Monday, January 30, 2012

Homemade Organic Face/Body/Hand/Feet Butter

I started making homemade natural body butter for my kids when I read about all those scary things they put into commercially available kids' skin creams in the news. My kids and I all have very dry skin so it's essential that we get a rich body butter every day all year round.

I made my first batch last summer using equal parts of Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and Extra Virgin Olive oil. Coconut oil is solid in room temperature but melts when in contact with the skin. I melt them in a double boiler, stir the mixture and then let it cool in a clean jar. I used it on my kids and myself and it was very effective with a faint hint of coconut. However the texture wasn't as consistent as I would like and I had been thinking about what to change in the 2nd batch of body butter.

I just made my 2nd batch this week. I decided to add some beeswax to the mixture to make it thicker. Again I used the double boiler to melt everything together, stired the mixture and then let it cool in a clean jar. Then I mashed up the cooled block and produced a thick body butter. It's much easier to apply this batch of mixture. I apply it on myself and my baby when we wake up in the morning and before we go to bed at night. The cream stays on all night long and I could feel that my skin is softer in the morning.

Recipe:
1. 1/3 Cup Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
2. 2/3 Cup Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3. 1 Tablespoon Natural Beeswax

That's it! I like simple recipes like this. No unpronounceable chemicals, no unnatural preservatives. The only caution is that the cream is intensely rich. It works for me because I have very dry skin. If I were to give this to my friends as a gift I would probably label it 'Intensively Rich Hands and Feet Butter'.

For my next batch I think I will add some of my favourite essential oils (my batch only; not for my kids).

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