The weather gets cold, the air dry, and in our case on the North Atlantic coast does its oscillating thing where it could be -8°C in the morning and +8°C before the end of the day. I'm not a fan of yo-yo weather and neither is my skin. It gets dry, irritated, cracks and flakes. The cure is body butter, which I've been making for myself and as gifts for years. I'd love to share the recipe with you.
Equipment:
Saucepan
Electric Mixer
Spoon
Spatula
Small Jars
Ingredients:
2/3 cup Shea Butter*
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
2/3 cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp Beeswax*
*Scroll down for notes about sourcing these materials.
Method (3-4 hrs):
Mix together the first four ingredients (everything except the essential oil) in a saucepan and heat over medium low heat until everything is melted.
Set in the fridge, a cold room, or outside. Any temperature below 4°C should work.
Once it starts to solidify, add the essential oil, then put it back in the cold. Essential oil is sensitive to heat. Some of the top notes, like citrus or mint, degrade if exposed to heat.
Check on it every 15-30 minutes. If it has solidified around the edges, use an electric mixer to beat it. Repeat this process until it's the desired texture. Probably three or four times.
Transfer from the saucepan to clean dry jars, and enjoy. The tins from our travel tins candles are the perfect size. You can wash them out with hot water and soap. Just make sure there's no water in the jars because that will reduce the shelf life of the body butter. If stored in a cool dark place, your body butter should last a few years.
I'd love to see your body butters, you can send me a photo by email (yorabodestudio@gmail.com) or tag us on instagram @yorabode.
*Shea butter and beeswax can be hard to find. I buy them in large quantities wholesale, but I polled folks on instagram and they let me know where you may be able to find them. Most answers were natural health shops, whole food grocers, or refilleries. Some sources in Atlantic Canada at the time of publishing this article were as follows. It's worth a call to make sure they have them in stock.
Cosman & Whidden's beeswax at their market stand at the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market, or their farm stand at the valley
Honey & Ginger in Bedford and Dartmouth, NS also sell Cosman & Whidden's beeswax.
The Natural Health Shop in St. John's, NL has both beeswax and shea butter.
AND if you can't find it locally and want to avoid big business, try All Things Being Eco, based in British Columbia.