LisaLise's Fail-Safe Whipped Shea Balm
A lot of home crafters (and pro cosmetics makers) have a love/hate relationship with shea butter. That's understandable.
My Position
Shea has far too much to offer in the way of skin and hair care to be dismissed. Over the years, I have worked with it countless ways - in emulsions, melt-and-pour products, bars, bath products, hair products, and a plethora of skin care products.Along the way, there have been lots of opportunities to make mistakes. And there have been many. I have also learned from every one of them.
Today, I'm going to show you how I make whipped shea.
Ingredients and Equipment
Ingredients
- Shea Butter
- Jojoba
- Essential oils of choice (optional)
Equipment
- Glass Beaker (or other heat-proof container)
- Container (in which to whip your mixture)
- Handmixer
- Accurate scale
- Piping bag
- Empty containers for your product
Formula
- 19 - 19.5 % jojoba
- 80 % shea
- 0.5 - 1% essential oil (optional)
Method
Sanitize your equipment and be sure your work area is clean.
Weigh oil
An accurate scale is gold when working with smaller amounts. Here it's obvious there is almost a full gram too much.
Weigh Shea
Weigh the shea.
Cut Shea
Cut the shea into small pieces - as uniform as possible.
Allow it to reach room temperature.
Transfer the shea to your 'whipping container'.
Heat oil
Heat the oil slowly then transfer it to the shea.Whip
Whip the mixture. Start at a slow speed, then increase speed until the mixture has an even consistency.
Add Essential Oil
If you want to add essential oils, now is the time.Final Whip
Whip the mixture again until the consistency is light and airy.
Transfer and Set
Transfer the mixture to a piping bag. Pipe into your container and let set.Texture, Color and Feel
When set, the texture should be light and airy yet stable. You should be able to easily dip into the balm without having to 'dig it out'.As you can see above, my final product has a yellowish tinge. This is due to the essential oils in this batch.
Comments
Hi Tina LeGrand - mango butter is a harder butter than shea. Consequently, you'll need a higher oil to butter ratio than 50-50 if you want the end product softer. Try starting 40% butter and 60% oil and then tweaking from there to your desired texture. Make small batches at a time. :)
Hi Signe - you are using a classic method for whipping shea butter and it does work for many. You have to be very aware of both temperature and proportions when working with shea - never overheat the shea. If your body butter is turning out too hard, try adjusting the proportions first. If that don't work, then change the method. If you change only ONE thing at a time, you'll always be able to pinpoint the problem/solution. Best of luck with it.
Hi Christopher - the papers are actually sold pre-cut in Denmark as papers to use for layering between open-face sandwiches when packing kids lunches. I use them for everything but! They're also great to lay on the scale when measuring out ingredients.
Anna
http://plainandpure.blogspot.be
Where did you buy your scale?
Is the texture of your butter more like a mousse or cream rather than real butter? I've tried this method before and found that it was like a mousse.
Thanks Ayanda
As for the scale, that's a great question… I've had this scale forever and ever and cannot remember where I bought it. I do know that most cosmetics ingredients suppliers offer scales that measure down to a tenth of a gram, so my best suggestion for you is to check the links on the sidebar (you'll need to view the web version to find it). Best of luck with it!