Lavender Shea Body Butter Recipe

This creamy DIY lavender body butter recipe is made with all natural ingredients! Use it as a hand cream or smooth it all over; it’s especially helpful for dry elbows, knees, and feet.

It features:

  • shea butter, to moisturize, repair, and condition dry or damaged skin
  • lavender flowers, for their soothing, anti-inflammatory properties
  • skin nourishing oils
  • and purple Brazilian clay, a natural colorant.
fresh lavender flowers and a jar of body butter

Ingredients Needed:

Measurements are by weightyou’ll need a kitchen scale to make this recipe.

  • 5 oz (142 g) shea butter (use refined to avoid a strong scent)
  • 2 1/2 oz (70 g) lavender infused oil (directions below)
  • 1 tsp arrowroot powder – optional
  • 1/2 tsp purple Brazilian clay – for optional color
  • 30 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil

Yield: makes 7.5 oz (213 g) of body butter by weight, but whips up to fill 2 or 3 four-ounce jars

Don’t have lavender flowers? Skip the infusing step and use plain un-infused oil instead.

Can’t use shea butter? Try mango butter or avocado butter instead. (Cocoa butter is too hard for this recipe technique.)

Since body butters don’t contain water, you don’t need to add a preservative. Just make and enjoy!

See my article: Homemade Whipped Body Butter for tons of helpful information and troubleshooting tips when making DIY body butters!

FREE RESOURCE

Line

HERBAL SALVES & BALMS

Subscribe to my newsletter and receive:

  • Build Your Own Salve eGuide
  • 18 Herbs & Flowers for Salves Chart
  • Salve Building Printable Worksheet
  • Weekly Emails with Natural Project Ideas

By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to the terms of our privacy policy.

How to naturally color body butter purple:

Homemade body butters can be naturally tinted purple by adding a small amount of purple Brazilian clay. (Bramble Berry is a good online source.) Try using around 1/2 teaspoon clay for every 6 to 8 ounces of total ingredients in your body butter recipe. Start mixing your body butter as normal, then add the clay, then mix for another minute or longer, until fully incorporated.

How to Make Lavender Infused Oil

For the Lavender Infused Oil:

  • Fill a half-pint jar about 1/2 way with dried lavender flowers.
  • Choose one or more lightweight oils that absorb into your skin quickly. Shea butter is heavy and soaks in slow, so you want to counterbalance it with super light oils. Good choices include apricot kernel oil, rice bran oil, fractionated coconut oil, jojoba, argan, and grapeseed. (I like a combination of 3/4 apricot kernel or rice bran oil + 1/4 fractionated coconut oil.)
  • Pour the oil(s) of your choice over the dried flowers, until the jar is filled. Give the mixture a stir to release any air bubbles, then cap and set aside for four weeks, shaking occasionally.
  • If you’d like a quicker result, don’t cap the jar. Instead, set it down into a pan containing a few inches of water. Set the pan on a medium low burner (I use my wood stove in the winter since it’s always burning) for two to three hours, checking to make sure the water doesn’t evaporate out or the oil gets too hot.
  • Once sufficiently infused, strain and store your oil in a clean, dry jar in a cool, dark place. Shelf life of infused oil is around a year, or as long as the oil smells good.

Instructions to Make:

  1. Place the shea butter in a a 4-cup pyrex measuring pitcher, or other tall narrow mixing container or bowl, and beat for several minutes with a hand mixer or stand mixer.
  2. Once the shea butter is light and fluffy, add all of the other ingredients. Arrowroot is optionally added to help cut the greasy feel that body butters made with shea butter tends to have. If you don’t have arrowroot, try tapioca or corn starch instead.
  3. The clay is added for a light lavender color, that won’t tint your skin. If you don’t have any on hand, just leave it out.
  4. To prevent splashes and splatters, resume beating on low, gradually increasing speed as everything incorporates together. Whip for several more minutes or until it reaches an airy, cream like consistency.
  5. You can put in containers right away, or cover the mixing bowl and let it sit overnight. The next day, whip the body butter again, to make it extra fluffy.
  6. Spoon into jars and cap tightly. Shelf life is at least 6 to 9 months. After several months of storage, the cream will start to settle a bit. You also want to keep it out of direct heat or sunlight or it may melt down.
  7. Rub a small amount into dry skin, as needed. For best results, apply after bathing or showering, to help lock in hydration. A little bit goes a long way!

15 Comments

  1. Lavender–my FAVORITE! And purple Brazilian clay, oh, I simply MUST make this. And SOON! Thanks, Jan, for another great recipe and tutorial. Have a great day.

  2. I too love lavender, I definitely will make this awesome butter. thank you so much for your blog and the the things you post!

  3. Oh my goodness! I love your recipes and books. I love using Calendula, Chamomile , Lavender & Dandelions. Since making and selling these amazing products my website has really picked up. I do 3 farmers market a week in season and its wonderful to offer so much more than my awesome goat milk soaps. He-he. Just curious, mz farmwife, do you think I could use Brambleberry’s Shea body butter base to make the Lavender hand cream as a substitute for shea butter? Thanks, Mary, goat mom.

    1. I’m so happy to hear that Mary! I haven’t tried Brambleberry’s shea body butter base, but took a quick peek at it and the comments under the listing. I don’t think it would substitute 1 on 1 for shea, but it would be it’s own recipe in itself – so (and this is just a guess, but I think it would work), you would only need to melt it and add essential oils and the clay for color (if you’d like) and then pour it into jars. Though, I did see someone in the comments added argan oil too which sounds like it has some room for experimentation. I think it’s worth a try!

  4. There is a lavender farm on Washington Island (WI). I think I will purchase some there and try your recipe. It sounds wonderful.

  5. Jan… How long does Shea Butter last? Does it need to be refrigerated until I use it in a recipe? Do the other ingredients need to be refrigerated also?

    1. Hi Ron! Shelf life of shea butter is about one year. I don’t refrigerate mine and you want to avoid temperature fluctuations with it, or it may turn grainy in products. Two oils I always refrigerate are unrefined hemp oil and rosehip seed oil. Most of the rest are good in a cool location out of direct sunlight.

  6. I made this cream yesterday. I didn’t have the clay and could not find arrowroot so I used corn starch. It still turned out great. Will post a picture on the Facebook page!

  7. Pingback: 10 Things to Make With Lavender – The Nerdy Farm Wife
  8. my shea butter is rather FIRM to begin with. is it going to whip up, until fluffy, OR can a tad of an oil to help it along ? AND what can be used instead of arrowroot or corn starch ? THANKS SO MUCH !

    1. Hi Maureen! If your shea butter is on the hard side, you might want to completely melt everything down first (the butter and oil together), then chill it in your fridge, then try whipping it.
      It will be similar to the instructions in this article: https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/homemade-body-butter/
      The arrowroot or cornstarch is totally optional – another thing that works in its place is tapioca starch, but if you don’t have any, that’s fine too.
      I more often just adjust the oils so the body butter is light, and don’t often add the arrowroot, etc.

Comments are closed.