I’m still looking for that perfect body whip and I think I found it!
The Mango Body Butter I made several weeks ago is great, but it’s really a butter. It whips up nice, but doesn’t stay soft. I still like it, but I want something that stays soft. I had made one for my friend Deegee last year but I can’t remember which formula I used, so I thought I’d start from scratch. I know hers had a lot of shea. Here is what I made yesterday.
I noticed when I was filling the jars that it wasn’t setting up so fast like it the Mango Body Butter did.
But the real test is what it feels like today, one day later.
Today it’s just as soft and creamy as when I whipped it up yesterday and just what I wanted for some Christmas gifts. I wanted it to smell like chocolate but I used all of that fragrance oil up on the soap we made several weeks ago that I’ve yet to post about!
Here is the recipe if you want to try your hand at this body whip.
Mango Shea Body Whip [print_link]
60% shea butter
10% coconut oil
10% sesame seed oil
10% evening primrose
10% avocado butter
1% Mango Sorbet fragrance oil (or any fragrance oil you like)
Put the shea, coconut and avocado butter into a double boiler (or a glass measuring container sitting on top of a canning ring in a sauce pan with water). Warm the butters and oil until soft – not melted. Take off the heat and add the other two oils. Add the fragrance oil and then whip. I use my immersion blender wand that I use for soap making. Keep whipping until it is the consistency you want.
Put in jars and cap. There you have it! A great body whip.
Some substitutions – For the last 40% you don’t have to use four different oils. You can add any fixed/carrier oils including coconut, soy, almond, olive etc. The ones I used, I’ve been wanting to use them in a product and haven’t done much with them. Sesame seed oil (not the kind you cook with) helps with inflammation and itching. Evening Primrose oil helps in skin hydration and avocado butter is really just a great butter on its own.
A word about shelf life. Most of the oils I used have a long shelf life except for the sesame seed oil which only has a shelf life of 9-12 months. I am hoping the recipents of this whip will use it within the year. To be safe without putting in a preservative, I’d throw any of this left over after 9 months. But I know there won’t be any left over from my jar!
Now that I’ve posted about this whip I won’t lose it!
This looks great, Lynda…I am going to have to try some of your recipes. Where do you buy all of your stuff for making it? Is it easiest to order online from a supply place? Thanks.
Kathy, It’s easiest to order online although you can get some stuff locally. I buy most of my stuff from Majestic Mountain Sage, Bramble Berry, From Nature with Love, and Wholesale Supplies Plus.
You can pick up some stuff locally. I pick up olive oil from Sams and several of the other oils (castor, jojoba and rice bran) from the local health store. You also can get coconut oil from the hf store. I use so much of it and palm for soap making that, I ordered them in bulk.
Looks wonderful and creamy! I had the problem as well that the body butters didn’t stay creamy but then I used cocoa butter and not shea. That probably makes all the difference.
Using cocoa or any of the hard butters I found make it turn hard. This is still soft! This could also be made with just shea and coconut oil.
Enjoyed reading your post. I’m a soap, lotion junkie. Will try this recipe for my daughter (and me)….thanks for posting.
Hi
Thanks for the recipe but the butter still turns hard. It does not remain the same soft while it is when wipped.
Can you provide a solution to this.
Thnx
Maddy, I don’t know what happened to yours. Mine is still soft and I use it every day. Did you use the same butters? The high percentage of shea butter keeps it soft. If you used cocoa butter or any of the hard butters like mango, it will be hard like the Mango Body Butter.
Hey Lyndah,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I used African unrefined shea butter (yellow colored). and almond oil, jojoba oil & vitamin E. And ofcourse essential oil -orange flavor. When I whipped and stored in container it was soft but later became hard (nt fluffy ).
thnx again
My whipped butters also turn hard after a short while, and I also use unrefined Shea butter from Ghana. I use cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil and jojoba oil in my recipe.
Try not to use orange essential oil before exposing your skin to the sun. I believe that a minimum of 10-12 hours is required before exposing the skin to the sun , I recommend you to google Orange Essential Oil just to be on the safe side 🙂
I am also interested to know what could make a whipped butter hard/soft, if the recipe is the same 🙂
Nedeia, Cocoa butter is a hard butter and will make your whips hard. If you look at the Mango Body Butter recipe https://lyndaheines.blog/2010/11/mango-body-butter/ you see that the recipe includes both shea and mango (or other hard butter like cocoa) and it becomes hard or really a butter instead of a whip. As for why Maddy’s turned out hard, I’m not sure. It may be the difference between refined and unrefined shea. I am using Refined Shea Butter with a high melt point. I’ve had problems in the past with shea butter becoming grainy so I decided to try this one. But also, if Maddy is using less shea than my recipe, that may account for the hardness. I’m still researching the difference between the two – refined vs unrefined.
I’m new to soap & lotion making. Is it possible to tell me the % in ounces?
Maria,
It’s just a little math. Decide on how many ounces you want to have for your total batch. So let’s say you want to make a total of 20 ounces, for the shea butter you’d use 60% of 20 which would be 12 ounces. Do that with all of the ingredients.
Hi! Thanks so much for the tut! Question… Did you place in ice between whips? If not, how long did you whip for? Ive made a couple of recipes and non ave come out the way I want them! Your pics look amazing!!! Hoping it works this time around!!! 😉
Yeissen, I didn’t place it in ice. Also, for this one you just whip it until you get the consistency you want. Easy peasy!
Do you sell any of your homemade stuff?
Jackie, Thanks for your question and dropping by. No, not at this time. Lynda
Hi – I was wondering, why is this recipe called Mango Shea Body Whip when there is absolutely no mango used at all? Did I miss something?
Elaine, You did not miss a thing! I called it Mango because I used Mango Sorbet fragrance oil but I didn’t specify that fragrance. When I made that I was on a mango sorbet kick!! So you could make it any fragrance you like. Thanks for your comment and calling that out.
This looks awesome, just some quick questions:
1. Can this lotion be stored in a pump dispenser bottle or will it harden?
2. Does this leave a slick film from the oils?
3. When you apply it, is it a dry rub or is it moist feeling like store bought lotion?
Angel,
It won’t harden, but I think it would be too thick to pump.
Not sure what you mean about slick film. It’s definitely not as dry as some lotions but I wouldn’t call it a slick film.
It’s not a dry rub – more moist.
I’ve not made this in a long time. I think I need to whip up a batch. Thanks for dropping by. And hope that helps.
Thank you so much for your reply. I’m sorry if I have lots of posts. My computer never showed that my comment has been posted.
By “slick film”, I meant when you apply this lotion and you rub your thumb and middle and index finger together can you feel any kind of oily/grease layer?