How to make lotion with shea butter in 5 minutes and with only 2 ingredients

If you are into a minimalist lifestyle, this shea body butter lotion recipe is for you. You will learn how to make lotion with shea butter with only 2 main ingredients: organic shea butter and organic safflower oil and you can whip it in just 5 minutes.

You don’t even need to heat it up nor use a double boiler for that matter. Yes, it’s that simple!

It actually faster to make this shea butter lotion recipe at home, than to go shopping to buy it in a store.

Benefits of shea body butter lotion

• You are busy and have no time for fancy and time consuming DIY beauty recipes.
• You are in a panic because you ran out of body butter and your skin looks like crocodile skin! (yes, I’ve been there!)

You will need a hand immersion blender like this one, a thick glass recipient, and only two ingredients:

• shea butter
• safflower oil

You don’t even need a double boiler for this shea butter lotion recipe!

What is Shea Butter?

For all you DIY beauty enthusiasts jumping with joy after realizing that this is a shea butter recipe – you might want to dig in a bit deeper before you start using shea butter for everything, especially if you have a nut allergy. Shea butter is the fat that is extracted from the nuts of a shea tree. Its extracted form comes out in an off white or ivory color, found in solid-state at lower temperatures.

Native to West Africa, shea butter has been used in beauty and cosmetic products for centuries because of its high concentration of fatty acids and vitamins. Some of its more popular properties include the easy-to-spread consistency that makes it ideal for conditioning, smoothing and soothing your skin.

What are the properties of shea butter?

Shea Butter has deep moisturizing and healing capabilities known to heal and revitalize the skin. It is full of vitamin A and fatty acids are known to treat stretch marks and numerous skin conditions such as blemishes, wrinkles, dermatitis, and the like.

Shea butter is known to repair damaged skin and increase collagen production. It naturally contains vitamins A and E and is a miracle worker for your skin. It has been shown by studies to have inflammatory properties and helps to relieve skin irritation such as sunburn or rash.

It is no wonder why Shea butter is the main ingredient of most body butter, lotion and healing salves known to cure and prevent stretch marks.

Shea Butter is thick and solid like your average butter (the raw and unrefined one is known to give the most benefit to your skin).

I use organic refined shea butter grade A as this is a personal preference.

I find the unrefined or raw shea butter has a strong smell but if you don’t mind it, it is definitely better quality and contains more vitamins and minerals since it has not been refined or processed. Raw is the way to go!

How to Make Shea Butter from Shea Seeds?

After 20 years in the soil (yes 20 years!!!), the shea tree produces its first fruit and reaches its full production capacity at the 45 years mark. The fruit has a sweet taste, which probably gives the butter its nutritional properties. The shea seeds can be obtained after the fruit is eaten. While there are several different processes to making shea butter from shea seeds, here is a simple, step-by-step process:

1. Cracking & Pounding

Crack the shell of the shea seed with your hand to obtain the shea nut. After you have done this, wash them and leave them to dry to evaporate the moisture. After you have dried them, pound them, crushing them into smaller pieces.

2.Roasting and Making the Paste

Next, you need to roast the small crushed pieces to transform them into a paste. The product will be of a dark chocolaty color.

3.   Whipping

Add some water to the dark chocolaty paste and whip it so that it is mixed well.

4.   Purifying

Purify the paste by washing it with distilled water repeatedly.

5.   Boiling

Now, heat the purified paste on the stove. You will see the fat rising to the top and the oil settling at the bottom.

6. Final Step

Finally, skim off the fat while allowing the oil to settle at the bottom. The oil that is settled becomes hard and is used as Shea Butter.

For visual understanding, here is a link to a video.

Why I use safflower oil in my shea butter lotion recipe?

Safflower oil has a light texture and barely any scents at all.

It is a nice compliment to shea butter and allows you to make a lotion that is smooth and with a thinner texture.

Safflower oil contains about 78% of linoleic acid and has the highest level of linoleic fatty acid.

Step by step how to make shea butter lotion at home in 5 minutes

Step 1: Combine shea butter and safflower oil in a glass bowl

Step 2: Start mixing the shea butter and safflower with a hand mixer to make a shea butter lotion

Step 3: Continue mixing until smooth, should take no more than 2 minutes to turn into a lotion

Step 4: Pour into a pretty cream or lotion container and slather the cream on your body, it will thank you!

How to make lotion with shea butter and keeping it simple at home

How to Make Shea Butter Whipped Cream?

Shea Butter is a nourishing moisturizer that can be whipped up into a light and creamy skin concoction similar to the texture of whipped cream. The benefit of making it at home is that you can avoid the preservatives and chemical stabilizers normally found in commercial products. Before we get into the process, the trick to whipping this cream is maintaining proper temperature throughout the process.

You can use the same ingredients as in the above recipe but follow this tutorial below, which include melting and freezing so you can whip it!

Step by Step Tutorial

1.   Fill the saucepan with water and bring the water to simmer over low heat.
2.   Place a smaller aluminum bowl into simmering water (or a double boiler) and add the Shea Butter to the bowl. Heat it until it becomes liquid.
3.   Stir oils into melted Shea Butter, continuing to heat it over low heat for 10 minutes.
4.   Now, remove the bowl from the hot water pan and allow it to cool slightly before stirring in the cornstarch and essential oils
5.  Place the bowl in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes, until a ring has appeared and the shea butter has started to solidify (but has not completely solidified).
6.  Beat the oil and Shea Butter mixture with an electric mixer on medium speed. Continue whipping as the mixture cools down and thickens – for about 5-10 minutes.
7.   Stop beating the Shea Butter mixture when it reaches a whipped cream consistency. Spoon it into clean jars that you can store in the refrigerator for up to three months.

If you would like to make more body butter containing shea butter, take a look at this whipped shea body butter recipe or this calming shea body butter recipe.

Top 4 Shea Butter Recipes

1.   Shea Butter Lotion Recipe

As discussed earlier, homemade shea butter lotion can be your gateway to comfortable nights and soothing mornings (without all the pesky chemicals). Here is the entire recipe for this amazing skin concoction!

2.   Shea Butter Lip Balm Recipe

The soothing properties of Shea Butter in combination with the shine of castor oil will help you say goodbye to chapped lips. Want to find out more? Click here to get more information on this DIY lip balm.

3.   Natural Soothing Body Cream

One of the most luxurious ingredients to apply on your skin is Shea Butter, so it is natural to have a soothing body cream that has Shea butter as its main ingredient, amongst coconut and Jojoba oil. Click here to get access to the full recipe.

4.   Shea Body Butter Recipe

A Shea body butter recipe can be your go-to remedy for dry and dull skin. It includes luxurious and royal skin ingredients like Mango butter, Shea butter, grapeseed oil, lavender essential oil and chamomile flower water amongst other things. Find out more about this miraculous blend in this post!

Please help me create more recipes like this shea body lotion recipe by rating it, sharing it and commenting below!