Natural body butter is so lovely and amazing for the skin. But, most body butters are just not very easy to carry around for when you need them. Fear not though, we have the answer: the Natural Body Butter Stick! This is a super-handy, ultra portable, solid natural body butter that can be carried in your purse, your swim bag, your suitcase or even your diaper bag! Easy for kids to self-apply after the bath or after swimming, and less mess on your hands.
Today we’ll explain how to make your own super moisturizing, travel friendly, natural body butter sticks, that you can scent with any number of our EO Calc blends, or by creating your own unique essential oil blend!
Let’s get started!
As always– remember to use good manufacturing practices for any products you make, even for home use— have a clean, sanitary workspace, sanitary utensils, and no interruptions! You alone are responsible for the creations you make and sell/give away, so do it right.
Our recipes are always given by weight, never by drops, cups or tablespoons! If you don’t already have a scale for weighing your recipes, we highly recommend theMy Weigh KD-8000.
Ingredients & Equipment You’ll Need
- A Set of Empty Deodorant Style Tubes – These are wax-lined cardboard and eco friendly. If you wanted to use a more traditional plastic style, these Dial-up Plastic Tubes are the perfect size for this project.
- Shea Butter
- Coconut Oil – Use refined, if you do not want a natural coconut smell in your product. If you have sensitivity to coconut oil, a perfect substitution is Babassu Oil.
- Apricot Kernel Oil
- Lanolin
- Cocoa Butter – Sometimes called Cacao Butter. This may lend a natural ‘chocolate’ background scent to your product. You can substitute Mango Butter, if you prefer no background scent.
- Beeswax – we prefer the pellet form for quicker, easier measuring and melting. You can choose white or yellow for this project.
- Measuring Pipettes– We prefer to work with these for measuring out small amounts of essential oils.
- Measuring Cups– We prefer to work with glass. It’s the easiest to clean and sanitize.
- Essential Oil Blending Cups– These are the perfect small size for weighing out your EO blends for projects of this size.
- Silicone Spatulas
- YOUR ESSENTIAL OIL BLEND! We prefer pre-blending larger amounts of our favorite essential oil library blends in these2oz Amber Glass Bottles. Always do this by weight with your bottle on a scale, and remember to label each bottled blend for safety!
Body Butter Stick Recipe
Base Body Butter Stick Recipe (by percentage)
- 20% Apricot Kernel Oil
- 20% Coconut Oil
- 20% Beeswax
- 15% Shea Butter
- 15% Cocoa Butter
- 10% Lanolin
We enjoy these body butter sticks unscented, especially using unrefined coconut oil and raw cocoa butter, but we’ll discuss how to scent your batch in the recipe below.
Base Body Butter Stick Recipe In Oz – 12oz Batch
We recommend making a batch size of 12oz, which will makes roughly 5 of the 2.5oz tubes. You can easily adjust your batch size to what works for you! (Working in grams?Quickly convert this recipe!)
- 2.4 oz Apricot Kernel Oil
- 2.4 oz Coconut Oil
- 2.4 oz Beeswax
- 1.8 oz Shea Butter
- 1.8 oz Cocoa Butter
- 1.2 oz Lanolin
Need a scent for these body butter sticks? Here are some body butter favorites from our free library–
- Boheme Dream
- Forest Jaunt
- Morning Wood
- Or just using Lavender!
Try out our calculator andmake your own blend! Just make sure you remember to choose the correct IFRA Category to calculate your usage rate! (Leave-On Body Products (Category 5A))
Instructions
- Weigh out each ingredient into your clean mixing bowl, remembering to ‘tare’ the scale to “0” between ingredients.
- Fully melt your ingredients in the mixing bowl using the microwave in 30 seconds increments, stirring as it begins to melt, so that you do not have any hot spots in your mix. BE CAREFUL, AS YOUR CONTAINER WILL GET VERY HOT!
- Mix ingredients VERY well with a clean spatula, to ensure all your butters and waxes are fully melted and well incorporated. NOTE: melting beeswax will cause your mixture to be VERY hot, so we recommend setting your melted mixture aside for 5 mins, to allow the temps to reduce a bit, without totally solidifying. A light ‘skin’ on the top may appear and can be stirred back in (where it will melt), before you add your scent.
- After your mixture is fully melted and had a chance slightly cool, put the container on your scale, tare your scale to zero, and weigh out your chosen essential oil blend into your melted oils. Stir in very well.
- Now it’s time to FILL! First, put your clean deodorant tube containers on some parchment paper or paper towels, in case you spill some mixture while filling. If you are using the cardboard style, ensure the bottoms of the containers are set in place! Then, carefully pour your mixture to fill each container. Leave a small amount of space at the top, so that your container does not overflow.
- Let your body butter sticks solidify for a few hours, cap, label and enjoy!
Tips:
- If your mixture thickens up too much while you are filling your containers, you can microwave it in 15 second bursts just until it’s melted again.
- Filling cardboard tubes can be tricky. We recommend filling them halfway, letting them set up a bit and then finishing the fill to just below the top.
- Some natural butters want to crystallize over time and may feel ‘grainy’ or ‘gritty.’ You can reduce the effects of this natural process, by carefully putting your freshly poured butter sticks in the fridge or freezer for a faster cool down.
Label your product appropriately: Don’t forget the name of your body butter, how much is in the tube, and all the ingredients! If you give these away or sell them, the labels must be compliant with your country’s cosmetic regulations. In the USA, we recommend readingMarie Gale’s blogfor helpful labeling information.
Enjoy your custom made, super moisturizing and ultra-portable body butter stick!
From body butters, to cold process soaps, to bath bombs, to facial oils, ourfree libraryis stuffed full of awesome essential oil blends that will inspire and elevate your handmade bath and body lines.
Calculate a usage rate from all our oils in the Free Essential Oil Blend library, or get inspired tomake your own blend.
What are your favorite ingredients, blends or essential oils for body butters?Drop a comment below and share your ideas!
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