How to make body butter at home with Kokum Butter
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| How to make body butter at home with Kokum Butter |
Hey ladies! I
am literally jumping with excitement because a homemade beauty recipe turned
out super successful this morning. Commercial body butters always were too
expensive for me considering the tiny amount that retailed in jars. But my dry
skin always yearned for the luxurious feel of body butters. Since I am not into
business of skincare products, getting raw materials at wholesale prices was
not an option for me. And butters like cocoa and shea do retail at higher
prices in online stores. Then came the discovery for me: Kokum
Butter..Ta-daaaaa!
Indigenous to
Indian subcontinent, kokum butter is produced from the fruit Kokum which is
primarily found in Western India. While other natural butters may be pore-clogging,
kokum butter although very emollient, does not clog pores. Here are a few more
trivia about Kokum Butter:
ü
Has healing properties which fights
natural toxins produced by skin
ü
Has regenerative properties which slow
down ageing.
ü
Nourishes the skin and combats dryness
without being too greasy like other natural butters.
ü
Fights infections and promotes healthy
skin cells
ü
Perfect for sensitive skin since it
repairs skin damage.
ü
Very light and almost no fragrance.
All these
properties along with its lower price tag were enough for me to grab it before
other skin butters. After going through endless customer reviews, I zeroed in
this one from Amazon (Click HERE)
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| kokum butter |
Once I had
this in my cart, I also needed a carrier and softening oil and an essential oil
for a bit of fragrance and extra benefits. My natural choices were coconut oil and
lavender oil because the first increases hydration and has anti-fungal,
anti-bacterial properties while the latter is anti-inflammatory, soothes
eczema, detoxifies skin and its smell is known to de-stress. These
are the ones I chose from Amazon (Coconut Oil HERE, Lavender oil HERE).
I also added a round glass jar that could sit pretty on my dresser (Buy it HERE)
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| Ingredients: How to make body butter at home with Kokum Butter |
Now, all
things sorted, the entire process of making this body butter was a piece of
cake! I did not use any measuring cups, so I will just wrote down the rough
estimate of the amount of ingredients I used.
Ingredients:
·
Kokum Buttter : I have used less than 1/4th of the this 500gm
block.
·
Coconut oil: I have used almost 100ml this time (half the bottle)
·
Lavender Essential Oil: 15-20
drops
Tools
required: A borosil
pan (if you wish to microwave) or any regular saucepan if you use double
boiling method over gas stove. An electric blender (Hand whisks work too but
that would require a lot of work), A piping bag for non-messy filling into the
jar (I used a plain polythene packet) and finally a glass jar with lid.
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| Crushed kokum butter |
Steps:
1. Using a knife or a grater scrape out required quantity
of kokum butter into the vessel (Small pieces or grated shavings melt faster)
2. Pour in coconut oil.
3. Place the pan over another bigger vessel of boiling
water and keep it there only till butter melts. No overheating. If you are
microwaving, keep for a maximum of 10-15 seconds.
4. Once melted the otherwise off-white kokum butter and
coconut oil will look brownish. Let it cool and then pop it in freezer for 15
minutes. My freezer wasn’t empty, so I just kept the pan in fridge overnight.
5. If you find the butters have solidified too much, just
keep the vessel out of fridge for sometime till they soften. I had to keep it
out for an hour (since it’s winters here)
6. With an electric beater, whip your heart away to
fluffy butter :D It literally took me only 3 minutes to get the desired
fluffiness. But don’t stop there. Keep whipping for a good 15-20minues. If you
see that your mixture had melted too much and is not whipping good, just pop it
in fridge for a few minutes and then whip again.
7. Transfer the contents into piping bag and fill your
jar. Make sure there is no trace of water in the jar. Butters will go bad if
there is moisture.
8. Take a tiny amount and rub on your skin. Less is more
for body butters.
9. Do a happy dance ;)
10.
Return to real life and go clean up the blender :P
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| melted kokum butter and coconut oil |
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| How to make body butter at home with Kokum Butter |
Mine and my
mom’s skin just soaked up the butter :D There was no greasiness, but the skin
felt tremendously nourished. If you want that cool tingly sensations that most
commercial creams have, you can add peppermint oil. Kokum butter is compatible
with most essential oils. Just remember not to add citrus essential oils
(lemon, orange etc) since they can aid to skin sensitivity when exposed to sun.
Since I am not a skincare expert, I cannot comment on the correct amounts of
citrus oils that can be used. So better stick to safer options like lavender,
peppermint, avocado, rosehip etc.
You can also
use soap dyes (NOT food colors) to add pretty colors to your body butter. I
skipped since it was unnecessary.
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| How to make body butter at home with Kokum Butter |
Points to remember:
v
Homemade body butters may turn hard. The point is to use less of hard
butters (kokum, cocoa, shea etc) and more of oils (coconut, jojoba, sunflower
etc)
v
Whip with the electric beater for atleast 20 minutes. Do not stop even
if the whipped butter looks perfect after 2 minutes of whipping.
v
You may add Vitamin E capsules for increasing shelf life.4
v
Before trying any ingredient, may sure you are not allergic to any of it
(ALWAYS do patch test)
Disclaimer: All products are bought by my own money and I am not promoting
any brand here. Readers’ own discretion on which brands of raw materials suit
them.
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