Friday 2 May 2008

Whipped Shea Butter and Granola Scrub

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I think I maybe just might have perfected my granola scrub. It looks delicious, smells amazing (my uncle thinks it smells like chocolate cake mix) and feels great on the skin. The best part is the fragrance is totally natural and comes from the cocoa butter and vanilla bean. The texture is pretty firm in the jar but it softens up with a little bit of water. It is quite a gentle scrub consisting more of oatmeal flour and ground almonds then sugars.

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I also tried my hand at whipped shea butter and didn't really like the results. Needs more soft oils or more whipping, I haven't decided but the consistency is not as fluffy or smooth as I thought it would be. Also, the unrefined shea butter has a pretty strong nutty odour that I quite like but may affect fragrances. Does anyone have any ideas on how to combat this? Or do you just leave it unscented or opt for refined shea butter?

I'm making my first soap in 3 weeks (feels like months) tonight and I've decided to try my hand at a salt bar. My cousin has bad acne and although she loves the carrot and calendula soap, it is so gentle I feel that she may need something stronger.

Therefore, a salt bar might do the trick. I am so bad when it comes to mixing essential oils. I always end up making it smell like an old lady's perfume or an 18th century boudoir. So, I usually stick to just one essential oil or two. If I'm feeling really daring I use three!

Wonder what I'll scent it with. Hmmm...

7 comments:

Suds to Love said...

That granola scrub sounds delightful. I haven't tried to whip shea butter, so no insight on that. Good luck with the salt bars, make sure to cut them when they are still warm, so they don't break.

Joanna Schmidt said...

Wow, the oatmeal scrub sounds so yummy. The whipped shea butter. Hmmm. It depends what you want it to feel like. I sell both pure whipped shea and whipped butters(Tangerine Whipped Dream). The shea is whipped and whipped and whipped. No oil at all. It feels soft and fluffy going into the jar, but once it "sets" it hardens, but it is so easy to work with compared to poured shea(OMG). The whipped dream is shea, aloe and olive butters, some oil and essential oil. Much fluffier, but also more greasy. What do you want for the final product?

egassner said...

Mmmm....chocolate cake. Lol!

My whipped shea is just like Joanna said...nice and fluffy after its whipped, but once it is in the jar it hardens up.
I add Jojoba and sweet almond oil to mine and it dries powdery soft, but I would think any more and it would be greasier. I use it all the time on my baby since she is crawling and getting chapped red knees.

Heather@Twin Birch said...

Hey Michelle! That granola scrub looks just yummy! I can just imagine my soft self after some time with it!

Michelle said...

Trisha: Thanks Trisha! I've already made my salt bars. Will post about it soon. :)

Joanna: Hehe, thanks Joanna!! I prefer it to be less greasy! My whipped shea butter feels exactly the same whipped or unwhipped so I must really be doing something wrong! Do you think I should use a lighter oil along with the shea butter? Maybe some hazelnut or grapeseed?

Elizabeth: Wow, powdery soft does sound good! I hate feeling greasy :(

Heather: Thanks, Heather! I do like using it :)

dcyrill said...

I used avocado,wheat germ & apricot kernel oil in my whipped shea butter. Those are used for their properties on the skin. I usually melt coconut oil to pour on the shea to melt it a little. I have high peaks in my shea butter because it is whipped for a long time. You can use a variety of lighter oils like sweet almond, apricot, olive oil. I prefer the unrefined shea butter because you get all the properties from the butter unaltered. Once you beat the heck out of the shea butter, you want to fold the essential or fragrance oil in with a spatula. Depending on the oils I use the butter may go on greasy but the skin absorbs it right away.
Good Luck

Michelle said...

Diana, thanks for that! It was extremely helpful. I'll remember that when I get back to fixing my old batch :)