On this page you can find general guidelines which are applicable for almost all shea butter recipes you can find on this site. Making homemade shea butter creams or creating your own shea butter recipes is simple if you know how to make scented shea butter cream, how to melt shea butter, how to whipp shea butter and how to store shea butter.
How to Make Scented Shea Butter Cream
If you want to make simple hard shea butter cream, you basically need shea butter, some base (carrier) oil and some essential oil. Actually, adding base oil is optional, simple combination of shea butter and essential oil(s) will do as well. Cream made with base oil(s) will be little bit softer and easier to apply than pure unrefined Shea butter. Exact choice of which base and which essential oils to use depends on few factors:
- targeted purpose of a cream (wrinkles, dry skin, stretch marks, …)
- desired scent
- personal preference
Technology is very simple: melt shea butter on the steam using a double pot. Put some water in a bigger pot, let the water boil and put the smaller pot with shea butter above the steam. Add base oils and essential oils and mix it. Important thing is not to overheat shea butter or any other ingredient ‘cause they will loose most of their healing effects. The only reason to heat shea butter is to melt it so you can easier blend it with other oils. Never heat it above 175 F (80 C). Add essential oils when temperature decreases at lowest possible level on which you can still mix it.
If you don’t intend to make whipped cream, you can mix it by hand. No need to mix it with electric mixer.
Probably the most important thing when making homemade cream is quality of ingredients. For best effect, always choose unrefined butters and oils.
Regarding quantity and proportions of ingredients, I only try to keep fixed proportion of total butter part (4/5) and total base oil part (1/5) in shea butter recipes. I prefer smaller proportion of base oils ‘cause i personally like less oily creams even if they are a little bit harder. Regarding essential oil, adding 5 drops of it on 1 oz. of fat total (butters and base oils) will result in approximately 1% dilution which is suitable even if you are pregnant. Keep also on mind that not all essential oils are suitable for use during pregnancy. In general, it is not recommended that essential oils exceed 2.5% of total cream.
Regarding total quantity, be aware that these homemade shea butter recipes don’t contain any preservatives. So, don’t make more cream than you can use in few months.
How to Make Whipped Shea Butter Cream
With this simple shea butter recipe, you can make whipped shea butter cream in just a few minutes and make your unrefined shea butter creamy and and fluffy.
In its original state unrefined Shea butter can be very hard and sometimes not so easy to apply on a larger skin area. If you want to make it creamier, softer, fluffier and more alike fancy commercial creams, you can make a whipped shea butter cream. Whipping shea butter won’t change its chemical structure. Its texture will be more appealing and volume will be increased.
While making whipped shea butter cream, you can also add some other base and essential oils according to targeted purpose of your cream and your scent preferences.
As opposite to making a simple shea butter scented cream, making a whipped shea butter cream is little bit more demanding and requires some practice and trial and error effort. So don’t be disappointed and discouraged if you don’t make a perfect whipped cream from a first attempt.
We tried few different recipes for whipping shea butter and most of them suggest melting shea butter. They are usually complicated, time consuming and sometimes do not give the expected results. On the contrary, in this simple recipe you shouldn’t melt your shea butter. With this technique you can:
- Make a whipped cream with beautiful texture in just a few minutes.
- There is no risk that your shea butter cream will become grainy, what sometimes happen in case of melting.
- You can be sure all the temperature sensitive ingredients will be completely preserved.
So, what do you need?
- 4 oz. unrefined shea butter
- 2 tablespoon base oil; for example extra virgin olive oil
- 10-20 drops essential oil(s); optional, for example you can use lavender oil
- mixing bowl
- electric whisks mixer
- one clean empty 8 oz. jar, or two 4 oz. jars, because volume will be increased
Steps for making whipped cream:
- Before you start to prepare whipped shea butter, make sure your unrefined shea butter is on a room temperature. Do not melt or heat it! Put your shea butter in a bowl and mash it with a fork. The same way you make a mashed potato.
- Add base oil(s) and mash it little bit more.
- Put the mixture into the mixing bowl. Mix it on a high speed with electric mixer for approximately 5 minutes.
