How to: Make Body Cream
Discover our recipe for how to make body cream – the easy way, with moisturizing ingredients that glide on effortlessly due to a whipped consistency
The DIY body cream is one of the more recent creations we came across, purely because we love how it works as a full-body moisturizer, especially paired with our homemade hand cream for daily use.
A homemade body cream is, in fact, super easy to make, as long as you’ve got a working handheld mixer to whip up the ingredients once they are mixed together.
That’s essentially all a body cream recipe is – it’s a whipped & water-free version of a lotion, such as this homemade goat milk lotion (and it contains more oil too.)
Being whipped means it has that lovely light, fluffy, and luxurious texture we all crave after a long, hard day (bath optional!), and it’s even more moisturizing than a lotion.
We'll share how to make body cream in this note (scroll down for the recipe) and our best tips on getting the right texture and fragrance for your liking.
body cream benefits
Oh, the benefits! There are so many!
That is to say – so long as you use a body cream that is good for your skin (such as the one we share in this note, full of pure, natural ingredients.)
First off, a body cream is an excellent skin moisturizer, leaving your skin soft and supple after just one application.
Our go-to is smearing on body cream after a nice warm bath, which helps soften the skin even further.
In line with softening your skin, so too does a body cream help maintain the skin’s moisture levels.
Because of the amount and type of moisturizing ingredients in a body cream, the skin tends to hold onto the moisture that much longer, lasting days rather than hours.
Another benefit is the anti-aging effect of body cream. Mostly due to how moisturizing it is, but, anti-aging also needs to be somewhat firming, which a good body cream will do!
how to use body cream
You use a body cream in the exact same way as you would any homemade lotion.
Take a small amount in the palms of your hands, rub it in a circular motion to warm it up, and then apply it to your body wherever you want to moisturize.
We use a body cream on our arms, legs, and tummy – never on our face, as it would be too thick. We prefer to use our homemade face moisturizer on our face. Or you could try our DIY anti-aging face cream or homemade tinted moisturizer for the face.
Just go easy on body cream as it goes a long way – the thicker texture means you need less than a lotion, yet you’ll still get a better moisturizing effect from it.
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Body cream recipe
Here’s our own recipe for a wonderful body cream that adds moisture and fragrance in one hit.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of shea butter
- 1/4 cup of almond oil
- 1 tsp of beeswax
- 1 tbsp of honey
- 3 drops of vitamin E oil
- 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder
- 1/8 tsp of vitamin C powder
- 10 drops of essential oils (optional)
Instructions:
- Melt shea, beeswax & almond oil in a double boiler.
- Allow the ingredients to cool to the touch before stirring in the remaining ingredients.
- Transfer to the fridge for 2 hours to harden up. (It should be mostly firm, and you should be able to press your thumb into the middle of it, and it should hold the indent)
- Whip with a hand mixer until it’s light and fluffy. It takes about 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer to an airtight container for storage.
Why you will love this recipe
The key to this recipe is the ingredients in it!
We mean, of course, the whipping of the mixture makes it into the body cream consistency.
But the magic (aka skin benefits) happens because of the shea butter, the oils, the beeswax, honey, as well as the vitamin C and essential oils (if you use them).
Even used on their own, these ingredients work wonders on dry or aging skin. But combined, it’s potent stuff.
Vitamin C is a natural skin tightener, working hard to smooth out fine lines and wrinkles.
Shea butter makes an excellent homemade shea butter lotion because it is a superb skin moisturizer with a wonderful thick consistency – literally like butter! It glides onto the skin effortlessly and locks in moisture for days on end.
Oh, and did you know? Arrowroot powder is a natural stabilizer, helping absorb excess oil and helping the cream to blend easier on application.
how often should you use body cream
This is one of the questions to which there is no specific answer – how often should you use body cream? Because the answer is, as often as you like!
This natural body cream recipe is perfect for daily use, but you’ll probably find you don’t need to use it every day.
That’s what we love about this stuff – you apply it once, and it lasts ages (well, at least a day or two!)
making body cream tips
Our top tip is to store this body cream in a glass container with a lid. The reason is if you add essential oils to it, a glass container will allow for a longer shelf life.
Using anything plastic will spoil the oils.
Also, if you’re using this body cream after a hot bath or shower, you may find it doesn’t absorb as quickly.
We tend to dry myself off fully first but stay in the bathroom where the steam has built up. Then we apply the body cream and rub it in well, so it absorbs.
Lastly, take care when whipping it.
If you don’t whip it long enough, it’ll turn into a solid moisturizer block after a day, and if you overwhip, well, the smoother and creamier it will become.
To get the right consistency, try intermittent bursts with your hand mixer – and don’t go below the recommended time limit!
We hope you enjoy this recipe and give it a go. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below.
And if you liked this note, we think you’ll enjoy reading one of these.
- DIY all-natural night cream
- Homemade stretch mark cream
- Whipped sugar scrub recipe
- Homemade travel lotion bars
- Tallow balm recipe
Homemade Body Cream
By the studio Ascher Prep: 5 minutes minsActive: 20 minutes minsAdditional Time: 2 hours hrsTotal: 2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins Yield: 1 jar
SaveSaved Pin Print Literally full of moisture-drenching ingredients which glide on effortlessly due to a whipped consistency, discover this recipe for how to make body cream – the easy way! Equipment
- Glass storage jar
- Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup of shea butter
- ¼ cup of almond oil
- 1 tsp of beeswax
- 1 tbsp of honey
- 3 drops of vitamin E oil
- 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder
- ⅛ tsp of vitamin C powder
- 10 drops of essential oils, optional
Instructions
- Melt shea, beeswax & almond oil in a double boiler.
- Allow the ingredients to cool to the touch before stirring in the remaining ingredients.
- Transfer to the fridge for 2 hours to harden up. (It should be mostly firm, and you should be able to press your thumb into the middle of it and it should hold the indent)
- Whip with a hand mixer until its light and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer to an airtight container for storage.
