Pockets of oil in well made Body butter

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JJulia

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2021
Messages
12
Reaction score
9
Location
Coimbatore
Hi,
In my body butter, I find small pockets of oil here and there. That gives a greasy feeling to the butter. I have done all the required procedures for body butter.
pls suggest
 

Attachments

  • 1647921717773.png
    1647921717773.png
    856.2 KB · Views: 27
It would really help us to help you if you list all ingredients and additives with amounts, as well as your process. Otherwise, we are taking shots in the dark.

For instance, if you added any water or water-based product, then it could be that the lotion has started growing bad things, which often causes bubbly pockets. If not, then I agree with Gecko that your mixture isn't stable for some other reason. Was it exposed to any heat?
 
Thanks for the quick reply and for coming forward to help me
Its a 100% anhydrous Body Butter
Shea Butter - 50%
Mango Butter - 31%
Coco Butter -5%
Coconut Oil- 5%
Rice Bran Oil - 5%
Jojoba Oil - 2%
Vitamin E - 1%
EO - 1%(Did not add in the final product)

Melted the butter and oil together. Had placed in the fridge. Whisked it. Got the desired consistency. Used it for a week and saw these pockets. Also felt my skin sweat as so as I apply them.
Let me know if you need any other info.
Thanks
 
Melted the butter and oil together. Had placed in the fridge. Whisked it.

I'm going to take a guess here based on my last Master Batch. You didn't stir your melted oils/butter together really well and/or that not all the butters fully melted. Then you placed it in the fridge right away to harden back up so you could whip it and since the oils/butters weren't fully incorporated or fully melted, you had some separation. And now your whipped butter has overheated and the separated bits are showing up.

Usually when I Master Batch my Hard Oils/Butter, I start with the one that takes the longest to melt. In my case it's Cocoa Butter, followed by Palm Oil, then Coconut Oil, then my Shea Butter. I stir the Cocoa Butter before adding the Palm Oil, then stir that before adding the Coconut Oil. I then turn off the stove and add the Shea Butter which has been cut up into small chunks and then stir it every couple of minutes. I then give it a whiz with my Stick Blender and pour into the bucket with my Soft Oils and give it another good whiz with a commercial paint stirrer on a drill. I was in a hurry with my last Master Batch...I just dumped all my Hard Oils/Butter into the pot, dumped it into the bucket as soon as the Cocoa Butter was melted, gave it a quick stir with my long handled ladle and called it good.

I noticed the first time I went to use my MB that it was...'different', but didn't really pay too close attention. Just stuck in the paint stirrer, gave it a good mix and weighed it out. I then noticed when I was making soap, that my batter wasn't behaving like it usually does...I thought maybe that I was just soaping too warm. It wasn't until the bucket was finally light enough that I could lift it up and put it on a step-stool before stirring that I saw that I had some separation. Now depending on the temperature in the house...the consistency can range for pancake batter to cornbread batter but it is usually homogeneous. But this time it looked like I had poured in a Soft Oil into cornbread batter, but didn't get it completely stirred in. Out of curiosity, I made two small batches like I usually did and noticed that the batter thickened up quickly. The third batch, because I was doing a two-color swirl I first whizzed up my remelted oils, then gave them a quick whiz after adding my Lye Solution and separated. While the batter was still a little 'odd', I had more working time.

Sorry this is so long.

Along with making soap from my last Master Batch, I am doing wedding soaps for my son's wedding and so made two smaller Master Batches so I could keep the colors consistent with 160 soaps. I took my usual time when melting the Hard Oils/Butter and then there was extra whizzing of the oils to get the colorants well mixed in. When I made the first batch of Navy soap, it thickened up fairly quickly, but that was my fault...I was a little heavy handed with the SB. The Rust soap I was more careful with and got a perfect pour.
 
What temperature are you storing the product at? It looks like it has just melted.

Shea butter and Coconut oil melt at reasonably low temperatures. Try increasing the cocoa butter to increase the overall melting point.
 
Thanks for the quick reply and for coming forward to help me
Its a 100% anhydrous Body Butter
Shea Butter - 50%
Mango Butter - 31%
Coco Butter -5%
Coconut Oil- 5%
Rice Bran Oil - 5%
Jojoba Oil - 2%
Vitamin E - 1%
EO - 1%(Did not add in the final product)

Melted the butter and oil together. Had placed in the fridge. Whisked it. Got the desired consistency. Used it for a week and saw these pockets. Also felt my skin sweat as so as I apply them.
Let me know if you need any other info.
Thanks
Try whipping it with a hand mixer instead of just whisking.
 
Hi All
Thanks to all for ur help

I found the reason for the body butter failing on me. It's because the butter from this new supplier was all adulterated. I never suspected this because all my previous suppliers gave me good ones and were able to whip a perfect body butter. So I least suspected adulteration and assumed that it could be the hot summer we have here or it could be my formulation or something that I was doing was wrong.

Anyways, it's a lesson. I have learned that as soon as I receive a new batch, I should test for adulteration.

The simplest test I did was to take the 3 butter that I have used in this recipe of 5 gms each in 3 separate beakers and melt them individually. Pop it in the fridge and after it solidifies completely, take it out of the fridge and leave it out for some time. Check how the butter feels, looks, and everything u r concerned about.
RESULT:
1)I found that the cocoa butter never turned solid (after melting it, freezing) at room temp( that was a complete shock to me).
2)The mango butter turned solid and remained so at room temp but there was a thin sheet of oil on the surface of the solid butter
3) Shea Butter was solid at room temp and looked good.

However to double confirm, sending it for a lab test today.

Hope all had something to learn in this thread. :)


Thank All. CASE CLOSED:thumbs:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top