How to Make Whipped Body Butters

Whipped Body Butters can be the most moisturizing and luxurious treats for your skin. Unfortunately, they can also be a real pain in the neck to formulate. We created this guide to help you create your own custom-made whipped body butter recipes with a little less guess-work. If you've never made a whipped butter before, we suggest starting out with something simple, like a plain whipped Shea Butter. After you've mastered the technique, move on to whipping up custom blends of Butters, Carrier Oils, and Aromatic Ingredients! This guide will help you understand how different ingredients behave in whipped butters, and help you get started with a few basic, customizable recipes. 

Do you have any special tips for making awesome whipped butters? Share them with us in the comments!

Main Ingredients

A solid Carrier Oil or Butter should make up the majority of a Whipped Body Butter recipe. Shea Butter has just the right texture to be used on its own, but other ingredients might need a little tweaking to be made into the ideal consistency. You need the butter to be firm enough to set up solid, but soft enough to yield when scooped.

• Cocoa, Kokum, and Illipe Butters: These butters have extra hard textures. They can be used alone in Whipped Butters, but will produce a slightly firmer texture than may be desirable. Try blending these hard butters with softer butters, or with a tiny amount of your favorite liquid carrier oil.
• Shea Butter: Shea has the perfect consistency for Whipped Body Butters, being not too soft, and not too hard. It is literally, just right. Shea can be used alone, or in blends.
• Mango, Cupuacu, and Murumuru Butter: These butters are a little softer than Shea Butter. They won't quite work on their own as whipped butters. Try adding a tiny bit of wax, or a harder butter to your recipe to firm it up.
• Coconut, Babassu, Monoi de Tahiti, and Organic Virgin Coconut Cream Oil: These carrier oils are solid at room temperatures of around 65 degrees, but will melt immediately upon skin contact, or exposure to a higher temperature. This makes them very tricky to work with as a main ingredient. These oils need to be blended with harder butters and/or wax in order to maintain the right texture for Whipped Body Butter.
• Aloe, Avocado, Coffee Bean, Hemp Seed, Macadamia, Olive, Pistachio, and Sweet Almond Butter: These butters are extra soft, and cannot be used alone in whipped body butters, as they will not set up with a firm enough texture. They need to be blended with a large portion of hard butters and/or waxes.

Waxes

Waxes help to reinforce whipped butters, making them firmer, sturdier, and stickier. They lend body, adhesion, and most of all, firmness. Wax is especially helpful in formulations that use liquid oils and/or soft butters. Be careful not to add too much wax. Being heavy handed with your wax can give your recipe a texture more similar to a balm than a butter, and can affect its texture and pliability.  

• Jojoba Esters: Jojoba Esters are an ideal firming agent for whipped body butters. Because Jojoba has a consistency very similar to oil, it keeps body butters from feeling overly sticky or waxy while still adding stiffness.
• Beeswax: The next best ingredient to use would be Beeswax. Keep in mind that Beeswax will add stickiness to the texture of your whipped body butter, so you should avoid using too much in your recipe. Your goal should be to add just enough to firm up the butter.
• Candelilla Wax: This vegetable-based wax can also be used to increase the firmness of your whipped body butter. It is considerably harder than Jojoba Esters or Beeswax, so must be used sparingly in your formulation to avoid adding stickiness and brittleness to the butter's texture.

Aromatics

You have a lot of options when it comes to scenting a whipped body butter. Each type of aromatic ingredient has its own virtues and limitations, so check them out carefully before making a decision. 

• Essential Oils: These all natural botanical oils pack a serious punch of aroma and active components. Make sure to take the powerful properties of Essential Oils seriously when using them in your whipped body butters. Each Essential Oil should be researched for safety and proper usage before being included in your recipe. For more information, check out our article on Essential Oil Safety. Though Essential Oils do vary, most should be used at a rate of 1 - 3% in Whipped Body Butter recipes.
• CO2 Extracts: These ultra pure and potent plant extracts are used primarily for their powerful herbal properties, but certain CO2 Extracts also have desirable aromas. CO2 Extracts should be handled similarly to Essential Oils. Research them for safety, and use them at a rate of 1 - 3%.
• Attars: Attars are delicate floral extracts that have been distilled in sandalwood. These precious aromatics can be very pricey, and should be reserved for your most special whipped body butter recipes. Use Attars at a rate of 1 - 3% in your recipe.
• Absolutes: Used mostly in perfumery, Absolutes are chemically extracted plant extracts with very potent aromas. Absolutes can be used alone, or blended with other aromatic ingredients. They should be used at a rate of 1 - 3.5% of the total recipe.
• Fragrance Oils: Though Fragrance Oils are not all natural, they have been formulated specifically for skin care products. This makes them very easy to use. They also come in a huge range of scents. Our Fragrance Oils can be used at a rate of 2 - 5% in whipped body butters.

Additives

Additives are optional ingredients that can help improve the texture, slip, and longevity of your recipe. While these ingredients aren't necessary for simple formulations, they can be very helpful once you get in to creating more advanced recipes. We recommend experimenting with additives after you've mastered making simple whipped butters.

