A while ago I purchased some African Shea Butter off amazon. We btw have amazon prime and love it. So handy when you don’t want to drive around to actual stores with 3 kids looking for stuff.
I got this Shea Butter originally because my skin was so so dry this summer. I really believe the Chlorine Pool we were at most days was contributing to this. Nothing seemed to keep it moisturized recently… I heard that African Shea Butter could do the trick. I had looked into finding an OTC Shea Butter at the store… but all of them were packed full of so many foreign ingredients… I use completely organic and natural cleansers and facial moisturizers/make up & even my soaps… so why skimp on what I lather all over my body?
Check out the ingredient listing in Vaselines Body Butter (w/ Shea)
caramel, dimethicone copolyol, yellow 5 (ci 19140), dimethicone, stearic acid, disteareth 75 ipdi, phenoxyethanol, xanthan gum, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), propylene glycol, cetyl alcohol, peg 90 diisostearate, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, water, sodium acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, glycerin, potato starch modified, triethanolamine, polysorbate 80, fragrance, disodium edta, hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylhexyl cocoate, paraffin, glyceryl stearate, methylparaben, hydrogenated didecene, microcrystalline wax, cyclopentasiloxane, propylparaben, isohexadecane, petrolatum, glycol stearate, dimethicono
I have no clue what 95% of that stuff even is… but I cant imagine it being very good for us.
When I got the Shea Butter, I was excited to try it out… but as soon as I began to rub my hands into it (its pretty solid btw) – I gave it a wiff and was totally grossed out. It smelled terrible!
I now know why most Shea Butter Creams have other stuff mixed in ;-) – because alone, it just was not happening.
Today I was reading through a few of my favorite blogs and the “Marathon Mom” posted a recipe for a Vanilla Body Butter. I clicked on over and sure enough, the main ingredient was Shea Butter!
I looked at the rest of the ingredients listed and to my surprise, I had everything needed to whip up a double batch.
It came out fantastic and so far I am loving it. Homemade Body Butters like this, just so you know… will be a tad bit oilier than typical store butters. It is something you have to get use too. The texture of this one came out nice and whipped.
Here are links to the exact items I used. Im pretty sure the Marathon Mom used different types… her Butter came out much whiter than mine. I think there may be a slight difference between African Shea Butter and “regular” Shea Butter… not sure. Either way, mine works well, smells amazing and goes on easy.
Ingredients needed:
African Shea Butter
Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (I buy the bulk size since we use it for cooking. Amazon offers this in much smaller portions though, so you don’t have to fork out 50 bucks. If you cook with it though, this is one of the best coconut oils around!)
Sweet Almond Oil
Pure Vanilla Extract (ours was made by my neighbor Jessie with her own Vanilla Beans! We love it – smells amazing)
Now to learn how to make this CLICK HERE – got to give the Marathon Mom Credit ;-) – she’s worth visiting any way… a mother of 8 boys!
That sounds awesome. I’ll have to try making some when I get some shea butter.
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LOVE this! I’m excited to try this out. thank you :)
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It smells so yummy! We loved having it last night and I have already used it twice. Thanks for sharing!
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