The best butters for skin and hair and their benefits. Learn how to use shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, and other natural cosmetic butters in DIY beauty recipes for the hair or skin.
When you're making DIY bath and body, DIY hair care, or DIY beauty recipes, you'll need carrier oils, hair and skin butters, and essential oils.
I already have a post dedicated to different carrier oils and the benefits and several posts talking about essential oils, but I didn't have anything devoted to the best butters for skin and hair.
Hair and skin butters are plant based ingredients that are thicker than carrier oils. They are usually derived from a plant seed, bean, kernel, or nut.
When added to a DIY bath and body recipe or DIY beauty recipe, they each have unique properties that promote skin or hair health.
Body butters are high in proteins, vitamins, and fats that help nourish and moisturize your skin and hair. Their fatty acids make them a solid at room temperature, so they are thicker than carrier oils.
The most common types of butters for skin and hair are shea butter, cocoa butter, and mango butter, but there are several more butters that have amazing benefits for natural beauty.
Each butter has its own unique properties, so you can choose the best butters for skin and hair for your needs. Generally, you can swap butters in most DIY beauty recipes like lotions, body butter recipes, or sugar scrubs.
Best Butters for Skin and Hair and Their Benefits
This isn't a complete list of natural cosmetic butters, but these are the more common butters.
Some website have other butters for sale that are actually a carrier oil and a solid vegetable oil. I did not list those because I would use the carrier oil and one of these butters in its place.
I don't consider them a true natural cosmetic butters, but they can have their place. For example, I used aloe butter in my homemade eczema body butter to get aloe into an oil based product.
What Are Natural Cosmetic Butters?
Hair and skin body butters come from the seeds, kernels, nuts, or beans of plants. They are comprised of fatty acids and minerals and don't contain water. This gives them a longer shelf life without needing a preservative.
Since they are thick and solid at room temperature, it helps create a barrier on top of the skin that can hold other ingredients against the skin longer for longer effects.
Some natural butters do have an odor. Cocoa butter smells like chocolate, and bacuri and ucuuba butters have an earthy smell. Shea butter can also have a light aroma.
When choosing the best butters for skin and hair for your DIY recipes, look for unrefined butters. Also look for cold pressed butters, which means that heat and solvents weren't used in extraction.
These butters are usually more expensive than heat extracted butters, but it's well worth your investment to get higher quality ingredients.
When choosing the right natural cosmetic butters, take into consideration the consistency of the butter. Generally, lighter butters will absorb quickly without leaving an oily residue. This is important for oily skin or for your hair.
On the other hand, heavier, thicker butters tend to be more moisturizing, which is great for dry or damaged hair or dry skin or eczema.
As you can see, the best butters for skin and hair really depend on what you need and how you are using it.
Don't be afraid to combine different types of butters for skin. This gives you the benefits of both butters. For example, I often combine cocoa butter and shea butter or mango butter.
This gives me the benefits of the cocoa butter and the hardness that I need for a recipe, but it also tames the cocoa scent and also gives me the benefits of the other butters.
Natural skin and hair butters do have a shelf life. If it smells off or rancid, discard it and don't use it. Store your butters in a dark place so the light doesn't shorten the shelf life.
Absorption Rates
Along with the hardness of the butter, you also want to take into consideration the rate at which is absorbs into your skin. This is probably the most important factor to me when choosing the best butters for skin and hair.
Fast Absorption
Fast absorbing natural cosmetic butters soak into the skin quickly, so they won't leave your skin or hair oily. They moisturize without leaving behind a greasy film on the skin.
Fast absorbing butters:
- Capuacu butter
- Illipe butter
- Kokum butter
- Shea butter
- Tucuma
Slow Absorption
These natural cosmetic butters are thicker and more oily. They tend to be heavier and leave the skin feeling somewhat oily, but they are excellent for dry skin or hair.
Slow absorbing butters:
- Cocoa butter
- Ucuuba
Medium Absorption
These natural cosmetic butters are in the middle. They are great all purpose butters that can be used for most applications.
Medium absorption butters:
- Bacuri butter
- Mango butter
- Murumuru butter
- Sal butter
Where to Buy Natural Cosmetic Butters
I buy my shea butter, cocoa butter, and mango butter from Crafty Bubbles or Mountain Rose Herbs. I've used other brands, but theirs are higher quality at a great price and they carry several types of butters for skin.
For more exotic natural cosmetic butters, usually shop on Etsy for better prices.
Bacuri Butter
Bacuri butter is a dark natural butter that has an earthy smell. Because of its dark color, it can stain clothing, so be careful using it in DIY recipes.
Bacuri butter is said to help promote collagen and elastin production. It's very moisturizing and a natural emollient. It's also anti-fungal and anti-bacterial.
It's said to help promote hair and nail growth and promote healthier skin.
It leaves a greasy thin layer on the skin that then absorbs, making it a great butter for dry skin or eczema, but not such a great butter for a non-greasy body butter or emulsified sugar scrub.
It's a great choice for the following DIY beauty recipes:
- Mature skin
- Cracked or dry skin
- Stretch marks or scars
- Damaged hair
- Cuticle balms
- Eczema creams
Shelf life: 2 years
Bacuri Butter Recipes:
Capuacu Butter
Caucacu butter is an excellent skin and hair butter for moisturizing. It helps the skin retain moisture and boosts elasticity. It also helps provide hydration for both hair and skin for hours after you use it.
Its high phytosterol levels help it absorb extra water, which helps it hold moisture next to the skin and hair. Because of this, some people use it as a pant-based substitute for lanolin in skin care recipes.
