Learn how to easily make a nourishing, deliciously smelling, and non-greasy body butter recipe. This body butter is fast-absorbing and non-oily, and as it doesn’t contain any water, there is no need to add preservatives.
Formulated with natural, non-toxic ingredients and infused with essential oils, this whipped body butter recipe moisturizes and revitalizes tough, dried-out skin. The DIY body butter suits all skin types.
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What is a Body Butter?
Body butter is a rich and moisturizing skincare product usually made with butters and oils, like shea butter, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, or sunflower oil. Body butter can be used as an alternative to lotion since its primary job is to nourish and hydrates the skin. You can apply it on the entire body, from the face to the feet.
What Does a Body Butter Do?
What are the benefits of body butter? No matter how we try to protect our body (with clothes and skincare products), it’s regularly exposed to cold temperatures, wind, sun, and other environmental influences. Many store-bought products dry out the skin further. Dryness can lead to inflamed and cracked skin.
A good quality body butter is essential for healthy skin. And here comes the best part…you can make your own whipped body butter at home.
Body Butter vs Body Lotion. What’s the difference?
Many people don’t understand the difference between body butter and body lotion.
Both keep your skin soft and hydrated with natural ingredients, but they are very different.
The lotion tends to have higher water content and more liquid consistency. It’s lighter than body butter, has a less greasy feeling, and absorbs quickly into the skin. The lotion is an emulsion blend of water and oils, perfect for those with not-so-dry skin.
You can apply it to your face and body as it contains some SPF. You can use a body lotion both during the day and at night. They are non-comedogenic and do not clog pores.
The butter is usually thicker and creamier (like, well, butter). Body butter is more concentrated than a lotion, and because body butter contains no water, it isn’t prone to microbial growth and has a longer shelf life.
Body butter is raw, and lotions are refined
Body butter is raw and cannot be applied to the face because our facial skin is way very sensitive and applying it can lead to acne or dark facial colour due to excessive content of greasiness and less water content.
Body butter contains more oils, thus giving it a thicker consistency than body lotion.
Homemade lotion needs to be used within a short time, or a preservative should be used (due to the water and bacterial growth). It also requires an emulsifier to blend the oil and water properly.
What are the Benefits of Homemade Whipped Body Butter?
The main benefits of homemade body butter are to nourish and hydrate the skin. The body butter also helps to smooth and soften, as well as to restore and protect the skin.
You’ll love this body butter because it is:
Ultra-Moisturing: The body butter provides extra moisture, and smoothes and regenerates the skin. This body butter nourishes the skin with vitamins and antioxidants. It can reduce stretch marks and scars.
Easy to make: This simple body butter is easy to make at home with just a few all-natural ingredients. Just melt the ingredients, add in the essential oils and colourants (optional), chill (you can put the mixture in the fridge for 10-15 minutes), and whip with a hand mixer.
Cost-Effective: Buying body butter from a natural brand can cost a fortune. Making your own whipped non-greasy body butter is affordable and customizable. You’ll have to buy the ingredients, but once you have them, you can make as many jars as you want.
Non-toxic and natural: Making your own body butter at home allows you to control what’s inside. Using only natural and safe ingredients is important for keeping your body and skin healthy.
Why You Should Make Whipped Body Butter?
Making body butter at home allows you to control and customize the ingredients knowing exactly what is in your product. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that what you put on your skin can hugely impact your health
Many commercial cosmetics are usually laden with chemicals and preservatives, which are harmful. Most of them contain disrupters, like Parabens, paraffin, and ETDA, to name a few.
Known and probable carcinogens like formaldehyde, 1,4 – Dioxane, phthalates, coal tar dyes, and petroleum by-products are prevalent in many store-bought products.
And many of those toxic ingredients are hormone disruptors like parabens and triclosan. Here is a quick read with a bit more information about the most egregious ingredients in skin care products.
Ingredients for the Vanilla Non-Greasy Body Butter Recipe
I believe that it’s important to know the ingredients used to formulate homemade skincare products from scratch and learn how they work. I have packed this body butter with moisturizing ingredients that will keep your skin hydrated and radiant and absorbs quickly into the skin.
I will give you a substitute you can use for each ingredient but keep in mind that swapping any of the main ingredients may impact the final result.
Shea butter is an excellent moisturizing agent that melts on contact with the skin, protects against water loss and outside weathering (sun, snow, rain, and wind), and boosts the protective layer and barrier repair function of the skin. It hydrates, nourishes, softens, and smooths dry, dehydrated, and damaged skin.
Alternative: Mango butter, suitable for normal or dry skin. It will change the texture of the recipe to more solid.
Balancing, softening, soothing. Balances sebum production, so great for oily skin, acne, or sensitive skin. Anti-inflammatory may be used to treat eczema and psoriasis. Light and well absorbed.
The jojoba oil can be replaced with any carrier oil of your choice, for example, sweet almond, peach kernel, or apricot kernel. You could use a single oil or a blend and incorporate oils such as avocado or sunflower oil. Anhydrous products will always feel quite oily on the skin. To reduce the oiliness, you can use drier-feeling oils like fractionated coconut oil or macadamia nut oil. Experiment until you find your perfect blend.
