For years I have been a huge fan of using coconut oil on my skin, and I only recently decided to try shea butter.  I only put natural products on my skin, and have been a label-reader for years.  I avoid anything with chemicals, fragrances, preservatives, and so on.  I figured mixing shea butter with coconut oil would be an amazing combination!

Homemade Body Butter

Ingredients

You can adjust the recipe as needed to make the amount you desire (e.g. double the amounts if desired).

This recipe can be adapted with different oils, which I learned will work apparently as long as you stick with a ratio of 75% solid ingredients and 25% oils.

Directions

Measure out your solid shea butter and coconut oil.

Heat until melted.  Most recipes I found have you melt the ingredients in a double broiler, but I simply microwaved mine in increments in a glass bowl.  The coconut oil melts faster than the shea butter, so I mixed often.  The shea butter melted much slower, and there were even soft swirls of it remaining, but it wasn’t a problem.

Body Butter

Mix in your oil (in this case, almond oil) and essential oils.  I added about 10 drops of lavender essential oil. 

Use oils at your discretion as far as strength – it is up to you how strong you want the scent, and if your skin is sensitive or not.  If you are prone to irritation or prefer an unscented product, you may want to leave out the essential oils all together.

At this point, pop the mix into the freezer for 15 minutes, up to 20 minutes.  By 20 minutes, my mixture was too hard, and I had to microwave again for a tiny bit to soften up a little bit, so you will want to check it periodically.

Using a hand mixer, mix thoroughly.  I did not have to mix for long, as the ingredients whipped up nicely into a smooth, even consistency.  The bowl I used was a little bit too big, and although I had no problem whipping the products together, it would have been easier if I didn’t use such a large bowl – so use something that will be just the right size for mixing as well as scooping out into your body butter container.

Shea Butter Whipped

Place your whipped body butter in a container to store.  I prefer glass containers, but you can use whatever works best for you.

This is a very nourishing body butter, and has a nice consistency.  I love using it on my feet before bed, and putting it on my daughter’s eczema.