Organic Lavender body butter Recipe

Winter can take a serious toll on skin, drying it out so that it looks dull or even cracked. This homemade lavender body butter recipe is perfect to use during the winter months and will even help to get rid of crocodile skin for good once winter is over.

This thick body butter is a go-to for winter-ravaged skin. Shea butter is naturally rich in Vitamins A and E that help soothe, hydrate, and balance the skin.

Mango butter has natural emollient, wound healing, and regenerative properties. Make this homemade body butter to avoid any unwanted additives or nasty chemicals and heal your skin naturally.

Why make your own body butter at home?

Even the most natural commercial companies need to put additives in their products to make them shelf-stable for the time that they spend in the store before they are purchased and brought home. Many also contain synthetic additives to enhance smell, texture and color for mass marketing.

Most of the chemicals added to commercial body butters, like parabens, fragrance (an unregulated term that can hide any of 3,000 different chemicals) and butylated compounds, act as endocrine disruptors in the body and can contribute to organ toxicity.

By making homemade body butter you can avoid these nasty chemicals and select for the highest quality, organic ingredients! You get so much more control when making your own beauty products.

Lavender Body Butter Recipe Ingredients

Shea butter is a nourishing nut butter made from the African shea tree. It is high in vitamins E and A, both of which boost skin health. It also has a rich fatty acid profile, including oleic acid and palmitic acid. This is what makes shea butter so moisturizing to the skin. Refined shea butter has a more mild smell and smoother texture, while unrefined shea butter has a slightly higher vitamin content since it is less processed. Look for a shea butter that is certified organic by a third party.

Mango butter is made from the seeds of the mango fruit tree. It is also high in Vitamin A, giving in skin health-boosting properties. Mango butter is soothing to the skin and helps to repair skin damage. For the highest quality mango butter, check to make sure that it has not been blended with other ingredients.

Grapeseed oil is made from the seeds of the wine grape plant.  It is naturally high in antioxidants and vitamin E and may help reduce the appearance of scars. Its fatty acid content makes it a great moisturizer. Look for a cold-extracted or first-press grapeseed oil for the best quality.

Beeswax is made from bees’ honeycomb – it both provides a firm texture that provides extra thickness for this recipe, and it helps to form a protective, humectant layer on top of the skin. This barrier keeps moisture in and also draws more moisture towards it. Beeswax is also known to decrease tearing in the skin and soothe damaged skin.

Lavender essential oil is distilled from lavender plants. This is a highly beneficial oil, which is naturally antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Lavender essential oil also helps to heal little cuts and reduce the formation of scar tissues. For best results, make sure you purchase a 100% essential oil that has not been blended with anything else.

Lavender or chamomile flower water can be used in this recipe. Both are hydrosols made from either the lavender or chamomile flower. Both have soothing effects on the skin and can help to reduce redness. True hydrosols should only contain two ingredients: water and the flower the hydrosol is made from.

In this recipe, you can substitute grapeseed oil with another carrier oil – grapeseed oil just happens to be what I had in my kitchen! Other carrier oils that are good for dry skin are almond oil, apricot kernel oil, jojoba oil, and kukui oil.

The texture of homemade body butter

If you expect a super light-weight lavender body butter recipe, then look again, this is good for dry skin that needs a strong moisturizer. It’s nice and thick and leaves a protective barrier on the skin to preserve hydration.

Dry skin tips to banish winter skin

Use daily or as needed. Apply all over your body after showering or only on elbows and knees with dry skin. Don’t you forget, croc ladies: beauty is inside out. Be sure to drink plenty of water, and eat nourishing natural whole foods. Healthy fats are especially important for skin health so make sure to eat fatty fish like salmon, or to consume coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and plant-based fatty foods such as nuts and avocados.

Finally, while I agree that hot showers certainly feel divine, your skin will thank you for turning down the hot knob a notch!

Please let me know what you think of this lavender body butter recipe.