Body Butters - Formulating for Beginners

Today we are going to discuss; what a body butter is, what ingredients are found in body butters, how to make a very simple body butter, how to keep body butters from melting, how to make body butters feel less greasy, and how to make a more "advanced" body butter.

Personal thoughts on body butters

I'm really not a big fan of body butters. I have tried some really lovely body butters. Actually some of the body butters I've loved were sent from one of you. Her shop is called Letts Blend. Check her out!

The reason I'm not a big fan of body butters is because they are so greasy, heavy, and oily. I like moisturizers that are really light weight. Every once in a while I might enjoy a good greasy product for problem areas, but 90% of the time, I don't. Luckily there are ways to make a body butter less greasy and more pleasant to use.

Personally I don't have much experience working with body butters, because as I said before, not a big fan. I've actually been dreading writing this post because I'm sure a lot of you know much more about body butters and have more experience working with them than I do.

When you are a beginner to formulating I always recommend starting with ahydrous products, because they don't require a preservative. As for me, I skipped right over that and went straight into lotions. So I didn't dabble much into the whole body butter thing.

When it comes to body butters I personally prefer an emulsified body butter. This includes a water and oil phase. This technically would make it a lotion, but nowadays there are so many "body butters" on the market that are emulsions. The addition of water makes the body butter much less greasy and heavy, but we won't be talking about emulsified body butters today. We are sticking with anhydrous body butters, which you all should know by now means, it only contains oil soluble ingredients. You should also be pretty familiar with the range of oil soluble ingredients since we've discussed them in the past few posts for this series. If you haven't read those posts, I recommend going back and reading all the posts or watching all the videos to this series so you can be caught up on what's going on.

What are body butters?

Body butters are moisturizers which contain some kind of butter or multiple butters and an oil or a combination of oils. They are thicker and heavier than lotions and are extra effective at treating dry skin and problem areas. They can be used all over the body or on specific problem areas like knees and elbow. Traditionally body butters are anhydrous (formulated with only oil soluble ingredients). Which are the type of body butters we are discussing today. Also I want to note that body butters, like the name suggests, are typically only used on the body. You can use them on the face, but most of us don't like heavy product on the face. If you do want to formulate a body butter for the face I suggest using non comedogenic ingredients so it is less likely to clog pores.

Ingredients used to make body butters

• butters - cocoa butter, shea butter, mango butter, kokum butter, cupuacu butter, macadamia butter, etc.

• oils - sunflower oil, jojoba oil, safflower oil, avocado oil, rosehip oil, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, almond oil, argan oil, hempseed oil, olive oil, vitamin e, etc.

• esters - IPM (isopropyl myristate), coco caprylate, capric triglyceride, natrasil (INCI; Hydrogenated Ethylhexyl Olivate, Hydrogenated Olive Oil Unsaponifiables), C13-15 Alkane, c12-15 alkyl benzoate, etc.

• silicones/alternatives - dimethicone, Cyclomethicone, luxglide N350, etc.

• texturizers (makes feel less greasy) - cornstarch, arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, etc.

• hardeners - cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, behenyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, etc.

• waxes - bees wax, candelilla wax, carnauba wax, laurel wax, green tea wax, etc.

• essential oils & fragrance oils

There are a lot of other ingredients that can be used in anhydrous body butters, but these are the ones I can think of right now. Feel free to leave down in the comments other ingredients you like to use in your body butters.

Choosing ingredients for basic body butter

A body butter recipe can be as simple as, just a butter and an oil. If you are a beginner and don't have a bunch of money to blow on lots of ingredients, I recommend picking just one or two butters to start out with and maybe a handful of oils. I suggest maybe 3-5 different oils. You can't go wrong with the classic cocoa butter and shea butter. Personally shea butter is my favorite, but there is no arguing that the most common butters we see are shea butter and cocoa butter, so I recommend starting out with those. Unless you want to try a different butter, then go for it! :)

