I’ve been a fan of body butters for probably close to 20 years now. The first time I’d ever heard of them was in a Body Shop store in my local mall and saw these delightful little pots of a super thick, super moisturizing balm and was instantly intrigued. I rubbed some on my arm and, while I thought it was a bit heavy, I was smitten. I knew it wasn’t going to be something I put on my entire body, but I could definitely use it on my ashy bits - you know - knees, feet, elbows.
Jump to 2018 when I discovered that people were actually MAKING these concoctions and I just could not help myself from trying it. Back then, newbie-me somehow ignored the water in the ingredient list and went straight for the butters and oils and melted and mixed, and whipped myself into a fury trying to replicate the same moisturizing feel of the old Body Shop ones. And, truthfully, I came quite close. The problem was that I remembered that I wasn’t a huge fan of that heavy feel they left on my skin. So, I walked away from them for a bit and concentrated on other things to make.
I came back to body butters a year or so later when I saw a “Body Butter” recipe on Bramble Berry’s site. I read the recipe, and I can’t remember if there was an accompanying video to go with it, but if there is, I watched that, as well. There, staring me in the face was the addition of water to the recipe. I watched thinking this can’t be the same thing, but by then I’d gotten better at reading ingredients lists and, sure enough, water was the first ingredient on the body butters I looked up at the Body Shop website. So I looked at Bramble Berry’s recipe and thought about some ways that I could tweak it to make it suit me more.
The end product is this recipe. It is all of the things I want in a body butter - the easy spreadability, quick absorption, the lasting moisturization - all without leaving me feeling slick and greasy. And THEN, I had to go and incorporate some Ceramides into the mix, and now we’re really cooking! It also has the added benefit of not melting in reasonably hot weather. I can’t vouch for tropical conditions, but I’ve never had a batch melt or separate, and it’s been pretty hot where I am.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!
Triple Butter Emulsified Body Butter W/ CERAMIDES
Water Phase:
67.5% / 76.54g Distilled Water
Oil Phase:
8.5% / 9.64g Kokum Butter
4% / 4.54g Deodorized Cocoa Butter
4% / 4.54g Horsetail Butter
4.8% / 5.44g Emulsifying Wax
1.3% / 1.47g Stearic Acid
2.3% / 2.72g Sunflower Oil
1% / 1.13g Marula Oil
1% / 1.13g Isopropyl Myristate
Cool Down Phase:
2% / 2.27g Fragrance Oil (follow IFRA guidelines)
0.5% / 0.57g Liquid Germall Plus
0.10% / 0.11g Vitamin E - Tocopherol
3% / 3.40g Ceramide Complex
Steps:
- Weigh out water into a heat-safe vessel. Set aside.
- In a separate heat-safe vessel, weigh out all of the Oil Phase ingredients.
- Heat both phases in the microwave in short, 20-30 second bursts until the oil phase is all melted and the water is approximately the same temperature as the oils.
- Carefully pour the hot water into the hot oils and blend for approximately 1 minute. Let cool.
- Once the temperature is BELOW 122°F / 50°C, add the Cool Down ingredients and stir well to combine.
- Transfer mixture into a clean, sterilized jar and only cap it once the mixture is completely cooled.
- Enjoy!
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