Making my own natural beauty products is one of my favourite things to do. Whether it be soap or deodorant or laundry detergent or shampoo or a balm. When a day gets dedicated to making natural products my husband always comments about my science experiments. Granted; in the early days there were some disasterous experiments. But I have eventually developed a health range for friends and family which ultimately became a small business. I love that people want to use healthy products on their skins and are discovering just how much better they work than commercial alternatives.
In my 20's, when I began switching to healthy living I was horrified to discover how our biggest organ - our skin - is bombarded with toxins. Heavy metals, petrochemicals, formaldehyde are just some of the ingredients in commercial beauty products. As time went by I learned about essential oils and the incredible plant butters available. And that is when I started experimenting. I then discovered another homesteader who grows and distills her own essential oils. She also emulsifies almond oil to make this wonderful cream base. To preserve the shelf life she uses a rosemary antioxidant. The pure white but bland smelling cream looks and feels like aqueous but is not. By adding a variety of nutrient dense butters and plant oils you have a nourishing and regenerative cream that can be used as a night cream or for your entire body!
Beeswax is in most of my body butters. We have bee hives. Honey and beeswax are superfoods that need their own post. Because I love shea butter and cocoa butter equally in skin care, I use both but in different recipes. For today's body butter it's cocoa butter. With beeswax they make a protective barrier cream without blocking pores. Based on which flowers bees glean from their beeswax changes in colour. I love the deep yellow hue to the body butter. For today's recipe; Chocolate and Roses, I use some really girlie smelling essential oils. Rose Geranium, Rose and Rosemary combined with Rosehip. Rosehip is one of the favoured ancient oils, loved for its regenerative quality.
Now, let's get started:
CHOCOLATE AND ROSES BODY BUTTER:
100 grams Beeswax
180 grams Cocoa Butter
900 grams Almond oil emulsified
6 tablespoons Castor oil/Jojoba
2 tablespoons Rosehip oil
30 drops Rose Geranium Essential oil
30 drops Rosemary Essential oil
30 drops Rose Essential oil
Measure out your beeswax and cocoa butter then melt in a double boiler.. It takes a while so set the temperature low and make yourself a cup of tea. It's a good time to sterilize the jars you want to use. I always use glass dip jars. You also need to get your stick blender ready.
The most tricky part of making body butters is mixing the hot melted oils to the rest of the ingredients without lumps forming. After all these years I've mastered it - mostly - but rather start with smaller quantities than 1 kg of cream!
You need to add small quantities of the cool ingredients to the hot and immediately blend. Quickly add a tablespoon or two of the cream base. Don't forget to weigh it! Immediately blend.
It will probably be quite runny and then suddenly thicken. Once you are sure there are no hardening globules of beeswax add another little bit of the cream base. Blend until smooth.
Continue until all your cream base is nicely blended in. Then add in your castor oil and blend again.
The best part is pouring out those wonderfully scented essential oils. No matter what their healing properties they have such a soothing effect.
Lastly blend in the Rosehip, Rose Geranium, Rose and Rosemary. While still warm fill your pre-sterilized jars. Allow to cool before sealing. Although it lasts for many months I usually store my body butters in the fridge - simply because our long summer Karoo temperatures are melting point in the shade.
You'll be surprised at how nourishing this recipe is. Which means a little goes a long way. The wonderful thing is that once you have the initial ingredients you can alternate the essential oils for a zesty or more earthy aroma. That way you can tailor make each body butter for friends and family. Who doesn't love a pamper? These really make such special gifts and I never get bored of my science experiments.
