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Homemade coconut oil body butters are so easy to make. Several years ago, I started working on eliminating chemical from my home and my beauty products were one of the first things I looked at. Once I started paying attention, I was appalled at the nasty ingredients in commercial products. Even in the organic brands, there are often ingredients that I would prefer to avoid. So, I began experimenting at home making everything from deodorant to sunscreen to body wash to hair treatments. You can check out all of my homemade skin care recipes here.
For the longest time, the only butter that I used as a base was shea butter. It was inexpensive and easy to find at my health food store. As I continued to experiment, I branched off into other types of butters. The follow recipes use three of my favorites: cocoa, mango, and kokum.
Cocoa Butter is a common ingredient in many homemade skin care products (and commercial products too). This butter is super aromatic (smells like chocolate) and is pressed from the roasted seeds of the Cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). The processing of the butter yield a gorgeous warm cream color and rich, decadent scent. It is often added to creams, lotions, and soaps, and adds a great scent, plus makes the skin feel great.
Mango Butter comes from the seed kernel of the Mango tree and is regularly used as a high-quality base for body care products and soaps. According to Mountain Rose Herbs, “mango butter has beneficial moisturizing properties for lotions and acts as a mild lubricant for the skin, and is very similar in color and texture as cocoa butter making it an exotic and fun alternative for toiletry products. Great source of essential fatty acids.”
Kokum Butter is a butter that is not as common as cocoa and mango. It is comes from the Garcinia tree and is naturally white and incredibly smooth. Like cocoa and shea butters, kokum butter is beneficial for the skin and is a great additive to homemade skin care products.
Today, I am sharing three different body butter recipes with you. These body butters are rich and moisturizing. Living in Colorado, I have dry skin year round. No matter how good my diet is and how many healthy fats I eat, my skin always needs a little extra love. These creams use skin nourishing ingredients and can be whipped up pretty quick. They also make excellent gifts for loved ones, so double or triple the batch and share some of the love with others.
Recipe Ingredients
I get a lot of questions on the ingredients for this recipe, so here are my notes on that:
I get a lot of questions as to where I purchase my ingredients for my homemade skin care products. Most of the ingredients for my recipes are easily found at your local health food stores. Some things can only be found online. For this recipe, I got my supplies from my various affiliate partners:
Mountain Rose Herbs: The organic butters. Their quality is outstanding and while I may try other brands every once in awhile, I keep coming back to them.
Amazon.com: Red raspberry seed oil, coconut oils, avocado oils, and sometimes essential oils. Red raspberry seed itsis known for it’s skin nourishing properties and makes a great addition to homemade skin care products. It can be a little hard to find, but this is where I purchased mine.
For more information about the essential oils I use for myself and my family, click here.
3 DIY Homemade Coconut Oil Body Butter Recipes
White Chocolate Peppermint Body Butter
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cocoa butter (I get my butters from Mountain Rose Herbs)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (you could use virgin or refined)
- 1/8 cup avocado oil
- 1 tsp. red raspberry seed oil
- 10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil
Instructions
- In a double boiler (or a small saucepan over very low heat), melt your cocoa butter, coconut oil, and avocado oil together (I use a whisk to gently mix the oils together). You don’t want the mixture to get too hot, just warm enough to melt the ingredients together.
- Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Add the red raspberry seed oil and then move the pan to the fridge or freezer. Let cool until the liquid just starts to set up, but is still soft enough to whip. This will take an hour or more in the fridge, but in the freezer, it should be ready to whip in 20-30 minutes. If there’s a little liquid oil, that is OK. You’ll see the oils start to thicken and get a whitish color.
- Remove from fridge or freezer and add your peppermint essential oil.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip the mixture until light and fluffy. This may take a few minutes. If the body butter doesn’t whip, it may not be cool enough, so just stick it back in the fridge or freezer and let it chill a little longer.
