I think I posted before, that I no longer buy lotion. I haven't bought any in ages. For the most part, I had been using either shea butter or coconut oil. But now I've stumbled upon a recipe I really like.
INGREDIENTS:
4 oz unrefined shea butter
2 oz mango butter
2 oz unrefined cocoa butter
1/2 tsp Vitamin E oil
1 tbsp sweet almond oil
1/4 tsp essential oil (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
I pretty much followed the directions here. Except I don't have a double boiler, so I end up putting my butters into a glass jar and then sitting that jar into a pot of warm/hot water.
Mango butter and cocoa butter are very hard butters. It will take them longer to melt down than the shea butter. It took me a while to get this the way I wanted, but I found out it worked better if the freeze and mix cycles were kept closer to 5 minutes each. Your mileage may vary. :)
Once I was done, I scooped it into the container pictured above. It will "set" and become a very solid body butter. It almost seems a little dry, at first. When you scoop it out, it will crumble a little bit:
But once it hits your body temp, it will go ahead and start to "melt":
I love this stuff. A little goes a long way. The essential oils are definitely optional. I chose to use a comb of patchouli, lavender and lemongrass for this batch. I made a different batch for a friend whose husband was battling some serious ash. I didn't put in any scent because everything I have is "girly," and then I figured she might want to try it on the kids. I'm happy to report, the family is ash free! :lol:
If you try this recipe, let me know. Feel free to tweak it. Her recipe is for shea butter only - as you can see, I added my own combo of butters. I'm sure there are more butters out here conducive to a nice, moisturizing mixture, but this works for me. I use it from head to toe (although I have not tried it in my hair yet). I've let several people try it at work, and they all have given 2 thumbs up.
4 comments:
This looks awesome! Girl get it!
I will definitely be whipping up a batch of this butter. Where did you find mango butter?
Hey RD! I got it from the bain of my budget's existence: www.oilsbynature.com. I already want more cocoa and mango. I got my shea butter from www.nasabb.com. I'm waiting for them to have another sale so I can get another 5 lb block.
They have a blend of mango/deodorized cocoa butter, but I'd recommend just going for the regular cocoa butter. The chocolate smell is not overpowering, in my opinion. Plus, who knows what good stuff they take out when they deodorize it. :)
@ This One Woman - thanks! If you try this recipe, let me know.
Just a quick update - I finally did purchase a double boiler from Walmart. It's stainless steel and I don't believe it cost more than $30. THe mixer I use is an inexpensive one I got from Family Dollar...you don't need a Cuisinart...unless you just want to use one. :)
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