- Believe it or not, this is it! Optionally, you can add chosen essential oil(s) and mix it few minutes to blend it with your whipped cream.
- Put whipped cream in a clean jar(s) and close it. Keep it in a dry, dark and cool place. Room temperature is fine.
Storing Shea Butter
Shea Butter’s shelf life is approximately one to two years. It should be kept in dark, cool place on a room temperature.
You will find on internet many recommendations to keep it in the fridge, but this isn’t necessary. Best temperature to store it is 20 to 24 degrees Celsius (68 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit). Lower temperatures won’t harm it, but it can cause the shea butter to get grainy. On higher temperatures it will become liquid. This also won’t harm it, but after shea butter re-solidify from melted state it may also become grainy.
You should keep your shea butter or shea butter creams in closed glass or heavy duty plastic containers.
If you don’t want to put any preservatives in your homemade shea butter creams, never put any water into the cream. Protect your cream from absorbing humidity from the air by keeping it always firmly closed.
Wash your hands every time before you are using shea butter or shea butter cream, because you are contaminating it every time you touch it. This will prolong its lifetime.
If your shea butter or cream gets unpleasant rancid smell, it is a sign it is rotten and you should throw it away.
Measurement Units Conversion
Sometimes it is really confusing and time consuming to figure out and compare different shea butter recipes from different authors. It seems everyone has her own favorite measurement units. Cups, ounces, milliliters, teaspoons, tablespoons and drops… what a mess! For easier orientation here is conversion list for units frequently used in homemade cream recipes:
- 1 oz. = 30 ml
- 1 oz. = 6 teaspoon
- 1 oz. = 2 tablespoon
- 1 oz. = 1/8 cup
- 1 oz. = 456 drop
- 100 ml = 3.38 oz.
- 100 ml = 0.42 cup
- 100 ml = 7 tablespoon
- 100 ml = 20 teaspoon
- 1 ml = 15 drop
- 1 cup = 8 oz.
- 1 cup = 237 ml
- 1 cup = 16 tablespoon
- 1 cup = 48 teaspoon
- 1 cup = 3648 drop
- 1 tablespoon = ½ oz.
- 1 tablespoon = 14.78 ml
- 1 tablespoon = 1/16 cup
- 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoon
- 1 tablespoon = 228 drop
- 1 teaspoon = 1/6 oz.
- 1 teaspoon = 4.93 ml
- 1 teaspoon = 1/50 cup
- 1 teaspoon = 1/3 tablespoon
- 1 teaspoon = 76 drop
- 100 drop = 0.22 oz.
- 100 drop = 6.49 ml
- 100 drop = 0.027 cup
- 100 drop = 0.44 tablespoon
- 100 drop = 1.3 teaspoon
Thanks for this unheated version — other recipes called for heating and beating and all sorts of extra work. Believe it or not, I have shea, olive oil and lavendar EO so I’ll take my old hand beater and get to work.
I love this way to whip shea butter, I’m in the process of making it for selling thank you very much
I would like to purchase a large pail of whipped shea butter. Do you have any available?
did you have luck saling it
I have exima and shea butter works, but expensive, I want to make my own. please direct me to where i can get the material to make my own. thank you
Soapers choice from Columbus Foods
herbaladvantage.com
nasabb.com
Amazon.com or ebay.com also have different sellers with grade A unrefined shea butter. Can be a lot less expensive than getting it from other places.
you can purchase from us we are an ngo and we sell sheabutter and black soap which we are using to promote our women,s team to support their family and to help set up an orphanage
can you tell me where I can get the unrefined oils wholesale please?
Try ebay , there are lots of sellers on there , but look for the ones with the best feedback .
Try Wholesale Supplies Plus or From Nature with Love or Ingredients to Die For for quality oils – Depending on where you live simply google wholesale unrefined oils
Essentialdepot.com has a variety of shea butter options (by both origin and quantity). They also are currently offering “freebies” with certain order options such as: free shipping or free cocoa butter with each order.
