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Now, what can be more relaxing than soothing, creamy homemade lavender body butter? Its sweet floral scent and calming effect is a great way to combat the stresses of life and nourish the skin. If you are looking for something to spoil yourself with or a great homemade gift, this lavender body butter is a perfect choice. It is simple to make and can be whipped up in no time.
Table of Contents
- 6 Reasons to Give Whipped Lavender Body Butter a Go
- Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Essential Oil Free Lavender Body Butter
- How to Make a Macerated Lavender Oil
- Essential Oil Free Lavender Body Butter Recipe
- FAQs
6 Reasons to Give Whipped Lavender Body Butter a Go
Lavender body butter is a thick, smooth moisturiser that can help protect and nourish dry skin whether you’ll use it all over the body or only on problem patches, such as feet, knees and elbows. Used regularly, it can also help prevent moisture loss, smooth and soften the skin and protect it from environmental irritants.
1. It’s moisturising
Made with mango butter, which is an excellent moisturiser in itself, this body butter is also super-charged with almond and sunflower oil that will help to seal the moisture into your skin.
2. It’s soothing
Lavender is a beautifully aromatic herb with a sweet floral scent that has been popular for centuries. Applying the butter to your skin will help you calm your mind and release negative thoughts.
3. It’s reparative
Sweet almond oil is a good source of vitamin A, which helps to stimulate the production of new cells and vitamin E, an antioxidant that may help reduce ultraviolet (UV) damage to the skin.
4. It’s fluffy
But the butter in this recipe is whipped to a light, airy consistency ensuring a light mouse-like texture. Now, who doesn’t love a nice fluffy body butter?
5. It’s quick to make
You can prepare it in less than 20 minutes!
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Essential Oil Free Lavender Body Butter
You’ll notice I have kept the ingredients to the minimum and avoided essential oils here, as I have infused lavender in almond oil instead to extract its therapeutic properties. The smell is heavenly and robust enough to use on its own.
Mango Butter: Rich, nourishing and loaded with vitamins A, C, E and antioxidants, mango butter is great for your skin. Abundant in oleic and stearic acid, it gradually penetrates the skin, keeping it soft and supple.
Macerated Lavender Oil: For this recipe, I have infused sweet almond oil with dried lavender over 6 weeks period “#CommissionsEarned”. Sweet almond oil is a light and highly emollient oil rich in vitamin E, A and antioxidants that can help restore the skin’s healthy glow.
Vitamin E: An antioxidant that slows down the oxidation process and protects the oils from going rancid.
How to Make a Macerated Lavender Oil
In this recipe, I decided to follow a traditional maceration process that involves infusing dried lavender in almond oil for over 3 weeks. Here’s how I did it:
1. Fill a large airtight jar with 20g of dried lavender flowers.
2. Pour in 300g of almond oil.
3. Place the jar into a warm sunny location, and let the lavender macerate for 3 weeks. The sun will help release the therapeutic properties in the lavender flowers.
4. Daily, stir the mixture gently to encourage the lavender to release its properties. After 3 weeks, strain the mixture and pour it into a sterilised glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
5. Store the labelled and dated jar of macerated oil in a dark and cool place to avoid accelerated oxidation. The oil should keep anywhere between 6-12 months. You can add it to your DIY lip balms, hand and foot creams, face polish or body scrubs, to name just a few.
Essential Oil Free Lavender Body Butter Recipe
To make 100g of body butter, you’ll need:
Ingredients
Phase A
Mango butter: 55g
Phase B
Infused lavender oil: 44g
Phase C
Vitamin E: 1g
Method
Step 1: Prepare a hot water bath by bringing about 2-3 cm of water to a simmer over medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Step 2: Weigh mango butter (phase A) in a glass beaker, and place it into the hot water bath until melted. Set aside to cool down.
Step 3: Meantime, weigh the infused lavender oil (phase B) in another glass beaker.
Step 4: Let the melted butter cool down and stir in the oil. Mix regularly and let the butter/oil mixture temperature drop below 40°C before adding vitamin E (phase C).
Step 5: Continue stirring until you can see a trace. At this point, you can place the blend into a fridge and let it firm up overnight before using it. If you prefer a fluffy version, go to step 6.
Step 6: Now that your butter is chilled, you can start whipping it. To get a light, fluffy consistency, you’ll need to whip it 2-3 times. Place butter in the fridge for 5-10 mins in between.
Step 7: Transfer it into a jar and leave it in the fridge for the night. The butter will harden a bit.
Shelf life and storage
Lavender body butter is an anhydrous (oil-based) product that will keep for up to 12 months stored in a cool, dry place. However, if you notice your butter starts to smell odd, dispose of it and prepare a new batch.
Substitutes
Please remember that swapping the ingredients in the formula will alter the final product. Consider how the ingredient will affect the final product’s scent, consistency, or absorbency when making changes.
Refined Mango Butter: I have picked mango butter for its light consistency, very mild aroma and fast absorbency “#CommissionsEarned”. However, you can replace it with shea, cupuacu butter or murumuru butter if you wish. Shea and cupuacu are slower to absorb, though.
Sweet Almond Oil: It’s a stable oil not prone to oxidation. You can replace it with sunflower or jojoba oil, for example “#CommissionsEarned”.
Vitamin E: You can replace vitamin E with rosemary extract, another natural antioxidant that can stop oils from going rancid “#CommissionsEarned”.
Tools
Hand mixer
Glass beakers
Bowl for whisking
Spatula
Pairing knife
Glass jars with lids
FAQs
How do I use lavender body butter?
Lavender body butter is a nourishing and softening skincare product made of oils and butter. The key to making the most out of the body butter lies in applying it to moist skin right after you have had your bath or shower. It will help to lock moisture into the skin and protect it from harsh weather and other irritants.
Can I remelt the whipped body butter?
If you fail to whip the body butter to the desired consistency, you can remelt it and go through the cooling and whipping stage again until you get it right. If you live in a hot climate, and the butter feels too soft, you may want to increase the quantity of mango butter or add a small amount of wax, which will help firm it up.
