Body butter recipe

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Kittish

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Trying to make the best body butter I can with what I've got. So far, I've come up with this:

Kokum butter 16 oz
Shea butter 14 oz
Meadowfoam seed oil 5 oz
Rice bran oil 5 oz

Recipe amounts are by weight, but my jars are volume so I should wind up with 10-12 4 oz jars with this recipe.

I don't have enough meadowfoam to use just that for my soft oil, and don't really want to use avocado. Sunflower oil is my other option for a light oil. I've only got one pound of kokum butter. I also have a few ounces of cocoa butter, as well.

I'm going to print out tiny little spatulas to include with each jar, too, so folks don't have to stick their fingers in to use it.
 
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The only two from your list that I have used in a body butter are cocoa and shea butters, so I'm not much help there. Just wanted to let you know to avoid raw cocoa butter - if any of your recipients are prone to migraines, that could set them off! Fortunately I like the batch I made on my lips. Unfortunately 3 oz or so of lip butter takes a long time to use up...
 
Worry about the spatulas when you've used a recipe for a while and know how good it is.

Why is avocado off the table? It's a constant fellow in my recipe

I've got 9 or 10 people right off the bat that I know will want to try this, even with it being my first attempt at a body butter. That's why I'm making such a big batch right out of the gate. The spatulas are to help reduce the ick factor of multiple people each using a jar of the butter (which will happen in at least a few of the households). Plus it gives me yet another excuse (like I really need one...) to use my nifty new toy.

Avocado feels... kind of heavy, I guess? Just on my skin as straight oil. Doesn't seem to soak in very well, so my skin feels greasy for quite a while. This is just rubbing a few drops on a spot on my arm, mind you, I'm not slathering it on thickly.
 
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Hmm, my body butter is going grainy. How do I fix it and keep it nice and smooth? It also is looking like it's wanting to partially melt at room temp (76-78*F currently), which I'm sure is contributing to the graininess. Pretty sure the grains are the kokum butter separating out.

I have cocoa butter, beeswax, candelilla wax, and sunflower wax as well as tapioca, potato, arrowroot and corn starch if adding any of those would help smooth it out.

I used:

15 oz kokum
15 oz shea
5 oz RBO
5 oz meadowfoam

I did not whip it, just melted it all together, mixed well and poured into containers. (And I'm realizing as I read related threads that melting was probably a mistake. Should have just mixed them all at room temp.)

It feels fabulous on my skin. Not heavy at all, and no residual greasy feeling. I just want it smooth and maybe a little more solid.
 
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You might have to temper it - I know that shea can have quite a grainy feel (hence why I only make whipped body butters) but if you search for "temper shea" on the forum, the threads are there. I can't remember the details of how you do it, but it's in those threads
 
You might have to temper it - I know that shea can have quite a grainy feel (hence why I only make whipped body butters) but if you search for "temper shea" on the forum, the threads are there. I can't remember the details of how you do it, but it's in those threads

Ah ha! Thank you, I think that's probably it. Does raise another question, though. Can I put my already mixed body butter through the tempering process with any measure of success? I guess 'try it and see' will be my default answer to that one. Besides, I think I need to add a bit of cocoa butter (which I'll also need to temper) to help firm it up, don't want it squishy just sitting out. Or maybe a bit of some wax.

-this one is odd... avoid rice bran oil for anything where your final products melt point matters. Long story short, I found that when i used rice bran oil instead of sweet almond oil, it lowered my melt point by at least 10 degrees.

I really like the way RBO feels on my skin, but if it's going to cause problems with the final product I may have to rethink using it. Darn it.

ETA: Fixing this batch may become a moot point. None of my testers so far has cared that it's grainy. Letting each try a small bit from my jar (tiny spatulas are handy to have) and decide if they want it or to wait for the next batch. Every one of them wants it NOW!
 
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