RECIPE: Carla's Bodacious Body Butter

Over the last 50 years, there has been a tremendous rise in the use of petrochemicals in the products you use daily on your skin -- primarily because these chemicals are much cheaper and far more convenient for manufacturers to use than their natural counterparts. Major loopholes in federal law allow the $35 billion cosmetics industry to put large amounts of chemicals into personal care products with no required testing, no monitoring of health effects, and inadequate labeling requirements.

Did you know that the ingredients in the fragrance portion of products do not have to be revealed? Don't get me started with fragrances. Fragrances are the great secrets of the cosmetics industry. They are in everything from shampoo to deodorant to lotion, and fall straight into a giant loophole in federal law that doesn't require companies to list on product labels any of the potentially hundreds of chemicals in a single product's secret fragrance mixture. Fragrances can contain neurotoxins and are among the top 5 allergens in the world.

Fragrances contain hundreds of lipophilic (fat-liking) solvents. Guess what's on your skin? Fat!(Oils.) Like dissolves like. When a lipophilic solvent is applied to the surface of the skin, it is absorbed into the bloodstream and carried into the brain, liver and kidneys, and stored in fatty tissues throughout the body. As far as fragrances are concerned, what goes on the skin goes through the skin.

I say take matters into your own hands, peeps. Switch to natural products made of natural oils and avoid the chemicals and preservatives altogether.

I have been making my own body moisturizer for years. In fact, I experiment with products so much that my sister calls me "The Concoctor". Below, I'm going to share with you one of my favorite concoctions, but I want to emphasize that the important thing is that you switch from preservative-laden, fragrance-ridden products now. So if that means you start using plain coconut oil instead of a complicated recipe, then so be it. But for you "concoctors" out there, here is a recipe that uses my three all-time favorite moisturizers -- Shea butter, jojoba and coconut oil. This body butter recipe gives you long-lasting moisture and is très luxurious. You'll love it and so will your significant other. Meow.

Carla's Bodacious Body Butter

6 parts organic coconut oil
2 parts organic jojoba
1 part organic Shea butter
1 part organic coco butter

Melt the hard oils (shea, coco butter and coconut oil*) very gently in a double boiler to 170-185F. This is not hot enough to damage the properties of the butters. Keep the temp steady between 170-185F for approximately 30-45 minutes. The steady heat will cause the fat crystals** in the shea to be obliterated. If you find that crystals have reformed upon solidifcation, go back and repeat these steps, paying attention to time and temp.

After the 30-45 minutes, add jojoba. The jojoba gives the mixture the soft, melt-in-your-hand consistency.

After adding the jojoba, pour the mixture into a wide mouth jar. You want the jar wide enough so that you can stick your hands in there to scoop it out. (To the right is an example of the kind of jar i put it in.)

It smells great -- natural and subtle with no synthetics. Enjoy!

*In SF, coconut oil is solid. In warmer regions, it may be liquefied in the jar.

**If Shea butter is incorrectly heated, upon solidification it will form little fat granules or crystals that feel bumpy to the skin. These bumps will melt down when rubbed into the skin long enough, but they can be annoying and unsatisfactory if added to a formulation that is supposed to be smooth.

Comments

[Tracy]

Carla,
Thanks for this great article. I have a suggestion for a topic: talk about the debate about whether or not sunscreen is good or bad for you. Some people believe that the use of sunscreen has risen with the skin cancer rates, and that certain ingredients in sunscreen lotion actually inhibit the skin's natural ability to create melanin. I need to research the subject. Can you point me to some research sites that you use so I can do some research?
Thanks,
TT

[jenna]

What is the shelf life for this type of formulation?

[jenna]

What is the shelf life for this type of formulation?

[Margee]

Hello Carla,

I'm interested in your body butter recipe for our body product line, and am wondering about the stability of the formula during the warmer summer months. Having used coconut oil on my skin, I know how it turns into liquid at a certain temperature. Is there anything that could be added to your formula that would keep it in a solid state? The second issue is rancidity...The coconut oil does not exhibit a problem with this, but what about the other oils? I sincerely appreciate any comments/suggestion you can make. Margee - Bend, Oregon

[Margee]

Hello Carla,

I'm interested in your body butter recipe for our body product line, and am wondering about the stability of the formula during the warmer summer months. Having used coconut oil on my skin, I know how it turns into liquid at a certain temperature. Is there anything that could be added to your formula that would keep it in a solid state? The second issue is rancidity...The coconut oil does not exhibit a problem with this, but what about the other oils? I sincerely appreciate any comments/suggestion you can make. Margee - Bend, Oregon

[Ida]

Hi Ms Carla,
Nice to meet your body butter formula. I want to add something like vit C and Vit E to four formula. Would you like to tell me about another formula like skin moisturiser. Tx.
Sincerely yours
Widya

[Teneille]

Hi Carla,
You Rock. I've been making my own body butter and was looking for inspiration and found this. I did not know about the nastiness of fragrances in cosmetics. Thankyou for educating me and I hope more people clue on and stop using filth. Thanx!