If you've ever felt underwhelmed with regular DIY body butter, then this recipe is for you, my friend. You won't encounter any graininess, melting, hardening, or flat-out greasiness with this puppy!
It simply feels amazing on your skin, rich and creamy, but at the same time fast-absorbing and hydrating. Muah, chef's kiss 🤩!
What is an Emulsified Body Butter?
You might have already guessed it: it's an emulsion - meaning it's part oil and part water. Since the two famously don't mix well, we need a so-called emulsifier. In our case, an emulsifying wax is used to bind the two together and achieve a stable body butter that won't separate over time.
You could also call it a body cream since its consistency is rich, thick, and creamy, and the formula is mostly oil-based as opposed to a lotion that mainly consists of water. As you will see, some emulsified body butters don't even need to have an actual cosmetic butter to achieve this gorgeous consistency. It all depends on the formulation.
Why Emulsified Body Butter?
For this, it might be helpful to jump back to traditional homemade body butters. These are usually made from a blend of cosmetic butters (such as shea and mango) and oils. Essentially, a product that's 100% comprised of fatty acids.
Unfortunately, these basic body butter formulations, although very easy to make, come with some drawbacks. Namely, they're not effective in hydrating the skin since they lack water. They often feel greasy and are highly unstable in different climates: melt in summer, harden in winter.
Here's where an emulsified body butter can really shine: it's super moisturizing, absorbs quickly, while strengthening the skin's protective barrier, and remains stable in a wide range of temperatures. And, between us, most big cosmetic companies use an emulsion to make their body butters as well.
What You'll Need
Since this is an emulsion, we will add an emulsifier and a humectant to this formula, but most importantly, we need a preservative! There's no way around this since we're introducing water to the formulation, which is a breeding ground for mold and bacteria - so better be on the safe side!
Oil Phase Ingredients
I love using tallow in soap and for body balms, not only because it's a great skincare ingredient, but also because it helps me cut down on waste.
Tallow has great moisturizing and emollient properties due to its fatty acid and vitamin composition. It can also help strengthen the natural skin barrier and prevent transepidermal water loss (drying of the skin) (Source).
You see, tallow is made of rendered animal fat that would go to waste if not used in cooking, soapmaking, or as biofuel. So, using it in skincare is a no-brainer!
If you wish to make this formulation vegan, however, you can swap the tallow out for shea butter - very lovely as well!
Tallow, which is on the heavier, greasy side, pairs well in this emulsion with a fast-absorbing lightweight oil, like grapeseed, jojoba, or apricot kernel oil. All of which are very nourishing and vitamin-rich.
To the oil phase, we'll also add emulsifying wax, which will turn our body butter into a wonderful emulsion. And also, cetyl alcohol, which not only helps emulsify and keep the formulation stable, but also adds a wonderful silky skin feel. If you want to leave the cetyl alcohol out, then bump the amount of emulsifying wax up by a couple of grams.
Water Phase Ingredients
Since this is a pretty simple formulation, the water phase will mainly consist of distilled water, but if you want to get fancy, you can use a hydrosol instead or replace half of the water with aloe vera juice.
To the water, we'll add vegetable glycerin, a wonderful humectant that helps draw water to the skin. If you don't have glycerin on hand, simply replace it with more water. Just keep in mind that your end product will feel a little bit more barebones that way, but still perfectly fine.
Cool Down Phase Ingredients
Once the water and oil phases have heated up and been combined, we let the emulsion cool down to 100℉ before adding any heat-sensitive ingredients. This is particularly important for the preservative- that way it stays effective.
Since Tallow can sometimes have a scent to it, I like to add an essential oil to mask it. One of my favourites is sweet orange essential oil, since it's safe for kids and can be worn in the sun. But you could use lavender or sandalwood, for example.
Until next time. Happy Tinkering! 👋
Emulsified Tallow Body Butter
This rich and creamy body butter will beautifully nourish and moisturize your skin! Made with skin-loving tallow and oils it will leave your skin glowing and smooth!
Ingredients
Water Phase
- 130 g distilled water or filtered, boiled water
- 10 g vegetabe glycerin substitue with water if not on hand
Oil Phase
- 30 g tallow or shea butter deoderized.
- 14 g emulsifying wax
- 10 g oil graseed, jojoba or apricot kernel
- 4 g cetyl alcohol
Cool Down Phase
- 2 g optiphen plus
- 2 g essential oil sweet orange, lavender, sandalwood...
Instructions
Keep it clean
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Your work area, tools and packaging container must be clean before starting this project. Run heat-resistant tools through the dishwasher, spray them down with diluted rubbing alcohol and dry them with a clean towel.
Weigh Out Your Ingredients
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Use a digital kitchen scale to achieve precise measurements.
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Make sure that you weigh the water and milk in one recipient (aqueous phase) and oil and emulsifying wax (oil phase) in another. Don't mix them yet.
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Use a slightly bigger glass measuring cup for the milk/water mix that will fit your immersion blender.
Heat Your Ingredients
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In order for the emulsifying wax to work, both phases need to be heated to at least 160℉. Fill a saucepan with 1 Inch of water and set on medium heat. I like to put both containers in there, so they reach the same temperature simultaneously. Sitr frequently and use a meat thermometer to check if they're hot enough.
Mix
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When both phases have reached 160℉, take them off the heat (Careful: Containers will be hot!) and combine by pouring the oil phase into the water mixture. Then, using an immersion blender, mix on low for 30 seconds.
Cool Down
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Let the mixture cool down to 85℉ before adding the preservative and essential oil. Mix well with your immersion blender.
Packaging
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Use a spatula to tranfer your body butter into a glass jar with lid.
Shelf life
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Use within 2-3 months, use clean hands to take body butter from jar to avoid contamination.
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