• Cornstarch: Used to decrease the greasiness of a body butter’s slip, Cornstarch can help make the texture of your formula more pleasant. It should be added at a ratio of around 1 teaspoon per 1 - 2 ounces of main ingredient. To avoid lumps, mix Cornstarch into a slurry with a little melted oil before adding it to the rest of the batch.
• Silk Powder: Silk Powder is another ingredient used to enhance the slip of body butter. Silk Powder can be added at a rate of 1 - 5% of the total recipe. Like Cornstarch, Silk Powder should be made into a slurry before being added to the melted ingredients.
• Antioxidants: Since whipped body butters do not contain water, or other fragile ingredients, adding a true preservative is not necessary. However, many formulators choose to include an antioxidant to help keep the oils and butters in the recipe from oxidizing or going rancid prematurely. Vitamin E T50 is an ideal ingredient for this purpose, as it will not affect the color or aroma of your recipe. You can also use Rosemary Oil Extract if you prefer, but keep in mind that its dark green color and herbal aroma may affect the final product.

Basic Recipes for Whipped Body Butters

These basic formulas are meant to be used as starting points for your whipped butter formulations. These tiny batches are perfect for experimentation. Use a scale to measure all of your ingredients while you are experimenting. Working in metric weight and volume measurements makes it easy to alter the ratios, do necessary math, and multiply successful formulas. Keep careful notes as you experiment, adding or subtracting waxes, additives, or aromatics as needed.

Basic Whipped Shea Butter

Ingredients: 

• 30 grams Shea Butter
• 0.3-0.9 grams (1-3%) Essential Oil -or- 0.6-1.5 grams (2-5%) Fragrance Oil

Basic Whipped Hard Butter

Ingredients: 

• 20 grams Hard Butter (Cocoa, Kokum, etc.)
• 0.3-0.9 grams (1-3%) Essential Oil -or- 0.6-1.5 grams (2-5%) Fragrance Oil
• 10 grams liquid Carrier Oil (Sweet Almond, Fractionated Coconut, Rice Bran, etc.)

Basic Whipped Medium-Soft Butter

Ingredients: 

• 30 grams Medium-Soft Butter (Mango, Cupuacu, Murumuru, etc.)
• 0.3-0.9 grams (1-3%) Essential Oil -or- 0.6-1.5 grams (2-5%) Fragrance Oil
• 1.5 - 3 grams (5 - 10%) Wax 

Basic Whipped Solid Oil 

Ingredients: 

• 15 grams Solid Oil (Babassu, Coconut, Monoi De Tahiti, etc.)
• 15 grams Hard Butter (Cocoa, Kokum, etc.)
• 0.3-0.9 grams (1-3%) Essential Oil -or- 0.6-1.5 grams (2-5%) Fragrance Oil
• 3 - 6 grams (10 - 20%) Wax 

Basic Whipped Soft-Butter

Ingredients: 

• 30 grams Soft Butter (Aloe, Pistachio, Macadamia Nut, etc.)
• 0.3-0.9 grams (1-3%) Essential Oil -or- 0.6-1.5 grams (2-5%) Fragrance Oil
• 3 - 6 grams (10 - 20%) Wax 

Basic Directions for Whipped Body Butters

1. Temper the butters if necessary. (More information on tempering and crystallization is included below, under "Important Tips".)
2. Melt butters, waxes, and carrier oils together in a double boiler over high heat. 
3. When the mixture is completely melted, remove the boiler from heat. 
4. Add any aromatics or additives.
5. Using a whisk or hand mixer, whip the mixture continuously as it begins to cool.
6. Continue whipping the butter until it cools and thickens. Scrape the sides of the container as needed. 
7. Don't stop whipping until the mixture becomes thick and fluffy, like frosting.
8. Transfer the mixture to jars using a spatula or a frosting bag.
9. Allow the butters to cool, set, and harden completely before use.

Important Tips for Making Whipped Body Butters

• Crystallization: Vegetable Butters sometimes form tiny crystals when they are heated and re-melted. This can happen when the butter is packaged (before you get it) or it can happen during formulation (while you are working with it.) After the crystals form, the texture of the butter can become strangely gritty. The crystals are physically harmless, and will melt upon contact with your skin, but they can also detract from the pleasant texture you are trying to give your body butter. To eliminate crystals, butters need to be tempered. Check out this link for complete directions on how to prep and temper your butter before using it in a body butter.
• Warm Weather and Shipping Limitations: A good body butter melts when it contacts warm skin, so imagine what happens to it inside a mailbox or delivery truck on a hot summer day. Unfortunately, whipped body butters do not travel well, particularly during the summer season. Even at home, you'll find that whipped body butters have a hard time setting or remaining fluffy on especially hot days. There isn't much you can do to get around this issue, so many formulators choose to make and/or sell body butters exclusively during the autumn and winter seasons.
• Experimentation: These guidelines are here to give you a starting point for creating your own recipes. They aren't perfect, so you'll need to try them out in small batches, then tweak them by altering the ratios little by little, playing with different additives, and perfecting your technique. Keep careful notes while you develop your recipes so that you can easily recreate, double, or triple your successful recipes. 

Where to Purchase Ingredients

You can purchase all of the ingredients for whipped body butters mentioned in this post online at www.FromNatureWithLove.com. Use discount code, NBWS4277 to save 7% off qualifying items in your online order!