A light and non-glossy oil that is quick to absorb. Packed with vitamins, antioxidants, and fatty acids, rosehip oil has significant anti-aging benefits. Rich in vitamins C and A, this oil also stimulates collagen production in the skin by reducing the appearance of wrinkles.
Vitamin E is a wonderful skin moisturizer and a powerful antioxidant that can help to fight free radical damage on your skin.
Essential oils (optional)
I scented the whipped, non-greasy body butter with a simple blend of botanical vanilla extract and tangerine.
What are the best essential oils for body butter?
This whipped non greasy body butter can be left unscented or you can have some fun adding essential oils and different scents to your recipe. For my body butter for dry skin, I used Vanilla and Tangerine for a creamy scent. Smells Yummy!
If you’re going to be using this DIY body butter while you’re out, under the sun, I don’t recommend using any of the citrus essential oils. My favourite scents for body butter are:
Lavender is probably the No 1 essential oil when it comes to healing skin conditions, burns, and cuts. It has anti-inflammatory benefits and can help soothe inflamed skin. Lavender oil contains antioxidants that help protect the skin from free radicals and may be beneficial for anti-aging.
Roman Chamomile Essential Oil promotes smooth, healthy skin and relieves irritations with its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Soothing and relaxing. Suitable for dry skin.
Potentially moisturizing the skin, rose essential oil can help promote youthful beauty by balancing the skin tone and maintaining skin elasticity.
Make sure you get 100% pure, certified organic (if possible) therapeutic-grade essential oils. Always check the label for the Botanical name, plant part, country of origin, and expiration date.
Here are some options for essential oils you might like to use:
Skin soother: 21 drops of lavender essential oil + 9 drops of chamomile essential oil.
Floral: 18 drops of geranium essential oil + 12 drops of lavender essential oil.
Fresh: 18 drops of peppermint essential oil + 12 drops of lime essential oil.
Other Non-Greasy Oils for the Whipped Body Butter
If you want to make non-greasy body butter, choose your carrier oils carefully. The trick is to use a fast-absorbing carrier oil:
Apricot Kernel Oil
Cold-pressed oil from apricot kernels. It is absorbed by the skin at medium speed and is ideal for facial and body massage.
Camellia Oil
Camellia oil comes from the seeds of the plant that makes green tea. It’s a nice moisturizer for the skin because of its exceptionally high oleic acid (omega – 9 ) content. It is light and is quickly absorbed into the skin, much like olive oil. Since it feels dry, moisturizes the skin, and doesn’t clog pores, it’s an ideal oil for oily skin.
Sunflower oil
Sunflower oil is nonirritating and non-comedogenic, which means it will be absorbed by the skin easily and won’t clog the pores. It’s rich in oleic acid – a fatty acid that is known as a natural moisturizer that can penetrate deep into the skin.
Grapeseed Oil
Grapeseed oil is one of the least greasy, light, and fast-absorbing oils. It leaves the skin with a smooth and matte finish.
Greasy Oils to Avoid
- Castor Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Olive Oil
- Palm Oil
If you want to make non-greasy whipped body butter, you should avoid water-based ingredients because they become a cream or a lotion. If that happens, you’ll need an emulsifier and probably a preservative.
- Honey
- Aloe Vera Gel
- Tea Blends
- Fresh Herbs
More Homemade Body Butter Recipes
If you like this DIY non-greasy whipped body butter recipe, you might also enjoy some of my other homemade skincare ideas:
Nourishing lavender body butter
DIY Body Butter for Glowing Skin
Non-Greasy Vanilla Tangerine Body Butter Recipe
Materials
- A bowl
- A pot
- Clean jars (sterilize jars in boiling water for 10 minutes)
- Hand mixer or a silicone whisk
Ingredients
- 70 g (2.8 oz) Shea butter
- 17 g (0.68 oz) Jojoba Oil
- 6 g (o.24 oz) Rosehip oil
- 6 g (0.24 oz) Vitamin E oil
- 0.5 g (0.02 oz) Vanilla essential oil
- 0.5 g (0.02 oz) Tangerine essential oil
Instructions:
- Use your scale to measure out the beeswax, shea butter and coconut oil.
2. Combine shea butter, jojoba oil, rosehip oil, and vitamin E oil and melt in a double boiler.
3. Once melted, remove the heat and let it cool down to 40º (113ºF). You can speed this process up by placing the container in the fridge or freezer. Add the essential oils. Cool the mixture until it starts to solidify. You can speed this process up by placing the container in the fridge or freezer and stirring occasionally.
4. Whip with an electric whisk. If it gets soft or liquid during whipping, cool down some more. Continue with the process of cooling and whisking until you get your desired consistency.
5. Scoop into the desired packaging.
NOTES!
- Keep in a cool, dry place.
- Approximate shelf life: six month
- This is a basic formula for a 100 g batch
- As a matter of fact, you can use more or less the same ingredients to make a solid and non-greasy whipped shea butter with orange essential oils, too!
