Homemade Body Butter for Jaxson's Dry Skin

It being winter in the prairies, my whole family suffers from dry skin. Not bad, though eczema does run in the family. Just dry skin. But dry skin of any kind sucks!

I've been looking for months for something that would help Jaxson. I was unwilling to buy any baby lotions, because they are either very bad (ie. Johnson and Johnson, which is chock full of chemicals, fragrances, etc which rate very poorly on the EWG) or very expensive (ie. Earth Mama). Plus, since my little bug came along, I've been more conscious about what I put on my body, and his, so I've been wanting to make my own lotion for him for ages. 

I've been using coconut oil since he was born, and I love it, but it's not moisturizing enough, for any of us, for the winter months! I finally indulged and bought some cocoa butter and shea butter from an organic market here in Saskatoon. The unfortunate thing is it's really expensive, so I had to wait to till my order from New Directions Aromatics (NDA) arrived. Since it finally has, I plan on experimenting a bit with my original recipe (below) to make a more moisturizing cream.

Because it was so expensive at the market in Saskatoon (50g for $16! :-O), I was very hesitant about using it, so this recipe didn't turn out as thick and moisturizing as I wanted it to; I still ended up using mostly coconut oil. However, it's a lovely lotion and in a DAY I noticed a difference with Jaxson's skin! It's softer, smoother, way less dry and chapped. I love what this does to his skin! I'm excited to try making it again with more cocoa and shea butters, and to try it out for myself, with essential oils!

My original recipe:

1 tbsp shea butter
1 tbsp cocoa butter
A bit more than ¼ cup coconut oil
7 drops lavender oil

I melted all these in a double boiler, stirring often, until they were just melted. Then I took it off the heat and added the essential oils, stirring well after each so I could smell it and make sure I didn't add too much. While it was still liquid, I poured it into the sanitized jar I planned on keeping it in, and stuck it in the fridge till it had solidified.

I know that small changes in the ingredients will have huge changes in the consistency of this lotion, and I'd prefer it to be a bit thicker, but this batch is actually quite nice- it's soft and buttery, oily, spreads well and I don't need much to cover Jaxson's whole body! It also soaks in much quicker than I expected it too, so it's not too oily!

Now that I have my order from NDA, and have finally run out of the batch I made (above), i've changed the recipe a bit. As I said, I wanted something thicker, and so I did some reading about the safety of beeswax on babies, since I know honey is not supposed to be introduced till they're a year old due to botulism risks in spores. Honestly, I read very mixed reviews, but apparently a lot of natural baby lotions and nipple creams do contain beeswax. My conclusion is that it's very subjective (as most things are, I find, when it comes to babies)... Most babies are fine, some are not, so use your own discretion. I decided to add just a bit to my new recipe; just enough to really thicken it up and help lock in moisture. 

So my new recipe is:

8 g beeswax pellets

30 g shea butter

45 g cocoa butter

25 g coconut oil

10 drops lavender essential oil

Again, I melted everything in a double boiler, starting with the cocoa butter and then beeswax, because those take the longest to melt. When all the ingredients had fully melted, I removed the bowl from the heat and let it cool a bit before adding the essential oil. The oil smelled amazing on its own, so I only added a little lavender- more for its healing properties than for smell. I really didn't want to take away from the sweet, warm smell of the cocoa butter and beeswax!

One thing I've come to absolutely love about beeswax is how quickly it starts to thicken and solidify! The last batch I made took so long to cool and solidify. This batch started to harden within 10 minutes, and it was a beautiful, thick, though still pourable consistency by the time I poured it into the jar.

I love the colour!

The consistency feels a bit oiler on the skin than the last batch, but still soaks in beautifully! I really like it more than the first batch I made. Surprisingly, though it goes on more oily (which is nice for rubbing it on), it soaks in much faster than the first batch. It smells absolutely divine, and I want it for myself!

I've so far been so pleased with everything i've made - and it's giving me more confidence to try more things! I'm so excited to experiment even more!