Whipped Tallow Body Butter
Whipped Tallow body butter is a deeply moisturizing, all-natural skincare that leaves your skin feeling soft and nourished. Simple to make at home, it takes the richness of tallow and whips it into a light, fluffy body butter that absorbs quickly and hydrates for hours.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup tallow
- 1/4 cup coconut oil Optional
- 1/4 cup jojoba oil or other liquid oil, such as olive, grapeseed or almond
- 1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil Optional, but a great antioxidant that helps extend shelf life and boost skin health.
- Essential oils of your choice Optional for scent—lavender, frankincense, or rose are popular choices for their calming properties.
Instructions
- Melt the Tallow and Coconut Oil: Start by gently melting your tallow and coconut oil together. You can do this by placing them in a double boiler or a heatproof glass jar in a pot of hot water. Stir occasionally to help everything melt evenly.
- Mix in Other Oils: Once melted, take the oils off the heat and add the jojoba oil and vitamin E oil. If you’re adding essential oils for fragrance, you can add them at this stage as well. A few drops will go a long way—about 10 to 15 drops of essential oil is plenty for a nice scent that’s not overpowering.
- Chill the Mixture: Once everything is well mixed, allow the oil mixture to cool until it’s firm, but not solid. This usually takes about an hour at room temperature. You can speed this up by placing it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, but keep an eye on it! You don’t want it to get too hard.
- Whip It Up: Now, here’s where the magic happens. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, start whipping the mixture on medium speed. Keep going until it turns light and fluffy—this usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes. It should resemble soft whipped cream or frosting.
- Store Your Body Butter: Once it’s whipped to perfection, scoop the body butter into a clean jar or container with a tight-fitting lid. If you’re not going to use it right away, store it in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. The whipped tallow body butter should last for about 6 months, depending on the quality of the ingredients and how it's stored.
Notes
The coconut oil, vitamin E oil, and essential oils are all optional. If you prefer a more minimalist approach, you can keep it simple by using just 4 parts melted tallow to 1 part liquid oil. It's important to choose an oil that's both nourishing for the skin and liquid at room temperature.
My personal favorite is jojoba oil, which I swear by from my days as a massage therapist. Jojoba oil is incredibly absorbable, making it perfect for skin, but you can also use other oils like almond oil, olive oil, or grapeseed oil, all of which work wonderfully.
On its own, tallow is quite hard, and although whipping it will soften the texture, it’s still not as spreadable as many people prefer. Without a liquid oil to balance it out, you might find the consistency a bit too stiff. That’s where coconut oil comes in. It not only helps the body butter maintain its fluffy, whipped texture, but it’s also great for your skin. If you want to skip it, though, that’s perfectly fine—you’ll still have a nourishing tallow balm that works wonders.
Vitamin E oil is another optional addition. It’s a natural skin booster and helps extend the shelf life of the body butter by preventing the oils from going rancid. With the extra air whipped into the mix, oils can start to spoil more quickly, but the vitamin E oil acts as a natural preservative and will keep your body butter fresh at room temperature for much longer.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!