Raw organic Shea butter is such an amazing natural ingredient. One that you can use safely in and on your body. In a world filled with nasty chemicals everywhere you turn, it’s nice to be able to find more natural ingredients that work.
In this blog post, we will give you our tried and tested whipped shea butter recipe. This recipe has not only great healing properties for your skin, it will also make a great addition to your skincare routine.
What Is Raw Organic Shea Butter?
Raw organic shea Butter is a botanical ingredient which means you can actually eat it as well as use it on your body in your daily skincare.
Shea butter comes from the Shea nut. It’s a type of fat that’s extracted from the nuts of the Shea tree, native to West Africa. When Shea butter is solid it’s quite creamy in colour, however, when it’s a liquid, it looks similar to sweet almond oil.
Shea butter has been used for years in various beauty products due to its intense hydrating properties. It also has a high concentration of vitamins and fatty acids which makes it a great ingredient for use in moisturisers and body butter, for smoothing and hydrating the skin.
There has been a huge rise in Shea butter production over the last few years as more people opt for more natural skincare products. Oil and Shea butter together make a great moisturiser – or you can use it on its own.
How To Make Whipped Shea Butter
It’s actually not even that hard to make your own homemade body butter. It’s also a great way to ensure you’re using raw, natural ingredients on your skin as you know everything that’s going in to it. Five simple ingredients and a little patience is all you really need.
The equipment you’ll need to make this whipped Shea butter lotion…
One glass container, or pouring jug
Hand mixer or electric mixer
A glass jar to store it in
A heatproof bowl
Ingredients For Your
1 cup shea butter (the organic, refined version)
1/4 cup coconut oil
Essential oils of your choice (up to x10 drops)
6 drops of Vitamin E oil
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
Additional Ingredients
If you wanted to, you could also add in any of these natural ingredients to create slightly different versions.
20 grams of unrefined cocoa butter (helps with extra dry skin)
1 teaspoon aloe vera (helps to calm the skin)
Try using different essential oils to see what scent combination you like best
Method
Start by melting the cup of shea butter and coconut oil in a glass bowl over a very low heat. (If you are using the cocoa butter, add this in now as well). Once the shea butter melts, take off the heat and leave to harden, or until it reaches room temperature.
Add in your Vitamin E oil, along with your essential oil of choice and the arrowroot powder and start the whipping process with your hand blender to a creamy and airy texture.
When you get stiff peaks in your mixture, or it can hold its form on your finger (as pictured below), your mix is ready. If when you do this the first time and it doesn’t look right, try whipping it a little longer.
Store your final product in an air-tight, glass container and use your shea body butter as you please.
Notes – Make sure you use a glass container as essential oils can break down plastic over time. This could result in the plastic bleeding into your moisturiser. Also, if you intend on using this on young children, reduce the essential oils by about half.
This homemade lotion should last you around 1 month if you store it in a dark, and cool place out of direct sunlight. However, to give it a longer shelf life, you will need to add preservatives to it, which won’t make it as natural, or as nice to use.
You could also add in some other carrier oils such as a little bit of jojoba oil if you want it to be even more hydrating for your skin.
Other oils that work include…
- Avocado oil
- Grapeseed oil
- Argan oil
- Olive oil
- Jojoba oil
What Is Raw Shea Butter Good For?
Refined Shea butter is very rich in vitamin E and vitamin A, which are great for dry and sensitive skin. However, also contains fatty acids and plant sterols making it nourishing for your body both inside and out. However, shea butter is good for so many other things as well as just the look and feel of your skin – stretch marks, bites & stings, Eczema…the list goes on!
Hydrates Dry Skin
Just as raw coconut oil is great for hydrating your skin, Shea Butter is much the same – you only need a tiny amount for each application, no matter where you intend on applying it. Rub it in your hands first to release the natural oils as this will make it easier to apply and soak into your skin.
However, it can be a little greasy so you might want to do it before bed so you don’t get it over your clothes in the morning. Or, putting it on while you’re still a bit damp from the shower can be a good way to make it less greasy.
Hair Therapy
You can use Shea Butter for skin and hair. After washing, run a small amount through the ends of your hair and leave it there to do its thing. You do have to be careful though as you can easily apply too much which will make your hair look greasy.
If you aren’t keen on doing this then just add it to your hair before you go to bed and wash it out in the morning. Your hair will be so much shinier and smoother looking once you’ve been doing this for a few weeks.
Anti Ageing
I guess this really goes in with using the raw Shea Butter all over your body and face. It’s so hydrating to the skin that using it daily will make such a difference. More hydrated, smoother and perhaps even fewer wrinkles!
Soothes Chapped Lips
If you have chapped, dry lips and find nothing really works for you, try putting raw Shea Butter on them to see if that helps. You can either put a little straight on your lips or if you create your own lip balms, why not add this ingredient to it to give you an amazing, hydrating lip balm that you won’t be able to stop using once you see how good it is.
Lip balms seem to be getting ever more expensive and now that you can so easily make your own, it seems silly to buy a chemical filled product when you can make a natural one that works so much better!
Calms Inflammation
Shea Butter is perfect to use when trying to reduce swelling and inflammation due to its anti-inflammatory properties. If you have an area on your body that’s sore or inflamed, try putting a fine layer of raw Shea Butter over it, you should notice a difference pretty quickly.
Stretch Marks & Scaring
Due to its amazing hydrating properties, shea butter is perfect for helping to reduce stretch marks and scarring. Plus, it’s more natural than products like bio-oil, and much cheaper too!
Whether you have stretch marks and/or scaring or not, using this naturally hydrating moisturiser will help to keep your skin looking smooth and healthy.
Eczema, Acne & Insect Bites
Both Eczema and Acne require careful treatments so as not to make the problems worse or more irritated. When asked, both Eczema and Acne sufferers have said that using pure and natural products is favourable as it’s gentle on the skin and soothes the irritation, unlike the chemical-filled cosmetic products that seem to inflame the area more.
People with these skin conditions would be better off soaking in a warm bath followed by applying the Shea butter while still damp to ensure you lock in the moisture. Whereas Acne sufferers should apply a thin layer to their face after cleaning and leaving it to soak in for a few hours.
If you want to give raw Shea butter a go yourself, make sure you look out for the raw unrefined Shea butter as the quality diminishes the more refined it is.
Also, one other thing to look out for when buying raw Shea butter is that unrefined, it will have the same consistency of raw coconut oil, kind of like a candle that has been cooling for a while, not solid but not soft either.
Natural, unrefined raw organic Shea Butter will be a creamy off-white to a dull yellow colour. If it’s very white, it’s likely to be refined – stay away from this!
I find making your own products so much more enjoyable to use, whether for personal use, or to give to friends and family as a little gift.
Hopefully, you found this simple whipped body butter recipe easy to follow and loved the end result.
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