DIY: Homemade Cocoa Butter Body Butter

DIY-HOMEMADE-COCOA-BUTTER
      Homeade Cocoa Butter Body Butter is the THING to do, especially in the winter. And it’s easy!
If you didn’t already know, you should know that I don’t have a domestic bone in my body. And for the most part, I like to adhere to the Shakespearean saying: to thine own self be true. However, my skin these days has taken a turn for the worst.  Dry doesn’t even begin to describe the ashiness my skin skin has succumbed to. Yeah, I said it, A-S-H-I-N-E-S-S.  I’ll spare you the photos of the backs of my feet, but trust me on this. It wasn’t pretty. Feel free to judge me, I was judging myself until I decided to google recipes for cocoa butter.
Why, pray tell, did I opt to make my own versus buying, for instance, tried and “true” Palmer’s Cocoa Butter??
Well, if the big red X doesn’t tell you how I feel about this stuff. Let me be plain:
Palmer’s Cocoa Butter is made up a bunch crap other than cocoa butter, and it doesn’t last all day. My winter skin needs more.
So, in an effort to save money, and to be sure of the ingredients being applied to my skin I made my own cocoa butter formula! Here’s what I used:
  1. Raw Cocoa Butter purchased here: RAW Cocoa Butter 1 Lbir?t=dime05 20&l=am2&o=1&a=B000W0A78S
  2. Organic Coconut Oil purchased here: Nature’s Way Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, 16 Ounceir?t=dime05 20&l=am2&o=1&a=B003B3OOPA
  3. Raw unrefined Shea butter purchased here: 100% Pure Unrefined Organic Raw SHEA BUTTER – (1 Pound) from the nut of the African Ghana Shea Treeir?t=dime05 20&l=am2&o=1&a=B004YBW5T0
The rest was pretty easy:
cocoa-butter-recipe
 Melt about 2 cups of Raw cocoa butter on the stove. Bonus: Your whole place will smell like the yummiest of chocolates. Get ready.
natural-cocoa-butter
Melt about 2-3 tablespoons of organic coconut oil (or really any oil you’d like) into the melted cocoa butter. Keep it on medium heat, you want to melt it. Not boil it.
IMG 8772         Stir in a a heaping spoon of Shea butter, if you have it. Otherwise, skip this step.
 homemade-cocoa-butter
Stir it all up, pour into whatever container you have handy. Then throw it into the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.
cocoa-butter-recipe
The first two pics are actually misleading as they are images of what you DO NOT want your butter to look like when it comes out of the freezer. I left mine in too long and it was actually forming too much into a solid. I had to throw it back into the pot, melt, and then cool again before being able to whip it into a nice consistency. You really want your butter to come out of the freezer as it’s just about to turn and not a moment after. Otherwise, you won’t be able to whip it into the final product using a handheld mixer as featured in the third photo.
cocoa-butter-natural
In the end, your butter will look something like so. Not bad for my first try. I really wanted a more whipped texture, so next time, I will play around with the freezer time and whip it for more than 1 minute and see if the results are more to my liking.

Final Grade: B+

It actually goes on and feels a lot like Palmer’s Cocoa Butter, but I was going for a softer texture. A little goes  along way, and it DEFINITELY lasts all day. It’s a little greasy going on, but your skin will thank you by reverting to a soft baby-like feel you’ll want to touch all day!

UPDATE: I added Beeswax to the mixture and it came out MUCH better the second time around. Beeswax is a natural emollient which helps to keep the product soft and easy to apply to the skin. 

 Give it a try and let me know how yours turns out.
xoxo,
Lisa
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3 Comments

  1. Hi! Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been looking for a homemade substitution to Palmers. Couple of questions:
    How much beeswax did you use?
    Did the “butter” come out to the consistency you wanted the second time?
    How much product did you end up with in the end…Just the jar your holding in your picture?

    Thanks again!
    Melanie

    1. Hi Melanie. I made this so long ago it’s hard to remember. I think I ended up with two jars, and yes, the consistency was much better the second time around. I used one “bar” of beeswax as it’s sold in bars on amazon. I hope this helps!!

  2. how much/ what quantity of beeswax to include? Help

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