Calendula Body Butter Recipe

I love to give homemade gifts and my most popular creations are my herbal facial creams and body butters. I have several friends who start dropping heavy hints as their birthday or the holidays creep closer, "Are you still making creams these days?"  I used to detest body butters. I thought they made my skin feel greasy. But that all changed when I learned the secret of how to use body butters.  If you slather on a small amount just after taking a warm shower, the body butter will sink into your skin. It may feel a bit thick at first but soon after that my skin feels soft and silky.

Body butters are also deeply nourishing to the skin and are a great dry skin treatment. I recommend them for people who get chapped or dry knuckles during the winter months. (Along with the recommendation to get lots of healthy fats in the diet and avoid excessive hand washing if possible.) 

I spent this past weekend making herbal facial creams and body butters. I made some improvements on my classic body butter recipe and was inspired to share it with you. 

If you've never made a cream or body butter before you may want to read this article first or watch this fantastic video by Rosemary Gladstar. It can be tricky to get it just right, but with a bit of practice you'll soon be making your own luscious creams and butters.

A Word on Ingredients for Herbal Body Butter Recipes

There are so many different ways of how to make body butter. You can use different infused oils, different hydrosols, or even come up with your own ratio of ingredients. Please don't feel limited by my own choice of ingredients. 

I make my own calendula oil using dried calendula flowers that I harvest from the garden and grape seed oil. There are many different oils you can use.  Jojoba oil is incredible, just a bit pricey. 

If you haven't made your own calendula oil, Mountain Rose Herbs sells calendula oil and by using the links in this article you help support this website - thank you! 

Calendula Body Butter Recipe - Ingredients

This is a thick creamy homemade skincare that will leave your skin feeling soft and silky. I recommend slathering on a modest amount just after a warm shower. Makes 1 and 3/4 cup body butter.  

Butters and Wax

• 85 grams of shea butter (3 oz)
• 55 grams of mango butter (2 ounces)
• 28 grams of coconut oil (1 ounce)
• 15 grams of beeswax (1/2 ounce)

Oils

• 1/4 cup of calendula oil
• 1/4 cup of rosehip seed oil 

Waters

• 1/4 cup of rose hydrosol
• 1/4 cup aloe vera gel 
• 20 drops fir needle essential oil
• 5 drops clary sage essential oil
• 1 tsp of cottonwood tincture (optional)

Calendula Body Butter Recipe - Directions

Begin by melting the butters, coconut oil and beeswax in a double boiler. Once everything is melted, slowly pour in the oils. Stir well until everything is combined and melted.

Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool. When you mix this with the waters portion you want them to be approximately the same temperature. 

Mix together your hydrosol, aloe vera and essential oils. I like to include a tsp of cottonwood tincture to this mix because it helps to preserve the body butter. 

Once the butters have cooled to room temperature, put them into a blender or food processor. Start to mix on a lower setting, increase the speed as you add the waters. 

Slowly drizzle the waters into the blender/food processor. This is the best part! You'll watch the oils combine with the waters to transform into a cream.

At this stage, depending on the starting temperature of your ingredients, your body butter may be thin and runny or thick. Transfer this to your desired jars. It will continue to thicken as it cools. 

This recipe fits perfectly into two 7oz "pantry jars" sold by Mountain Rose Herbs. 

Shelf Life of Your Amazing Dry Skin Treatment

I've never had a body butter spoil or go moldy but this is always a possibility. Using clean dry equipment can prevent spoilage. As mentioned above, I like to use cottonwood tincture to help preserve the mixture, which I make myself and I am not sure where you can buy it. 

I've heard that rosemary extract works in a similar way but I haven't used it.

Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Healand co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and has taught thousands of students through her online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.