The most common oils I see people using for diy's seems to be good ol' olive oil and coconut oil. The reason I don't like working with coconut oil is because its solid in colder temperatures and liquid in hot temperatures, so it continuously changes its form depending on the temperature, which can make your end product unstable. I kinda suggest staying away from coconut oil for this reason. This is just me personally. If you love coconut oil, by all means, continue using it. I just don't like when my products change viscosity on me and this is exactly what you will experience with coconut oil. If you want to make sure you are achieving a specific viscosity or hardness with your body butter it's easier to stay away from coconut oil. If you aren't sure what oils to go out and purchase I suggest doing some research on different oils. There is a great blog HERE. Just search for the oil you are interested in and you can read all about it. If I had to suggest 5 oils to purchase I would recommend; Almond oil, Sunflower oil, Safflower oil, Rosehip seed oil, and Jojoba oil. I also really like macadamia nut oil, meadowfoam seed oil, and camellia seed oil, but you pick whatever interests you.

Simple body butter formula

• 70% butter - I used shea butter

• 30% oil - I used almond oil

Directions; weigh ingredients and melt using a water bath. Sit in fridge and let harden. Once hardened mix with hand mixer. Package in jar.

Note; The higher percentage of butter you use will cause you body butter to be harder. The lower the percentage the softer it will be. Every butter has a different hardness. Shea butter being one of the softest butters and kokum butter being one of the hardest. So keep this in mind when choosing butters and the percentage you use them at. Have fun with experimenting with different butters and their hardness by using them at different percentages.

How to make a simple body butter less greasy

The easiest way and most common way to make a simple body butter less greasy is by adding in arrowroot powder, corn starch, or tapioca powder. I've actually never tried this until now. So I wanna talk about my experience trying it. I don't have any tapioca starch, but I do have corn starch and arrowroot powder. So we will try both. I divided my simple body butter in 3 parts. One part is getting mixed with arrowroot powder, one part gets corn starch and one part remains the same. This way I can compare the 3.

Results

body butter w/ arrowroot powder - I definitely preferred the arrowroot powder over the corn starch. I can't say that it got rid of the greasy feeling though. It did minimize it a bit, but not enough to really make a difference. It did on the other hand make it feel more powdery and elegant. So if you want to make a body butter I HIGHLY recommend the addition of arrowroot powder. It made the body butter feel more luxurious.

body butter w/ corn starch - I can't say it made to much of a difference. It may have reduced the greasiness a bit, but not enough to say it really works, especially since there are better ways to minimize the greasiness. Although if you can't get your hands on arrowroot powder, this is a good alternative. It didn't give that powdery luxurious feel that the arrowroot powder gave though.

How to keep body butter from melting

When it comes to a simple body butter the best way to keep it from melting is to lower the percentage of butter or oil a little bit and use some wax instead. This way if you forget your body butter in the car or your bathroom gets really hot, you don't have to worry about it melting. At least not as much as it would without the wax. There is another way to keep body butters from melting, but we will discuss it later on in this post in the "advanced body butter" section. I suggest using wax anywhere between 1-5% in a body butter.

Emollient esters

The more I formulate the more I fall in love with emollient esters. Emollient esters are modified fatty substances that are often used as emollients and conditioning agents. An ester is formed when an organic acid combines with an alcohol. The great thing about emollient esters is that they don't feel as oily on the skin as other types of emollients and fatty ingredients. - INFO ABOUT ESTERS FOUND HERE

For example the ester Caprylic Capric Triglycerides are a specialized esterification of Coconut Oil using just the Caprylic and Capric Fatty Acids attached to a glycerin backbone. This makes the oil like ester non-greasy and light weight as compared to a "natural" oil like coconut oil.

