How To Make Whipped Body Butter

This whipped body butter recipe is soft and creamy, almost like a cloud! Learn how to make body butter at home with natural ingredients!

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I’m a DIYer and particularly love to make my own beauty products, especially body butter.

What Is Body Butter?

If you haven’t used body butter before, you’re in for a treat! It’s like butter for your skin. Homemade body butter is an easy DIY project for anyone. It’s so simple; all you have to do is melt and whip lovely oils together in a KitchenAid, and voila! Beautiful body butter!

While I love my basic whipped coconut oil moisturizer, it can be a little greasy, and it also melts at room temperature. I needed a good moisturizer that wasn’t too oily, so I decided to play around with some of my favorite plant-based butters and came up with this lovely body butter recipe.

I seriously love the way this homemade body butter feels and smells. It’s also very nourishing and will leave your skin feeling super soft.

I use this body butter on my sensitive skin and my children. You can leave it as it is or add essential oils to create a great smelling body butter for yourself or as a gift.

How To Make Whipped Body Butter

Ingredients: You will need 1/3 cup coconut oil, 1/3 cup shea butter, 1/3 cup cocoa butter wafers, 1/3 cup jojoba oil, 2 tsp arrowroot powder (here’s a good brand), and essential oils.

To make body butter, you will melt the coconut oil, cocoa butter, and 1/3 cup shea butter in a double boiler or saucepan over low heat. If a double boiler isn’t available, a large pyrex measuring cup will work instead.

Next, remove the melted cocoa butter and oils from the heat and mix in the jojoba oil and essential oils. Mix well to incorporate the essential oils.

Pour the mixture into a large kitchen aid bowl (or medium glass bowl) and place in the refrigerator. Chill until it’s solid, about two hours. Alternatively, you can use the freezer to cool the oils.

Once the mixture is solid, remove the bowl from the fridge, place the bowl into the kitchen aid, and whip the body butter (a hand mixer works too if that’s what you have). Add arrowroot powder (if using) and continue to beat until the body butter is light and airy. Note: You can make whipped chocolate body butter by adding two tablespoon of cocoa powder to this body butter.

Finally, scoop the body butter into a glass jar and store it in a cool, dry place.

Whipped Body Butter Ingredients

• Coconut Oil: Organic coconut oil (which you can also make at home) is unlike any other skin product! Because of its low molecular weight and the method of binding to proteins, coconut oil can penetrate the skin more deeply than other products. 
• Shea Butter: Shea butter is an intense moisturizer for rough skin. Due to its emollient properties, it’s a perfect ingredient to include in your body care recipes, especially in body butter.
• Cocoa Butter: Cocoa butter will soften at body temperature and add a thick and creamy consistency to lotions, creams, and body butters. In addition, cocoa butter contains the natural antioxidant Vitamin E and several other vitamins and minerals.
• Jojoba Oil: Jojoba oil is low comedogenic carrier oil that’s moisturizing and soothing to inflamed skin. If jojoba oil is unavailable, sweet almond oil is a good substitute that contains fatty acids and vitamins A and E and penetrates quickly into the skin.
• Essential Oils: These plant-based oils are natural and safer than synthetic fragrances. But don’t go overboard; a few drops are all you need to scent homemade body butter. 
• Arrowroot Powder: Because this moisturizer is an oil-based, it can feel a little greasy on some skin types. Adding arrowroot powder or cornstarch helps to cut the greasy feeling on your skin. If arrowroot powder isn’t available, corn starch or tapioca starch are good substitutes.

Essential Oils for Whipped Body Butter

Below are some of my favorite essential oils to use in this homemade body butter recipe:

This whipped homemade body butter is versatile! Add different essential oils to each batch. Essential oils are natural and much healthier than using synthetic fragrances.

• Peppermint (15-20 drops of essential oil). You’ll smell like a candy cane! Great for the holidays
• Frankincense & Lavender (15 drops each), this mix promotes beautiful skin!
• Vanilla & Lavender (15 drops of Vanilla and 10 drops lavender essential oil), this mix is very relaxing!
• Grapefruit & Lime (20 drops each). ­ This smells AMAZING!! Just be careful not to wear this outside since citrus oils are photosensitive. Other citrus oils like wild orange and lemon are wonderful too!

Supplies & Ingredients

I stock up on glass jars (like these) and make this homemade body butter for presents almost every holiday season. Of course, my coffee body scrub and simple sugar scrub are other great items to make for gifting too!

Shop Whipped Body Butter Recipe Equipment & Ingredients:

My favorite butters and carrier oils can be found here:

• coconut oil
• shea butter
• cocoa butter
• jojoba oil
• arrowroot powder
• essential oils – Use your favorite essential oils!

Equipment:

• A high-quality stand mixer (I use a Kitchen Aid)
• Double boiler
• Rubber spatula
• Mason jar

How To Store Homemade Whipped Body Butter

Because this recipe is oily-based and natural, the oils and butters may melt if stored in a warm environment. Therefore, it’s best to keep this body butter in a cool, dry place. Then, if the oils begin to melt by chance, you can refrigerate the butter and re-whip it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I use instead of jojoba oil? 

You may substitute any liquid oil in place of the jojoba oil. However, I suggest using skin-loving oils like sweet almond oil, fractionated coconut oil, olive oil, or macadamia nut oil since they work so well for dry skin.

What can I use in place of coconut oil? 

Unfortunately, because coconut oil is a softer oil, it isn’t easy to replace it in this recipe. However, shea butter is the best substitute, so I suggest doubling the shea butter if you aren’t using coconut oil. Mango butter is another great textured body that can be used as well. Do not use a hard butter, like cocoa butter to replace the coconut oil in this recipe.

I don’t have an electric mixer; will a blender work? 

I don’t think a blender will work for this type of recipe. The oils and butters will get stuck in the blade and will be difficult to remove.

What’s the shelf life of this body butter? 

If stored in an air-tight jar in a cool dark place, this body butter will keep for up to 6 months.

What preservative can I use to extend the shelf life of this body butter?

I haven’t personally used a preservative in this whipped body butter but Geogard ECT would be my choice. This preservative should be 0.6%-1% of the formula.

How do you make homemade body butter? This recipe is so simple! Just follow the instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Update: Several people noted a strong cocoa butter smell when they used this body butter recipe. Raw cocoa butter does have a strong smell and can be off-putting to some. You are welcome to use refined cocoa butter instead of raw cocoa butter. The same goes for coconut oil. Unrefined oils and butters are high in antioxidants and are great for your skin. However, they can often have a strong scent so if you prefer, use the refined options.

Love this DIY recipe? Then I know you’ll enjoy my other body butter recipes, like this coffee-infused body butter and magnesium body butter. You may also like my Lotion Bars Recipe made with coconut oil!

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