Homemade Body Butter + Tips for Using Coconut Oil

This post is also available in: Suomi (Finnish)

 this post is sponsored by CocoVi

This time of the year I find myself turning into something I’d call… a lotion monster. My dry and sensitive male skin loves moisturizing and there seems to be different lotions all around our apartment (but they’ve usually lost their caps since I don’t apparently work well with caps, which leads into me buying new jars). I love both facial and body oils and especially now with these cold and dry weather conditions, I’m a true oil fanatic. A few drops to my face, a little something to my hands while cooking in the kitchen (yess for coconut and olive oil!), and now while being pregnant, I’ve come up with a daily routine of massaging oil and body lotion to my belly, breasts, and the rest of the body as well. So I’m a very well moisturized lady by the time I get to bed. Maybe it’s the couple minutes it takes to me to do that, or the gentle massage I give to myself at the same time, but that little moment of self-care has become very nourishing for me both mentally and physically. Even if I do love oils, moisturizing with just oils is rather…oily, and they tend to take quite a lot of time to absorb properly, so I wanted to come up with something that’s as moisturizing as an oil, but has a bit more texture. Enter: this homemade body butter with just a few simple ingredients: coconut oil, cacao butter, and almond oil. I also added some essential lavender oil to the mix, and it brings a lovely scent + lavender has a soothing effect, which is great for an occasionally restless person like me. I’ve been making recipes for CocoVi for a few years already, but now I got the chance to come up with two collaborations here on the blog as well. So I picked up the products I use the most and for this first post I wanted to come up with homemade cosmetics instead of food. You see, making homemade beauty products from edible ingredients is pretty great as: 1) you don’t have to go and search for weird ingredients (or maybe you’ll need to go and buy almond oil but you can find it in many grocery stores and use for baking too!) and 2) I got to use the bag of cacao butter that’s been hiding in the cupboards for a while. Before I jump onto the recipe, I thought I’d quickly share some thoughts on coconut oil too. A lot of you probably have a jar at home, and I use it in many of my recipes too. Besides being great for baking, there are however so many ways you can use coconut oil outside the kitchen, and I thought I’d share a few of my favorite ways here.

My tips for using coconut oil:

– You can make a super nice homemade body scrub with coconut oil, honey, and salt. It’s great for the whole body and leaves your skin feeling super soft. – Coconut oil is also great for dry hair and dry scalp. I like to massage it gently to my scalp and to the whole lengths of my hair (or just the ends if I’m busy) and let it sit for at least 20 minutes before washing off. You can also use a small amount of coconut oil as a hair oil to dry ends after washing, see the explanation at the link. Meanwhile, if you want to style your hair, you can purchase equipment on sites online which has stocks like Kamisori Shears.

– For the past few months I’ve been removing my make up with coconut oil. I take about a teaspoon of coconut oil and massage it to my face and it removes all of my makeup gently. I then use a gentle cleansing foam to remove the make up and oil. (Tip: A small jar of coconut oil is super handy while traveling, as you can remove your make up and moisturize the entire body with it). – Coconut oil is a great moisturizer for intimate areas as well and can be used as a natural lubricant. – Coconut oil works as a massage oil too and besides getting a massage, you’ll be getting a moisturized skin.  So convenient! (Now you just need to get that massage..) But now back to this body butter. Besides using coconut oil, I chose cacao butter and almond oil as they’re very moisturizing, absorb pretty quickly, and my sensitive skin seems to really like them. Also, both cacao butter and almond oil have lots of vitamin E, which is said to be great for skin care (and I even found this research, which says that vitamin E can help to prevent stretch marks + fade existing ones), and I’m very happy to try it with my ever-expanding belly :) If you feel like in need of some self-care and moisturizing, whip up a batch of this body butter and schedule some pampering time to your daily life. I’m not the one to keep up with extensive beauty routines, so these small moments of taking care of myself are the ones I tend to stick to. And at least for me, self-care = better overall mood. Sending you lots of love and cozy times! xo

Homemade Body Butter with Coconut Oil & Cacao Butter notes: when making homemade cosmetics, make sure all your utensils are clean and dry, as water can bring bacteria to the lotion. you can sterilize the jars you use in boiling water but I usually just wash them in the dishwasher and then dry carefully. also, depending on the temperature, this body butter can harden up, but it will soften quickly when applied to skin. you can use a small spoon to take it from the jar if it seems too hard to take by hand.   3/4 cup cacao butter 1/2 cup cold-pressed coconut oil 1/4 cup almond oil 10 to 20 drops of essential lavender oil (or another essential oil) METHOD: 1. Clean and dry the jar you’ll use for the body butter carefully so that no water is left. Make sure that the all the utensils you use are clean and dry. 2. Melt the cocoa butter and coconut oil in a warm water bath until liquid. Remove from the heat and mix in the almond oil. Place in the fridge for about an hour to cool. (If the mixture is too runny, it won’t foam). 3. When the mixture is clearly a bit thicker, take it from the fridge. Add the essential lavender oil and whip into a fluffy foam with an electric mixer. This will take usually a few minutes. Spoon the cream into a jar. 4. Store at room temperature in an airtight glass jar. The cream stores well for 2 to 3 months.   TallennaTallennaTallennaTallenna TallennaTallenna TallennaTallenna