Being here in Northern Alberta with the extra cold (though it has been a mild winter) and dry air has made me appreciate my handmade shea body butter far more than I ever did in Oregon. It’s a thick, heavy duty moisturizer, great for dry, cracked feet and hands. If you fancy a try at making your own bath and body goodies, this one is easy and fantastic! We love it because not only do we find it works better than certain big company body butters, it doesn’t contain any unnecessary chemicals. This was originally posted on February 24, 2012 and has been recently updated to use regular coconut oil, instead of a liquid oil, for a more stable product.
Supplies
If you’ve never made your own bath or body products, you might be unsure where to buy ingredients like these. Here is a list of my favourite Canadian suppliers in no particular order:
Voyager Soap and Candle
Windy Point Soap Making Supplies
Nature’s Garden (US company but fantastic fragrances worth the exchange rate and offers USPS shipping to avoid UPS/FedEx duty fees)
And for my American readers, check out Brambleberry, and Sweet Cakes. These companies do ship to Canada, but with higher UPS/FedEx shipping (plus duty/customs) charges.
Be careful when using Essential Oils – they are used as fragrance, but they are also used medicinally for a reason – they are potent, and effective, but just like other medicines, they are dangerous when used carelessly. People with high blood pressure and certain other conditions, and pregnant women, need to be especially cautious about what and how much they use.
Owl Creek Farm Shea Body Butter
Equipment
- Hand or stand mixer
- Small to medium size mixing bowl
- Spatula
- Pipette dropper or other ml measuring tool
- Kitchen scale with a "tare" function, and ounce measure
- 8oz jar/container, with lid, for finished product
- Someone with dry, cracked feet and/or hands
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz by weight Shea Butter
- 1.25 oz by weight Coconut Oil
- 2 ml Fragrance Oil Or Essential Oil skin safe - see suppliers above
Instructions
- Turn on your scale, set to show ounces and place your mixing bowl on it. Use the tare function to zero the scale out, and add 3.5oz of Shea Butter. Zero your scale out once more and add 1.25oz of your Coconut Oil Remove your bowl from the scale and add the 2ml of fragrance, if desired.
- Turn your mixer on low and start beating the butter/oil mixture. If you've ever made whipped cream from scratch, this will be pretty familiar for you. Keep beating, turning the speed up and scraping the sides, for approximately 10 minutes. Stop every couple of minutes and use the spatula to scrap the sides to incorporate all the shea butter and coconut oil into the rest. When the mixture has approximately doubled, looks light and fluffy, and doesn't look like it can get any lighter or fluffier, it's done.
- Use your spatula or a spoon and scoop your body butter into your container, cover, and label.
- Pass out the beaters and bowl to friends and family to use on their hands and feet right away, they'll ohhh and ahhh and probably ask you to make more for them!
Questions? Comments? Did you try it and love it – or hate it?
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5 comments
What is the shelf life
The shelf life will be as long as your butter/oils stay good (don’t go rancid) – keep it cool, and dry, and clean (only use clean, dry hands), and check the packages of your butter/oils for their use-by dates. Generally, 6 months to a year.
Hi, love this recipe but quick question, would a blend of jojoba, tamanu and tea tree oil work with this? The benefits of each are important for why I would try this recipe. Thank you and love your blog :-)
You can certainly try other oils, but use very small amounts to keep the “whip” of the shea butter from collapsing into a oily mess :)
Hey Amy,
Thanks for the plug :) Came across your blog (which I did not know existed) in my google travels. It’s wonderful!
Randi