Miracle Body Butter

The post you've all been waiting for...drumroll... My Body Butter!!!

Hopefully you have already read my post on shea butter. If you haven't, go there first. It explains all about shea butter and its natural benefits to our skin's health. Unrefined shea butter is a major ingredient to my body butter recipe. 

Another ingredient for this body butter is coconut oil. Many of you may already know the benefits of coconut oil to our skin. Coconut oil is so neat because it does so much for our body both inside and out! Inside, coconut oil supports the liver, kidneys, digestive system, heart and brain, fights inflammation, promotes bone strength, stabilizes blood sugar and cholesterol, and can also be used for constipation relief. On the outside of the body, coconut oil is a natural sun screen, insect repellant, wrinkle reducer, moisturizer, hair conditioner, makeup remover, and wound salve. Coconut oil also has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties so it eliminates bad odors, skin rashes, fungal infections and more. 

A less common natural oil that is very healthy for our skin is apricot oil. It is pressed from the kernels of apricots. It's full of anti-oxidants and has many anti-inflammatory properties. It's is great for clearing pores and retaining moisture. 

Beeswax has non-allergenic properties making it very useful on skin as protection against allergic irritations. Especially when the wax is local! Beeswax also acts as a barrier that helps lock in moisture, and enhance healing and protection. 

All of these action packed ingredients put together make one powerful moisturizer for your body! My hands are constantly dry. Being a nurse, I am constantly washing my hands and using alcohol based hand sanitizer. They last thing I want is for my skin to break and something nasty to be introduced into my bloodstream...yuck!

Ingredients:

1 oz Beeswax

1/2 cup Unrefined Shea Butter

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Apricot Oil

How to: 

Place a glass container in a pot of hot water and melt all of the ingredients in the order listed above (double boiler concept). Once all ingredients are melted, stir gently until all signs of separation are gone. Remove container from the double boiler and set aside to cool. Let mixture cool until it's stiff (this may take a while). You should be able to push on it easily but it should hold your finger indentation. Take out your hand mixer and beat the mixture till fluffy, making sure there are no clumps. Place mixture in desired container. Be sure to store in a cool place so your oils do not melt. If it does melt, no biggy! You can re-whip and re-store. 

I have a friend who's young daughter had some moderate eczema on her legs...I offered her some of this body butter knowing all of its properties should help it heal. In a couple days she got back to me and said that her daughter's skin was nearly cleared up! Seriously, miracle cream! My husband also came to me today with both of his hands having quite the rash from an unknown source (probably the baseball field). He got to be my experiment with mixing the butter with a couple drops of tea tree oil. We'll see how his hands are tomorrow!