I’m always a sucker for good DIY skincare and I just had to make and share the recipes I’ve found.
So there are two types of body butter, whipped body butter and unwhipped. Both are excellent at nourishing your body with vitamins and skin softening properties that will keep your skin glowing, healthy, and youthful for so much longer than anything you can buy.
Better Body Butter For Dry Skin
So, here’s the skinny. While this mango body butter includes lots of the same ingredients as the homemade whipped body butter, it’s actually quite different.
Because we’re not whipping air into the butter, it’s not as light. In fact, it’s actually quite a dense, solid moisturizer. But that’s okay because sometimes that’s what you need.
This body butter is great for targeted moisturizing for dry skin. I’ll use this on my elbows, knees, and anywhere that likes to dry out like a prune in 100-degree weather.
I find this body butter to be intensely hydrating, albeit a little greasier, and longer-lasting than a whipped body butter.
It kind of resembles a waxless balm and may require you to scoop some out with your fingernail to get it out of the pot. Don’t worry though, it’ll quickly melt between your fingers.
Targeted Hydration
When I use solid body butter, it’s because I have areas of skin that need targeted hydration. If you wanna use it for this purpose also, you can tailor the ingredients for your own unique skin.
Whipped body butter, if you’ll remember, requires only very light oils in order for it to whip properly. With this solid body butter, you can use whatever oils you like, regardless of weight and density.
As I use this body butter for intense hydration, I prefer to exclusively use beneficial essential oils for this, as some of them have powerful abilities to help soothe and hydrate dry and chapped skin. However, fragrance oil will work just fine also, I just like essential oils in my homemade body butter.
Substitutions
The advantage of making this recipe over the homemade whipped body butter is how forgiving it is of substitutions. You really can make this one your own, so experiment and see what works best for you!
- You can substitute the mango butter for anything other than cocoa butter. Shea, Olive, and Illipe are all excellent alternatives.
- If you really want to make use of cocoa butter, you may want to increase the liquid oil and reduce the amount of butter. You could also experiment with splitting the quantity of cosmetic butter between cocoa and a softer butter. Either way, it will require some experimentation.
- As previously stated, this recipe is very forgiving, and so you can make use of your heavier oils in this one. Although I would avoid using anything that won’t fully absorb into your skin (i.e. castor oil) as this recipe is already a bit greasier than it’s whipped sister. Take a look at our guide to carrier oils for more information on various oils.
- Like with the homemade whipped body butter, you’re free to play around with essential oils. As I’ve said, I prefer not to use fragrance oils in this recipe, but you absolutely can if you want to. Check out our essential oil use chart for a detailed guide on their various properties and benefits.
Unwhipped Mango Body Butter Recipe
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Equipment
- Glass or Metal Bowl (large enough to accommodate the mixing bowl)
Ingredients
- 59 g Mango Butter
- 30 g Avocado Oil
- 10 g Argan Oil
- .5 g Roman Chamomile Essential Oil
- .5 g Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil
- Cosmetic Jar
Instructions
- First, you’ll want to set up your water bath. To do this, fill a saucepan with a couple of inches of water and allow to reach a simmering temperature, then turn off the heat.Next, weigh out the mango butter and place it into your pyrex/heatproof bowl, and place the bowl on the saucepan to melt. If you find your butter is melting, turn the heat back on to the lowest level.While the butter is melting, fill your second bowl with ice and cold water. Set to one side while your butter finishes up melting in the water bath.59 g Mango Butter, 30 g Avocado Oil, 10 g Argan Oil
- Now that our mango butter has melted, remove from the water bath. Now, mix in our two carrier oils. I’m using avocado and argan oils.
- Then, lower the bowl into the ice water bath. At this point, stir thoroughly with a spoon continuously for about a minute.
- Now that the mixture has cooled, we can add the essential oils. EOs have to be added at a cooler temperature because their beneficial properties are highly susceptible to degradation at high temperatures. Once added, mix thoroughly..5 g Roman Chamomile Essential Oil, .5 g Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil
- Now we’ve added all of our ingredients, stir thoroughly until the mixture reaches a light trace (similar to trace in soap making). This is when the mixture is stiff enough to support itself. You should be able to pick some of the mixture up with a spoon and drizzle it back onto its surface without it immediately sinking in.When it’s at this stage, transfer to your chosen container, and you’re all finished with this DIY body butter!
Notes
Final Thoughts
So there we have it, how to make mango butter that keeps your skin soft, smooth, and glowing all year round!
The harder mango body butter recipe is the way to go if you want complete freedom with substitutions, but why not have both? I do! I’m sure that’s not too excessive… I think.
I have more lovely recipes for you to try your hand at, take a look at my carrot infused body butter or this lovely whipped body butter with raspberry.
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