For a few years I have been on a mission to eliminate synthetic chemicals from my home. It’s a tough thing to do in a culture where science is worshipped and the benefits of technological advances make us greedy for more convenience, sterility and longer product shelf-lives.

Slowly and with great focus, I have eliminated most conventional store-bought products from my life. I made a choice to do this because of how difficult it is to find everything I want in a product when it is purchased from a store.

The first homemade product I whipped up in my own kitchen was body butter from Holistic Squid and I haven’t used lotion since! This mixture of butter and oil smells great on its own. I never add essential oils for scent, but that’s an option for you in your own kitchen!

I make an average of one batch of this body butter per year. I use it in the winter for dry skin, after shaving my legs and to give my husband back massages.

Ingredients:

• unrefined cocoa butter
• unrefined shea butter
• organic virgin coconut oil
• any nourishing oil that is liquid at room temperature

I buy my butters and oils at Whole Foods or online from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Tools:

• A small pot
• Glass measuring cup
• A chopstick or wooden spoon for mixing
• Stand or hand mixer
• Sterilized glass jars for keeping

Recipe:

• 1/2 cup unrefined cocoa butter
• 1/2 cup unrefined shea butter
• 1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil
• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• 1/4 cup almond oil

1. Heat some water in the pot on the stove.

2. Place the oils and butters into the glass cup.

3. Place the glass cup in the pot making sure not to get any water inside of the cup. (You want to avoid getting water into your mixture to prevent mold since this recipe has no preservatives in it. Preservatives are scary, but so is mold.)

4. Once everything is melted and well-mixed, pour the liquid into your mixing container and place it in the fridge to solidify, but still retain some softness. (This usually takes my mixture about an hour.)

5. Once the mixture is solid, but you can stick your finger in it and make a dent, take it out of the fridge and whip it up until it looks like whipped cream!

6. Place the butter in sterilized glass containers.

Tips:

• I check for mold regularly and I don’t allow any water or debris from my hands to remain in the container. This butter has lasted me a year with no mold issues.
• This butter can melt easily in a home that’s kept warm. If the temperature in your home is above room temperature I would keep this butter in the fridge.
• This is oil and butter so when you rub it on your skin, it will feel a bit oily. I don’t need to use much at a time and if I accidentally scooped too much out, I’ll simply wipe off the excess with a cloth after moisturizing my skin.

If you’re a person who is interested in keeping a healthy, nourishing home and you think that making some of your own products will be a part of that journey, I want to encourage you. It’s not easy. It will require endless reading and learning, your husband might think you’ve become a witch while you’re mixing strange things in the kitchen and sometimes you will mess up or discover that the natural product you’re trying out doesn’t meet your needs. Yes, it’s easier to buy a bottle of lotion from the store. But is the easier way ALWAYS the better way? Each individual has to ask themselves, “what price am I willing to pay for this convenience?” and everyone has their own unique set of answers which depend on their home life, time commitments, stress levels, financial situation, etc.

If you make the decision to change your buying habits, I encourage you not to give up when it feels difficult, but instead to troubleshoot and talk to others who encounter the same problems you do. The effort I have put into this over the past few years is all worth it to me when I rub a great-smelling homemade body butter on my skin and I know the ingredients aren’t questionable. The knowledge and experience I am gaining now will be passed to my children and that is my biggest motivation of all: that I might make their lives easier and healthier by putting in this hard work now.