An all natural Body Butter

The moment I first tried the skin butter made by Smita, I knew I was a goner! It felt and smelled absolutely divine, totally natural and what's more, it left my skin feeling very soft and smooth. I knew I had to learn to make it on my own. And from scratch at that. As luck would have it, I came across some leftover hive post a honey harvest at my workplace and before I knew it, I was back home learning to make Beeswax the hard way (filter and double filter!). The next logical step? I just couldn't wait to make the actual body butter. And it turned out amazingly wonderful - no accidents, no wrong measurements, no mess! The end product is smelling fantastic as well while the whole process has left the house with a beautiful lingering fragrance. Bliss!

Here, let me share how to make this all natural Body Butter quickly before you come after me for an overload of adjectives :P.

This recipe calls for just three ingredients - Cold pressed or Virgin Coconut Oil, Beeswax and Frankinscense (Sambrani).

As you will know, there's nothing more soothing to your skin than Coconut oil, especially in this part of the world. It's a wonder oil that has a wide variety of use right from skin care to cooking. It is antimicrobial, antifungal and is a good moisturizer that prevents excessive skin dryness. It has amazing healing properties as well. And it removes tan to boot! What's not to like?! The Beeswax is also a wonderbox that packs quiet a punch - being antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial!! And it's supposed to reduce age spots too! As for Frankinscense, it should come as no surprise to you to know that it is an astringent that comes with it's own benefits for the skin including helping reduce acne, wrinkles and pores! The divine fragrance also brings a soothing effect on the senses. This Body Butter can't get more natural or healing!

Now, let's look at the proportions:

• 250 ml of Virgin Coconut Oil or Cold Pressed Coconut Oil (that's about 1 standard cup)
• About 100-200 gms of Beeswax (I took about half a cup or a bit less)
• A teaspoon of Frankinscense

The making procedure:

1. Take a wide mouthed vessel with some water in it and put it to heat. Take another smaller vessel (which can accommodate the quantities we will be working with), and pour the Coconut Oil into it. If you are doing this in winter as I did now, the Coconut Oil might have frozen to a solid or semi-solid state. So this heating process is to bring that into a liquid state so that we can combine it well with the Beeswax. Now, using the double boiler method (i.e. you need to put the smaller vessel with Oil that you took into the bigger vessel with water), heat up the Coconut oil.

2. Once the oil has completely turned liquid, add the grated Beeswax and wait for that to melt as well. Please ensure the flame is kept to low or medium low. You don't want the water in the outer vessel boiling up.

3. Stir the Oil and Beeswax well and mix them up nicely. Switch off the flame and take out the vessel with the mix.

4. Let it cool a bit. You might want to stir occasionally.

5. Now, add the Frankinscense powder and give it a good stir so that it dissolves into the Oil mix. Chances are, you might be left with some powder that doesn't really dissolve fully (as it happened with me). The original recipe by Smitha calls for dissolving the Frankinscense powder in the Coconut oil naturally by letting it soak in the Oil for two weeks. But I had no patience to wait for two weeks for that to happen. So I have taken my chances in adding the powder directly to the warm Oil.

6. After 5-10 minutes, give it a good stir again and transfer the mix quickly to your preferred storage container (Please ensure its Metal or Glass as you will pouring it while still hot). Beeswax has a habit of solidifying very quickly so you got to be quick about transferring the contents!

7. Let the mixture set overnight in the storage container.

Your luxurious, divine, healing Body Butter is now ready to use!

So how all can you use it, you ask?

You can use it as a body moisturizer, face cream (if you like the slightly shiny look and you don't have problem with that!), lip balm (yes!) AND as a foot cream at night to get a beautiful looking extremes! You can also use it over dry areas in your body that need a bit of attention and pampering!

I just made the first batch tonight and I can't wait to start using it from tomorrow. I already have few friends who have asked me to bring it over for them to try as well. Hopefully, they will fall in love with it as much as I did with the skin butter Smitha makes. Why don't you try it and let me know how it works for you? I would love to hear from you :)

Meanwhile, I am already looking forward to making my next batch - I am going to use some essential Oil like Calendula (aka Pot Marigold - that has loaaaaaaads of benefits for the skin/health too!) and see how that will turn out. I can't wait!

A few notes you should read:
1. This is a body butter so the consistency of the end product, when  you use it, will definitely feel a bit oily or buttery. However, it will get absorbed into your skin quickly enough leaving a smooth finish behind. So first use it on your body and then, if you like, on your face.
2. You don't slather on this butter :) You should apply just a tiny bit gently and if you like it, you can go after more.
3. Working with Beeswax can be highly tricky. The vessels you use, the spoon or fork you might use to stir and everything else that the Beeswax will get in touch with, will get a nice coating of the same! And that can be pretty tough to clean up. I am now left with two big vessels which I dont know how to clean! scrubbing doesn't seem to be getting the wax off and heating is just melting and cooling it! I am afraid to throw the water in the drain too as it might solidiy and mess the pipes up! So careful there.
4. Obviously, this body butter is not vegan as the Beeswax definitely is not made from naturally abandoned hives. I need to check if there's a better source of Beeswax which is extracted without harming the Bees - perhaps from a professional Beekeeper. Will update when I find one. Meanwhile, am going to make a vegan Body Butter next. Stay tuned in!
5. Lastly, but very importantly, first do a patch test on your arms or something before you try it on your body/face. Of course, there are no allergy causing agents here but you never know.