Nourish and protect your skin with this thick and creamy emulsified body butter that is rich with natural oils and butters with added water to help moisturize the skin. This recipe is made up mostly of oil-based ingredients. (It's a water-in-oil emulsion.)
Combine the oils and butters with the emulsifying waxes in a heat-safe container.
Combine the water and glycerin in a separate heat-safe container.
Heat both containers over a water bath (or double boiler) until the waxes and butters have fully melted.
Remove the containers from the water bath and, while still hot, combine the ingredients in a large-enough container to comfortably blend the ingredients with an electric beater or immersion blender.
Blend the ingredients until the ingredients have combined and the mixture becomes more opaque (around 10 seconds).
During the cooling process, blend the mixture occasionally. To speed up the process, place the bowl in the freezer between blendings or blend over an ice bath. (This also prevents the shea butter from becoming grainy.) Allow the mixture to rest for a minute or so between short bursts of blending it to prevent overbeating.
Once cool, add the preservative and fragrances. You can also add other heat-sensitive ingredients at this point. Blend a final time to fully incorporate the ingredients
Package your body butter by spooning or piping it into a storage container.
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Notes
Using an electric beater in this recipe will incorporate more air and give more of a whipped body butter texture. For body butters, I like to use jars with lids. Because this product incorporates water, it has the potential for microbial (bacteria and mold) growth. While adding a broad-spectrum preservative allows us to store our finished body butter at room temperature and helps increase the shelf-life, I still recommend making small batches, what you think you will use up within 2-3 months. (In reality, it should keep longer than that, but, since most home formulators won't be doing any microbial testing on their products, it's best to err on the side of caution.)To ensure a longer shelf life, try not to contaminate the product during use. (It's always best to remove the product from its storage container with clean, dry hands and to not allow water into the container.)