As much as I love living in New England there are some things I miss about living in Florida. Great moisturized skin being one of them. The humidity does the body good. Wondrous good. I don’t remember ever having dry flaky skin, until I moved here. The winter months are incredibly harsh on my skin, not to mention the environmental toxins. I spend every winter re-hydrating with a plethora of lotions to cure my ailment, while clinging to that old “Hope in a Jar” theory.
Well, I think I’ve found it. My very own “Hope in Jar”. In this jar!
Growing up in South Florida you would find coconuts in your backyard, on the beach or in your local grocery store. We would chop, drill, shred and sometimes smash the coconut shell on the ground, just to get inside to it’s precious liquid and meat. A staple in many local restaurant menus, served within the main course, with a decadent dessert or as the main ingredient in a shake-your-booty tropical drink. I grew up loving and consuming this nourishing fruit.
I had never thought of putting coconut oil on my skin. Even knowing the healing properties in this magical fruit have been around for centuries, it’s only recently that I have begun to apply the raw unrefined coconut oil to my skin as a super moisturizer.
Although, I did find the coconut oil was a little to greasy for my liking, so I began testing ways to make my very own body butter and I am grateful I did.
I made the initial base of whipped body butter, then adding in the essential oils for fragrance. Making 3 separate body butters, by mixing into each separate batch, a tablespoon of rosewater, a tablespoon of orange and tablespoon of lavender into the base formula.
Whip it Good Body Butter (the base)
Here’s what you ‘ll need:
2 cups raw unrefined coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil)
1/3 cup raw unrefined shea butter (chopped into small 1/2 inch pieces)
1 tablespoon vitamin E oil
1 tablespoon sweet almond
*Add 1 tablespoon of your favorite oil to the whipped body butter for fragrance (examples: rosewater, orange, lavender)
In a small saucepan, melt the shea butter, set aside and allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. In an electric mixer, add the coconut oil, shea butter, vitamin e, sweet almond oil and whip for 8 minutes. Add essential oils and whip for another 2 minutes. Place in clean jar. Keep in a cool place.
I plan on making some these coconut recipes next time!
UPDATE*
The winner of the Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil is…. drum roll please.
Nomnivorous – Congratulations!
In honor of Earth Day and to celebrate how grateful I am for our beautiful planet and the awesome fruits she provides us with, I’m hosting a giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.
The Rules:
U.S. & Canadian Residents only.
To enter, please subscribe to Tropical Traditions newsletter and leave a comment letting me know that you did. You can enter for an additional chance to win by leaving a comment on something wonderful that you’ve discovered recently.
One winner will be selected at random and announced on the evening of Wednesday, April 25th.
* Disclaimer: The kind folks at Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review and giveaway. All the opinions here are my own. I think this product rocks!
GeorgieCakes 
I love your homemade body butter, what a wonderful idea. Living in NYC have the same issues and a lot of environmental stuff as well. I subscribed to the Tropical Traditions newsletter and plan on making your wonderful moisturizer. Thanks for posting this
I subscribed to the newsletter – I have been hearing such wonderful things about coconut oil!
I’ve subscribed to the Tropical Traditions newsletter. We’ve become huge fans of coconut oil lately, using it in shampoo soap bars, as a base for deodorant, eating it to eliminate candida, topically on cuts & scratches as an anti-bacterial, etc. but I have yet to try TT. Your body butter recipe looks pretty easy, I’ll have to remember that for next winter!
Something wonderful I’ve discovered lately is Maine Root sodas. Their root beer in particular. This is the only soda we can find that has no corn (or corn derivatives) so my girls can drink it & feel like “normal” kids despite their corn allergy. Better yet, it tastes great! Pricey, but that reminds us to use it only as an occasional treat.
I subscribed to their newsletter!
I recently found Barney’s Almond Butter Packets…. they are only 70 calories, a perfect snack with a piece a fruit, rice cake or just plain. No sugar, 100% yum. And no I’m not a pd rep LOL…. hope I win coconut oil!!!
I am a subscriber
I love this! I use coconut oil to moisturize all the time. I’m going to whip up some of your body butter. 🙂
Georgie, You taught me two wonderful things! That you lived in South Florida like Alessa and I. No wonder we are kindred spirits and that coconut oil is so wonderful.
I just susbscribed to the newsletter!
Subscribed to the newsletter!
Also, coconut oil is one of my favorite ingredients to bake with. Now I want to whip some up into moisturizer. And that climate change, from the south to the northeast, might explain a lot for my skin too. I went from NC to NYC and I can feeeeel it in the skin.
I subscribed – coconut oil is the best 🙂
The winner of the Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil is…. drum roll please.
Nomnivorous – Congratulations!
Email me at georgiecakes (at) gmail (dot) com to claim your prize.
You’ve never steered me wrong Ms. Cakes, I’ve subscribed to Tropical Traditions & do use organic extra virgin coconut oil w/honey, papaya & yogurt as a facial on occasion…cheers
Oh how I enjoy the wonderful coconut oil….I am nuts for coconut
I subscribe to Tropical Traditions
Subscribed!
I subscribe to Tropical Traditions
I subscribe to Tropical Traditions
I subscribed to tropical traditions.
I just started drinking a local milk. Yummy and wonderful. That is my most recent find!