- Store in an airtight container. This body butter is shelf-stable, so it can be stored at room temperature. Just make sure your hands are clean before applying, so you don’t transfer any bacteria to the jar.
Lavender Vanilla Body Butter
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup mango butter (I get my butters from Mountain Rose Herbs)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (you could use virgin or refined)
- 1/8 cup avocado oil
- 1 tsp. red raspberry seed oil
- 25-30 drops of vanilla essential oil
- 15-20 drops of lavender essential oil
- 4-8 drops carrot seed essential oil
Note: Carrot seed essential oil has a very strong earthy, woodsy smell. It is very strong, so start with a few drops and then add a drop or two more as needed. It is very easy to overdo carrot seed essential oil. It has long been used in skin care products for its skin nourishing properties.
Instructions
- In a double boiler (or a small saucepan over very low heat), melt your mango butter, coconut oil, and avocado oil together (I use a whisk to gently mix the oils together). You don’t want the mixture to get too hot, just warm enough to melt the ingredients together.
- Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Add the red raspberry seed oil and then move the pan to the fridge or freezer. Let cool until the liquid just starts to set up, but is still soft enough to whip. This will take an hour or more in the fridge, but in the freezer, it should be ready to whip in 20-30 minutes. If there’s a little liquid oil, that is OK. You’ll see the oils start to thicken and get a whitish color.
- Remove from fridge or freezer and add your essential oils.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip the mixture until light and fluffy. This may take a few minutes. If the body butter doesn’t whip, it may not be cool enough, so just stick it back in the fridge or freezer and let it chill a little longer.
- Store in an airtight container. This body butter is shelf-stable, so it can be stored at room temperature. Just make sure your hands are clean before applying, so you don’t transfer any bacteria to the jar.
Sweet Citrus Vanilla Body Butter
- 1/4 cup kokum butter (I get my butters from Mountain Rose Herbs)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (you could use virgin or refined)
- 1/8 cup jojoba oil or avocado oil
- 1 tsp. red raspberry seed oil
- 25-30 drops of vanilla essential oil
- 15 drops of sweet orange essential oil
- 15 drops of tangerine essential oil
- 10 drops lemon essential oil
Instructions
- In a double boiler (or a small saucepan over very low heat), melt your kokum butter, coconut oil, and avocado oil together (I use a whisk to gently mix the oils together). You don’t want the mixture to get too hot, just warm enough to melt the ingredients together.
- Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Add the red raspberry seed oil and then move the pan to the fridge or freezer. Let cool until the liquid just starts to set up, but is still soft enough to whip. This will take an hour or more in the fridge, but in the freezer, it should be ready to whip in 20-30 minutes. If there’s a little liquid oil, that is OK. You’ll see the oils start to thicken and get a whitish color.
- Remove from fridge or freezer and add your essential oils.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip the mixture until light and fluffy. This may take a few minutes. If the body butter doesn’t whip, it may not be cool enough, so just stick it back in the fridge or freezer and let it chill a little longer.
- Store in an airtight container. This body butter is shelf-stable, so it can be stored at room temperature. Just make sure your hands are clean before applying, so you don’t transfer any bacteria to the jar.
Phototoxicity Note: Some people have asked me about citrus oils and phototoxicity. Some citrus essential oils are known to be phototoxic, meaning they can cause burning of the skin when exposed to the sun. According to essential oil expert, Tiffany Rowan, Mandarin, Sweet Orange, Tangelo, and Tangerine are not phototoxic, but caution should be exercised anyway for those with sensitive skin. I personally have not had any issues using this butter and then going outside, but we are all different, so please use caution when exposing your skin to the sun after applying this butter.
Check out my skin care videos!
Since I am a fanatic about keeping my skin and body care non-toxic, I get a lot of questions about what my routine is and what products I use. I created this video to discuss all of that and more. The video below that features a lot of the hair care products that I use, including henna and my favorite clean shampoo.
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