Chocolate & Orange Massage Bar Recipe

You are going to love this easy to make organic and all natural massage bar recipe! It can also be used as a body moisturizer. I’ve used Shea Butter which is naturally rich in Vitamins A, E which helps to soothe, hydrate, and balance the skin.  You will get the chocolate scent bu using unrefined cocoa butter and sweet orange essential oil for a comforting scent. This homemade massage bar is with beeswax. It’s also nice and slippery on contact, which makes it is perfect for massage as you work it into the skin.

The benefits of massage

Massage is beneficial to both the muscular system and the skin. While you relieve the stiffness of tired muscles, you increase blood flow to the surface of the skin. Blood carries important nutrients and this helps to bring out your skin’s natural radiance!

Massage is often made easier by an oil that allows your hands to glide smoothly over the skin and muscle tissue. Why not also choose oils that have nourishing properties for the skin? This DIY massage bar is a great alternative to traditional massage oils that can be difficult to store and hard to travel with.

It also makes a great gift!

Massage Bar Recipe Ingredients

Shea butter is a nut butter made from the African shea tree. Long used for its natural hydrating properties, it is a rich butter that absorbs reasonably well. It also melts into the skin’s warmth, making it perfect for a massage bar. You can use raw Shea butter which contains more vitamins (particularly vitamins A and E) and minerals than refined Shea butter, but I am not a big fan of the nutty smell. Organic refined Shea butter is my personal favorite. I recommend avoiding any grade lower than refined (below Grade B) as it will affect the level of vitamin content too drastically and lower grade are produced using solvents like hexane.

Cocoa butter is a rich butter extracted from cocoa beans. It’s not as thick as Shea butter, which can almost seem solid at room temperature, but it has a lovely, creamy texture. It also melts into the skin on contact. Its high fatty acid content helps into to moisturize the skin.

Apricot kernel oil is made from the kernel of apricot fruit. It is a lighter textured oil with a high antioxidant as well as fatty acid content. This enables it to both hydrate the skin and repair and prevent cellular damage.

Beeswax is made from bee honeycomb. It is a natural emollient and humectant that forms a protective barrier over the skin. Due to its natural properties, this barrier both keeps moisture in and draws more moisture to it. In this recipe, it helps to give the bar its solid shape but also becomes pliable with skin contact.

Essential oils

Sweet orange essential oil is distilled from the natural oils in orange peel. It is high in antioxidants like the brightening vitamin C. It lends its sweet, uplifting scent which is known to both relax and uplift the mood. Make sure that your orange essential oil is 100% pure with no synthetic fragrance added.

Word of wisdom: Like any citrus essential oil, tangerine and sweet orange can be phototoxic, avoid using before going under the sun!