
While most of us come nowhere close to being kitchen mixtresses,
almost all of us have at least tried our hand at whipping up some of our
own hair products — namely whipped butters. They are so easy to make,
and for the curly on a budget or one who does not have easy access to
some of the well known natural brands
out there, this is a great alternative. Making your own butter is so
easy almost any curly can do it, so here’s an easy to follow guide to
get you started.
Hair Butter Recipe
Begin with some butter of your choice, like shea, cocoa or mango, and your favorite hair oil.
However, be careful where you purchase your butters and oils as you may
not be getting the purest thing. Since it’s an all natural butter we want, be especially weary of commercial oils
that are really laden with silicone and mineral oil with only a few
drops of the actual oil. Also keep in mind what you want to use your
butter for. If you want to create a hair butter, then mixing in heavy
oils with an already heavy butter like shea may leave your strands
weighed down and oily. Likewise, if you are trying to create a body
butter, using light oils may not be heavy enough to keep your skin
moisturized, especially in the winter months. Before even mixing, plan
out what proportions of oil to butter you want to use keeping in mind
that less liquid oil will make a firmer thicker butter and more oil will
keep it fluffy and light.
- When heating your butters and oils, never place
them directly into the pan as it may cause them to boil and burn.
Instead, place about a cup and a half of water in a small pan and place a
glass bowl over it then place your ingredients in the glass bowl. This
is called a double boiler and is a much gentler way of heating up your
oils and melting your butter. - After the butter has melted, turn off your burner
and remove the bowl from on top of the pan. Stir the mixture to ensure
that all of the oils and butters are thoroughly combined and allow it to
cool for a while. Don’t wait too long, however, since you do not want
it to begin to harden before you start to whip it. Now is the time to
add your essential and fragrance oils. Remember, you only need a few
drops as these are concentrated oils. - Once your ingredients are melted, mix until it’s
nice and fluffy. It is much easier and faster to use a stand or electric
hand mixer but if you don’t have one then a whisk will work just as
well and tone your arms nicely. In order to make your butter nice and
fluffy you will have to leave the mixer on or whisk continuously until
it is no longer in the liquid form. If for some reason you stop the
mixer or stop hand whisking for too long it could harden and not create
the whipped mousse-like consistency that you want. Once your butter is
whipped transfer it to a clean container with an air tight lid and store
it in a cool dry place. - Lastly, remember that oil and water do not mix. We
may be tempted to add water based ingredients like aloe vera gel to our
mixture, but the ingredients will not mix and you will be left with the
butter at the bottom and liquid floating on top. In order for the
liquids and oils to mix, emulsifiers must be used and unless you are a
serious kitchen mixtress who has done her homework, you shouldn’t even
attempt it. Also, adding any water based ingredient to your mix will
drastically shorten its shelf life so let’s stick with the butters and
oils.
Nice. I've used this recipe for body butter. And it works great. Great alternative to save money and be healthier, considering all the chemicals put in our products today. I've also ready the shea butter was good sun protectant, if your aren't in the sun too much. Go figure, the earth is made of wonderful things we don't need to re-invent.
I'm going to try my hand at this to save some money. I just need to come up with a good recipe. Thanks for sharing!
I use scented oil for EVERYTHING! My husband was skeptical about me moisturizing with it since he thought I would be oily, but my skin hasn't been this soft in a long time. And my hair is feeling better each time I style since I've only been using the oils and butters. I don't complicate my routine and having a multi-purpose product is never a bad thing.
Hey Angie, a 1 to 1 ratio (i.e. 2 oz of melted butter and 2 oz of oil) of butter to oils works well for me. My fave is shea butter whipped with hempseed oil. It's a bit on the heavy side, but it's great for colder temps, and the hempseed oil makes for a smooth texture. Recipe is here~~> http://ow.ly/ebps4 HTH:)
Might have hop on this sounds like I can use it multiple ways.
I love making my own hair and body butters. I know what products are in my butters and more importantly, they are customized to my needs. Using my own mixes have virtually eliminated my eczema outbreaks and increased the softness and health of my skin. I still use over the product lotions. As soon as I crack the lotion code I'll be making those too (lol)!
I made a body butter instead of hair butter: shea and cocoa butters, grapeseed oil, glycerin and aloe vera gel. It was nice and whipped until I put it in the freezer to get a little hard. Big mistake. Lesson learned. I have plenty of hair butters for now, but I think is a good mixture for hair as well.
I use Aloe Vera in my shea butter mix all the time and it works great! Maybe because I just a blender to whip the butter up.
Might actually be worth a try if I can crack the code and get the perfect mixture… Hope to see some recipes!
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I never make my own hair butter, its just too time consuming. I'd rather buy a product and ensure that it is right, then go through the process of mixing and stirring and all that jazz.