I also love emollient esters because there are no surprises when formulating. An ester is always the same. The last batch will always be the same as your new batch, unlike natural oils. The batch of olive oil you buy today might be completely different than the one you buy a year from now, because it is from a different crop. It is harder to find consistency in natural oils. Which is a huge reason commercial brands don't typically use them. They want their last batch of face moisturizer to be the same as their new batch. Which is why they choose emollient esters over natural oils. Of course with the growing popularity of "natural" ingredients a lot of commercial brands have been incorporating these natural oils. They still include those emollient esters but don't advertise them like they do the natural oils. Most of the time the commercial product only includes a small amount of that natural oil even though they are advertising that oil on the cover of their shampoo bottle, but lets not get to off track here. Basically what I'm trying to say is I love emollient esters. They are consistent, light weight, non greasy, and very moisturizing. Which makes them a great replacement for natural oils. Especially in body butter, since they contain a very high percentage of oil and butter which are very greasy.

Simple body butter w/ IPM

The most popular ester used in body butters to help reduce greasiness is IPM (Isopropyl Myristate) This is an ester of isopropyl alcohol and myristic acid. It is suggested to use it at 2-5% in lotions and creams. So we will be using it at 5% in our body butter today.

Now that you understand what an emollient ester is and why you would use one in a body butter in place of a natural oil lets take a look at a simple recipe for a body butter using IPM. This will create a much less greasy, oily, and heavy body butter compared to the one before without IPM.

Simple body butter w/ IPM formula

• 70% butter - I used shea butter

• 25% oil - I used almond oil

• 5% IPM

Directions; weigh ingredients, heat in water bath until melted. Let sit in fridge until hardened, then mix with hand mixer.

Results - With the addition of IPM at only 5% I did noticed it made the body butter feel a little less greasy, but just a little. The big difference I think it made is it made the body butter absorb quicker. I don't feel like it was left sitting on my skin as long as the body butter without IPM. It gave the body butter more of a dry greasy feeling and made the body butter feel less slippery. I think if you also added in the arrowroot powder it will really take a basic body butter, to the next level with only minimal ingredients.

Advanced body butter w/ esters formula

Replacing all of the natural oils with emollient esters will really help eliminate greasiness.

• 70% butter - I used shea butter

• 5% IPM

• 25% c12-15 alkyl benzoate (or another emollient ester)

Directions; weigh ingredients, heat in water bath until melted. Let sit in fridge until hardened, then mix with hand mixer.

Results; This one felt far less greasy than the prior body butter. It was still pretty greasy compared to a lotion, but it had more of a dry oily feel. Then when I added in the arrowroot powder! WOW! What a difference. I really liked this one.

Advanced body butter w/ emollient esters & hardeners

Earlier in this post I mentioned that there is another way to harden body butters and that is by adding in hardeners like fatty alcohols and fatty acids. This includes cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, behenyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, etc. These are great additions because you can lower the percentage of butter, which is one huge cause for oiliness and greasiness, and instead use one of these hardeners in place of it. These hardeners have a much higher melting point compared to butters and are moisturizing without being greasy. Combining these hardeners with emollient esters will create a much less greasy body butter compared to ones made without these additions.

Formula for advanced body butter w/ emollient esters & hardeners

• 50% butter - I used shea butter

• 10% cetyl alcohol

• 5% IPM

• 25% c12-15 alkyl benzoate (or another emollient ester)

• 10% coco caprylate (or another emollient ester)

Directions; weigh ingredients, heat in water bath until melted. Let sit in fridge until hardened, then mix with hand mixer.

Results; This one came out much softer than the prior one. It melts upon contact of skin much easier. I was actually pretty surprised by this. So if you want it to be harder definitely increase the percentage or cetyl alcohol or use a different hardener like stearic acid, which can create thicker and harder products than cetyl alcohol. I definitely preferred this one over the prior, as it was less greasy. I do think I would of preferred it to be a bit thicker though. So next time I would try using stearic acid or increase the percentage of cetyl alcohol. I could even try adding a wax to it to increase the hardness. Of course when I added in some arrowroot powder it really made the body butter much more pleasant to use.

Like I said before, I don't have much experience with making body butter so I hope this was informative enough for you all. If you have any tips on formulating body butters that you would like to share down in the comment feel free. We will all appreciate it. Thanks so much for reading :)

Body Butters - Formulating for Beginners .pdf

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