Homemade Body Butter for dry winter skin

February 18, 2016 | 80 Comments

Homemade Body Butter - This luxurious homemade body butter is a real workhorse product. My family uses it for healing and preventing skin irritations of any kind. With only four ingredients it's simple to make.

This luxurious homemade body butter is the ultimate hydrating treatment your dry winter skin is longing for. It’s easy to make with only 3 essential ingredients which means that even the newest of newbies to DIY skincare can pull it off!

A body butter for dry winter skin

This luxurious homemade body butter is one of the first beauty products I started making at home.

My family uses it extensively during the winter months to treat dry itchy skin, chapped lips, relief from the soreness under a runny nose, dry winter hands, as chapstick and as a preventative for chapped cheeks during cold windy winter days outside.

However it has since become a real workhorse product replacing a long list of products I no longer have to buy and that in itself is a pure win in my opinion!

Here are some of the many ways we put this all natural body butter to good use in our home:

Homemade nipple cream and belly butter – take a look at the ingredients in typical nipple creams, do you want your baby ingesting that?
Homemade diaper rash cream – very effective at preventing and healing diaper rash. Can also be used to remedy cradle cap and baby eczema
Homemade moisturising treatment for dry cracked heels.

Seriously, this body butter is so easy to make, even the newest of newbies will be able to pull it off! Are you ready to give it a try? Let’s get started!

Let’s make an all natural body butter

You will need 3 key Ingredients + 1 optional bonus

ingredients for making homemade body butter

Shea butter: I have chosen shea butter for it’s rich and luxurious feel on the skin but Mango butter , Cocoa butter and Cupuacu butter are of similar consistency to Shea butter at room temperature so they should do a good job.

Solid Coconut Oil: I have used an equal amount of shea butter and SOLID coconut oil. If your coconut oil is liquid then its best to omit it and use an equal amount of shea butter (or mango,cocoa, cupuacu butter) instead as this will affect the final consistency of the body butter.

Liquid Carrier Oil: Olive oil is my choice but really any other liquid carrier oil would do for example sweet almond, jojoba, avocado or grapeseed oil.

(Optional) Arrowroot starch: Adding a tablespoon of arrowroot starch to this body butter formula helps with the absorption of the butter and minimising that greasy feeling. Cornstarch can be substituted as long as it is non GMO without additives.

You will also need a few basic pieces of equipment

equipment for making homemade body butter

access to a stove for melting the solid butters
small heatsafe bowl for melting & mixing
electric beaters for whipping
a kitchen scale for accurate measurement – try measuring out 1/2 cup of solid shea butter and you’ll see what I mean – impossible!
glass or metal container with a tight fitting lid for storing your body butter

Body butter and lotion in one!

The difference between body butter and lotion boils down to the ingredients. Body butter contains butter and various oils while body lotion is often a combination of water and oils.

During the winter months this homemade body butter is firm at room temperature but don’t worry because as soon as it makes contact with your skin it melts and spreads on easily. Leaving your skin wonderfully moisturised.

Customizing you Homemade Body Butter with Herbal Oil

You can take this recipe to the next level and use an infused herbal oil in place of the olive oil. Oil infusions have many benefits and can be customised to your preference.

You might also like – How to make a Luxurious DIY Herbal Body Oil

two glass bottles of homemade herbal body oil

Because I know my whole family uses this product though I usually make several batches of homemade body butter. One with plain olive oil and a lavender vanilla version for myself and the girls.

Some precautions

Shelf life : Due to the fact that this homemade body butter does not contain any water it is very shelf stable and should last a good 6 months.

Usage : I always err on the side of caution and use a small pallet stick or spoon for removing the body butter from the container to avoid contamination from hands. I recommend you do the same.. 🙂

Do you struggle with eczema?

Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis) is a condition where patches of skin become inflamed, itchy, red, cracked, and rough. Whilst this homemade butter butter will bring some relief to your itchy eczema skin (it certainly did for my daughter when she was a baby) it’s important to note that, at least from a holistic perspective, eczema is considered an external symptom of an internal problem.

Which means that in order to experience long term relief you must treat the root cause – which is likely inflammation. The symptoms an overactive immune system can be seen anywhere in the body and in the case of eczema, it is the skin that is affected.

My top two tips for promoting healthy skin would be:

Eat an anti-inflammatory diet – eliminate inflammatory foods such as gluten, corn, soy, and dairy and focus on anti inflammatory whole foods like organic fruits and vegetables and pasture-raised meats.
Heal your gut – 80% of your immune system is housed in your gut. That’s why one of the major root causes of eczema is a weakened intestinal tract. Try taking a daily synbiotic with includes specific probiotic strains shown to benefit skin + prebiotics.

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