include Vitamin E because while Vitamin E is not a true preservative that prevents microbial growth, Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant that will keep the oils from going rancid. However,  Vitamin E will not stop mold or bacteria from growing in the mixture from, for example, being introduced to the moisturizer from dipping your hand in the jar. Your choices is to either make a smaller amount of my recipe and use it quickly or add a natural preservative such as Phenonip. 

How to Make the Best Moisturizing Homemade Coco Butter Body Butter Recipe You’ll Ever Make!

Save this homemade moisturizer tutorial to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

This coco butter body butter is a lovely treat to make for yourself or you can make and give it as a homemade gift idea to your favorite person. You can leave it unscented (although there will be a faint smell of coco butter) or use your favorite scent. Today I am using jasmine essential oil (there are many brands to choose from here) not for any other purpose than I like the smell of jasmine.

 You will need the following ingredients:

 2 ounces of raw coco butter – You can get raw coco butter here

2 ounces of coconut oil – You can find coconut oil here

2 ounces of vitamin E oil – I buy my vitamin E oil here

1.2 ounces of emulsifying wax – You can get emulsifying wax here

1 ounce of stearic acid – You can get vegetable based stearic acid here

2 oz. Phenonip as a natural preservative – you  can learn more about You can learn more about Phenonip here 

Approximately .1 ounce of your favorite essential or fragrance oil

Kitchen scale – this is the exact food scale I use (it also works as a postage scale in a pinch.)

Stick blender – If you are going to do any sort of soap or beauty recipes learn from my mistake and do not cheap out on a hand blender! I did and ruined it on my second ever batch of soap. I replaced it with this exact Hamilton Beech metal 2 speed hand blender and am much happier with it. It is metal and doesn’t melt in warm or hot liquid, the two speeds are a nice thing to have, and it was under 30 bucks. Sold.

Double boiler or microwave oven

Random bowls, empty jars for melting the oils 

Spatula

   

Step by Step How to Make it

 1. Measure your ingredients in separate containers using the kitchen scale.

Tip: To make sure you are not including the weight of the container to the weight of the contents inside it you need to tell your scale the tare weight of the container. Weigh the empty container. If you are using a digital scale like this exact digital scale I use, press and hold the left button until you see 4 dashes appear on the screen and the word Tare in small print on the right side of the screen. This means that the scale as measured your container and will ignore its weight when you fill the container to take the next measurement.

2. Keeping the ingredients in their separate containers, melt the coco butter and coconut oil in either the microwave oven or in a double boiler. I find it best to melt my ingredients in one minute bursts in the microwave and give them a stir to melt them further because some of these ingredients melt quickly (like the coconut oil,) and some melt very slowly (the coco butter.)

Tip: You’ll probably want to use potholders when handling the hot containers unless you like to burning your fingers off!

3. Pour the vitamin E oil, melted coco butter, and coconut oil into into a tall container (I use a glass IKEA measuring cup like this one) and give them a quick mix with the spatula.

 

See how the oils start to thicken immediately after pouring the emulsifiers into the oils? This is why we're mixing our oils first!

4. Melt the stearic acid and emulsifying wax in separate containers and add them to the oil mixture. Mix everything together with the stick hand blender until it is fully emulsified.

 

It's an emulsion!

5. If desired, add .1 ounce of your favorite essential oil (essential oils are made from all natural ingredients. You have buy your favorite essential oil brand here.) or fragrance oil (fragrance oils may be made from a combination of natural and synthetic ingredients, or all natural or all synthetic ingredients. You can buy you can buy fragrance oils for lotion making here) to the emulsified mixture and thoroughly mix it in using the stick blender.

Caution: Depending upon how heavily scented you like your lotions, you may want to use a little less or not very much more than .1 ounces of fragrance. Generally anything over an ounce of fragrance is way too much!

6. Add the Phenonip to the body butter and thoroughly mix it into the body butter with the stick blender. 

7. Pour the warm body butter lotion into a container(s,) apply a lid to the container(s )and allow it to cool overnight. As the lotion cools, it will thicken.

Moisturize me!

8.  Once cool, moisturize with wild abandon!

Rather buy than DIY? Check out the following coco butter moisturizing options - and more! - below!

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