I love body butters. I love opening a jar of rich, soft white body butter and swiping my finger across the top of the firm and creamy product. I also adore slowly rubbing that body butter into the backs of my hands or my elbows or even my heels. Today, I wanted to make a body butter that would be firm and even slightly stiff in the jar while being ultra creamy on the skin.
I achieved my firm body butter by adding 3% Stearic Acid to my recipe. When you consider just how much stiffening power Stearic Acid has, that is a significant amount of Stearic Acid! The Emulsifying Wax also has some thickening powers that help the cream set up.
To allow for easy glide when being applied to the skin, I used Coconut Oil. Now I could have used our regular Coconut Oil, but I felt this recipe was the perfect place to use our Virgin Coconut Oil. Our Virgin Coconut Oil has this dreamy coconut aroma that is simply fabulous. The Virgin Coconut Oil melts at body temperature, giving the finished cream a very nice glide when being applied to the skin.
I also used a little of our High Melt Point Shea Butter to give the finished body butter an extra rich and luxurious feeling. Boy, am I glad I made the addition! I am in love with this body butter, and I love how this simple recipe is so decadent on the skin. In fact, I can’t stop rubbing my own hands!
Ingredients Emulsifying Wax Stearic Acid High Melt Point Shea Butter Hydrovance Virgin Coconut Oil Water Coconut Milk Fragrance Oil Liquid Germall Plus |
Equipment Scale Microwave Safe Container Spoons Pipettes |
Recipe:
Recipe in Grams 25 grams Emulsifying Wax 15 grams Stearic Acid 15 grams High Melt Point Shea Butter 15 grams Hydrovance 45 grams Virgin Coconut Oil 382.25 grams Water 0.25 grams Coconut Milk Fragrance Oil 2.5 grams Liquid Germall Plus |
Recipe in Ounces 0.88 oz Emulsifying Wax 0.53 oz Stearic Acid 0.53 oz High Melt Point Shea Butter 0.53 oz Hydrovance 1.59 oz Virgin Coconut Oil 13.48 oz Water 0.01 oz Coconut Milk Fragrance Oil 0.09 oz Liquid Germall Plus |
Recipe in Percentages 5% Emulsifying Wax 3% Stearic Acid 3% High Melt Point Shea Butter 3% Hydrovance 9% Virgin Coconut Oil 76.45% Water 0.05% Coconut Milk Fragrance Oil 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus |
Weigh everything except the Coconut Milk Fragrance Oil and the Liquid Germall Plus into a microwave safe container. Heat gently until everything is liquid. Using a immersion blender, mix until cohesive. Allow the mixture to cool below 120° F before adding the Coconut Milk Fragrance Oil and Liquid Germall Plus. Stir well. Dispense into jar, label and enjoy!
Taylor, you did it again! What a crazy beautiful body butter, I love it. The Coconut Milk fragrance rocked this body butter with coconut, and tropical nuances of pineapple, vanilla and more goodies. Wow, these are going to be great for stocking stuffers, for my favorite body butter lovers. Thanks, Taylor <3
Linda,
You are welcome! I love this recipe and have been finding it so nice to have a jar on my desk, in my purse and on my vanity. I’ve even gotten compliments on the aroma from friends and family. Good thing Santa has put a few jars into stocking this year!
What is the pH of this cream? You didn’t list any pH adjusters due to the use of Stearic acid
Tanya,
Oh, I am so sorry about the confusion. Stearic Acid is a fatty acid, and it is used as a thickener for lotions and creams. The name is certainly confusing when you think of things like Citric Acid which do adjust the pH.
I hope this helps!
Cheers!
Taylor
Thanks for getting back. I think I was thinking of the process if you want to make Stearic Acid an EMULSIFIER instead of a thickener, in which case you would use something alkaline, such as sodium hydroxide to neutralize/saponify it in order to turn it into a surfactant.
NEVERMIND! Lol Can’t wait to try this!
I’m wondering if regular 76 degree coconut oil could be used instead of the virgin coconut oil?
Absolutely! You won’t get the coconut scent when using your regular coconut oil, but it won’t impact the quality at all!