Try Naturalythinking.co.uk
Last year I bought one pound of unrefined shea butter for about $6 at herbaladvantage.com. I believe they will offer a better price if you buy 5 pounds or more.
you can purchase from us we are an ngo and we sell sheabutter and black soap which we are using to promote our women,s team to support their family and to help set up an orphanage
Africa Imports has very good quality Shea Butter. Whether you buy wholesale or retail from them it’s inexpensive and they have tons of other skincare products & butters. Good Luck!
שלום, רציתי להמליץ לכם על חברה העוסקת בהתקנה ובניה של פרגולות. באתר, פרופיל החברה וכן עבודות עיצוב פרגולות נבחרות.
I make whipped body butters as a small business and I love Wellington and Brambleberry for base and fragrance oils as well as Shea butter. I buy in serious bulk so I only buy once or twice a year, and its the most economical choice as far as shipping also.
Where do you order your butter?
you can purchase from us we are an ngo and we sell sheabutter and black soap which we are using to promote our women,s team to support their family and to help set up an orphanage
Hi EES, can you please tell us from where you order in bulk? Thanks very much!
Thanks for the easy recipe!! I found the butter to be a bit oily. So I made a second batch using 1tbs of oil. It was still a tad oily. Also, no matter how much essential Oil i used, it still smelled like Shea butter. Is it possible that I am not using 100% Shea butter?
By using 1-2 drops of lemongrass essential oil with your fragrance oil, it will reduce the shea butter smell. DO NOT USE MORE than 2 drops or your mixture will smell totally like lemongrass (smile).
you can purchase from us we are an ngo and we sell sheabutter and black soap which we are using to promote our women,s team to support their family and to help set up an orphanage
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av loved to make it and c how it work. But the problem is, i dont know where to get the essential oils here in nigeria if u know pls email me thanks
you can purchase essential oils from any specialty grocery store. google them in your area and then call to see if they carry.
i just made this. it turned out perfect. i did change the recipe a little bit. i added 1tsp olive oil because shea butter is already pretty oily and i added 30 drops of essential oil to compensate for the loss of shea butter. i used a scent that complimented the shea butter scent. i used sweet orange essential oil. btw it still has a little shea butter scent but im ok with it.
Go to any Africa market or shop near you, you will get the unrefined shea butter at a very friendly price. Alas, shea butter originated from west Africa.
I just want yo start home made cream and I found the tips above very useful. I have just finished a face cream ! Thanks. Is there a site that I can learn more?
I also have a source for large quantity of un refined Shea butter and I need buyers
I am interested in purchasing large portions of unrefined shea butter for body butter. Please share!
I couldn’t get my to be fluffy? I whipped it on mixer for 12 minutes.
I couldn’t get mine to whip either.
@ Omowunmi,u can get essential oils at any Healthplus pharmacy in Lagos,Nigeria.
I’m making a firm shea butter, with 3 parts shea, and 1 part jojoba oil, with about 3 grams of essential, for a total of 4 oz. It’s not a whipped product. The problem I’m having is that the shea butter dimples in the center when I cool it in the refrigerator. It sinks quite a bit just in the center and looks like someone scooped out a chunk of it. If I don’t cool it in the refrigerator it can become very grainy. Any advice? Thank you!!
Anyone wishing to buy sheabutter in bulk or retail basis can purchase from us we are an ngo and we sell sheabutter and black soap which we are using to promote our women,s team to support their family and to help set up an orphanage
Pls send me your contact number
Please send me your contact information
we have different scents of shea
Pls help me,wot can i add to prevent rancidity or solidification
Add benzoin to prolong the shelf life.
For unrefined Shea butter call 07531613632
We wholesale and distribute the finest Shea butter
hi can i add extracts to these like bearberry and patchouli
hi can i add extracts to these like bearberry and patchouli? tnx
Can you send me more information so that i can make my own body cream. Thanks!
Jem
I whip shea butter with a little EVOO, jojoba, & vitamin E with lavender or Egyptian musk oil, and use it mostly on my hair. I like your recipe but there are benefits to adding other things like honey, glycerin, and nut oils (ie. almond).