- This is a basic body butter recipe and can be varied by using different carrier oils and essential oils, for a different skin feel and fragrance. You can also vary the consistency of the body butter. To make a firmer body butter try using a ratio of 80% shea butter and 20% oils, or even 90% shea butter and 10% oils. A firmer body butter is more suitable for warmer climates. For a light, silky body butter try the recipe above but replace 20% of the shea butter with 20% cold-pressed organic coconut oil (the solid version).
Non-Greasy Body Butter Recipe
This DIY non-greasy body butter recipe is super nourishing, super versatile, and all-natural.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine shea butter, jojoba oil, rosehip oil, and vitamin E oil and melt in a double boiler.
- Once melted, take off the heat and let it cool down to 40º (113ºF). You can speed this up by placing the container in the fridge or freezer.
- Add the essential oils.
- Cool the mixture until it starts to solidify. You can speed this up by placing the container in the fridge or freezer and stirring occasionally.
- Whip with an electric whisk. If it gets soft or liquid during whipping, cool down some more.
- Continue with the process of cooling and whisking until you get your desired consistency.
- Scoop into the desired packaging.
Notes
Storage
Keep in a cool, dry place.
Approximate shelf life: six month
This is a basic formula for a 100 g batch
As a matter of fact, you can use more or less the same ingredients to make a solid & non-greasy whipped shea butter with orange essential oils, too!
FAQs
How long will the body butter last?
You can store the homemade body butter at room temperature for up to 6 months. It’s best to keep the DIY whipped non-greasy body butter away from direct sunlight, heat, and moisture.
Should you put preservatives in body butter?
For those who enjoy making their own homemade cosmetics, body butters are quite popular because of their simplicity. This recipe needs only oils and butters, so there is no need to add a preservative or an emulsifier.
How to make the DIY Whipped Body Butter less greasy?
Use fast-absorbing oils like grapeseed, sunflower, safflower, rosehip, and apricot kernel oil.
Avoid using greasy oils that don’t absorb the skin well, such as castor, olive, palm, and coconut.
Add natural ingredients that absorb oil, such as arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, cornstarch or/and clay.
Why does my body butter feel grainy? (and how to fix it)
Your body butter is grainy because it didn’t cool properly or because it re-melted/softened too much in too-hot storage conditions and then re-cooled in a less-than-ideal way afterwards.
To avoid your body butter getting grainy, you need to melt the butter and add it to your formula. Then place the container in the fridge, freezer, or over an ice bath to quickly solidify.
How do you keep whipped body butter from hardening?
To keep our whipped shea butter soft and fluffy, add a little bit of jojoba oil to the whipped shea (less than 10% of the mixture). Some people also use coconut oil for the same effect, but we prefer jojoba because it has its beneficial effects.
How long does body butter take to whip?
Whip the butter using a stand mixer or handheld mixer until it is light and fluffy. This will take 5-10 minutes.
Why is my whipped body butter not fluffy?
The consistency of body butter heavily depends on the temperature it’s in. If the body butter is way too soft when you’re whipping it up, try putting it in the freezer for 10 minutes and try again. If your room temperature is very high, the body butter will feel softer and possibly less airy.
Why is my homemade body butter so oily?
Different butters/oils have different skin feels and absorb at different speeds. If your body butter is made entirely (or mostly) from heavy-feeling, slow-to-absorb butters, and oils (like shea butter or oat oil), that will make for a heavier, greasier end product.
How do you make body butter not melt?
To keep your body butter from liquefying in warmer temperatures, you must reformulate your recipe to increase hard oils or include beeswax. For example, a higher percentage of cocoa butter or the inclusion of beeswax would raise the melting temperature of your body butter.
Should I refrigerate my body butter?
Store your whipped body butter in a cool, dry place and keep it out of direct sunlight. You may keep your body butter refrigerated. You can repeat this process if you accidentally forget your body butter in the sun.
Thank you so much for your incredibly thoughtful message I really appreciate it and needed to hear this today
Can I use organic unrefined shea butter ?
What is the difference between refined and unrefined ?
Thank you
Yes, you can. From a very basic level, it is important to be aware of whether your oils and butters are refined or unrefined. Most of us understand that unrefined likely means it was minimally processed, while refined would indicate further refinement or processing of the oil.
How long does it last? Like the shelf life if you will
Store in a glass jar. This should keep for 6 – 12 months.
I’m trying this recipe right now! When do I add the essential oils?
Also, I used Mango Butter in place of Shea Butter because it is said to be less greasy. I used essential oils as well. I have added several TBSP of Arrowroot powder because it is greasy. I am trying to figure out how to make a non-greasy body butter. If there is any other feedback you could give, that would be wonderful. Thank you!
How can a mango be butter? Mangoes aren’t oily.
Also how can the above recipe be considered non-greasy when it’s made with Shea butter?
Is it possible to use both Shea butter and Mango butter for body and face creams
Of course, choose ingredients that suit you best
Hi Lora,
How much beeswax would you add to this recipe?
There’s no need to add beeswax to this recipe. Why you want adding?