Capuacu butter is recommended for the following recipes:
- Cracked skin
- Dry skin
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Mature skin
- Brittle hair
- Dry hair
- Dry or chapped lips
Capuacu Butter Recipes
Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter is a fairly common skin and hair butter. It has stable fats and antioxidants, so it has a long shelf life of two to five years.
Cocoa butter is hard at room temperature, but it melts quickly when it touches the skin. It's absorbed quickly into the skin, and it absorbs deep into the skin for more healing.
It's a natural emollient and moisturizer thanks to the omega- and omega-9 fatty acids. It also has polyphenols, which are said to reduce the visible signs of aging and soothe irritated skin.
Cocoa butter can help promote skin elasticity and improve skin tone. It helps boost collagen production and hydrate the skin.
Cocoa butter is one of more popular types of butters for skin.
Cocoa butter is often used in the following recipes:
- Dry hair
- Shampoo
- Dry skin
- Face masks
- Listicks
- Deodorants
Shelf life: 2-5 years
Cocoa Butter Recipes
Illipe Butter
Illipe butter is a little known butter, but it's a wonderful addition to your stash of ingredients. It's hard at room temperature, so it's sometimes used as a substitute for cocoa butter.
It's a natural emollient and moisturizes the skin, so it's a great natural moisturizer to add to DIY recipes. It can also help improve hair health and add moisture to dry hair.
Illipe butter is often used in the following DIY recipes:
- Lip balm
- Lotions
- Deodorants
- Body butters
- Dry hair treatments
Shelf life: 2 years
Illipe Butter Recipes
Kokum Butter
Kokum butter is one of the hardest and most stable hair and skin butters available. It's a natural healer, and it promote skin regeneration.
Kokum butter is an excellent natural emollient, so it's good to use on dry skin or hair.
Although kokum butter can be applied alone, it's often used with other butters and carrier oils because it is so hard.
Kokum butter is used for the following:
- Dry skin
- Skin healing
- Regenerating skin cells for scar or stretch mark creams
- Eczema
- Body butters
- Foundation
- Lipsticks
- Lotions
- Shaving cream
- Bar soap
Shelf life: 1-2 years
Kokum Butter Recipes
Mango Butter
Mango butter is another popular butter and one that I use often. It's not greasy, and it's absorbed into the skin quickly.
It softens and soothes skin while it moisturizes. It's said to restore skin flexibility and reduce the rate at which skin cells degenerate.
While other butters can have a strong aroma, mango butter has a faint aroma, so it's great for recipes where you don't want the scent to be strong.
Rich in vitamins A and E, mango butter is a good ingredient for reducing the appearance of fine lines and adding hydration and moisture to the skin.
Mango butter is good for the following:
- Dry hair
- Dry skin
- eczema
- Anti-aging
- Body butters
- Lotions
- Soaps
- Lip balm
Mango Butter Recipes
Murumuru Butter
Murumuru butter is an excellent emollient, so it's often used in hair care, soap, and lip balms. It's high in vitamins A and C and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids for hair and skin health.
Murumuru butter has a higher melting point than does mango butter or shea butter, so it's a good butter to combine with them for a melting point that's somewhere in between the two. Or you can use it alone in products where you want a higher melting point.
Murumuru butter is often used in:
- Soap
- Conditioner
- Shampoo
- Lotion
- Face masks
- Lipsticks
- Deodorant
Shelf life: 1 year
Murumuru Butter Recipes
Sal Butter
Sal butter isn't a common hair and skin body butter, but it has many benefits. It's similar to cocoa butter and can be used in much of the same applications.
It's high in antioxidants and is an excellent emollient for the skin and hair. It spread easily on the skin, making it perfect for lotions and body butters.
Sal butter is often used in or for:
- Soap
- Dry skin
- Lotion
- Dry hair products
- Solid lotions
- Damaged hair
Shelf life: 2 years
Sal Butter Recipes
Shea Butter
Shea butter is perhaps one of the most popular types of butters for skin and hair, and it's one that I use often. It's high in vitamins A, E, and F and essential fatty acids.
Shea butter is said to help promote collagen production to prevent the signs of aging. It's very moisturizing for the skin, and it's non-greasy.
It helps form a barrier on your skin to lock in moisture, so it's a great skin butter for dry skin.
When you use it on your hair, it moisturizes without making hair too oily.
For general purposes, shea butter is one of the best butters for skin and hair because it's versatile.
Shea butter is often used for:
- Dry hair
- Ethnic hair
- Dry skin
- Anti-aging
- Eczema
- Lotions
- Body butters
- Conditioners
Shelf life: 1-2 years
Shea Butter Recipes
Tucuma Butter
Tucuma butter is almost like a natural silicone product. It has the benefits of silicone without the harmful side effects. When applied to the hair, it coats the strand without weighing down hair or drying it out like silicone can do.
Tucuma butter is high in antioxidants to battle free radicals in the body. It's fatty acids protect the skin while it moisturizes and boosts hydration.
Tucuma butter is often used for:
- Dry hair
- Damaged hair
- Soap
- Conditioner
- Lotion
- Balms
- Dry skin
Shelf life: 1 year
Tucuma Butter Recipes
Ucuuba Butter
Ucuuba butter is a yellow to brown soft butter. It has a unique earthy aroma, so keep that in mind when formulating recipes. It will also turn your products dark.
Ucuuba butter is very hard, so it's often mixed with other body butters or carrier oils before it's used.
The fatty acids in ucuuba butter promote cellular development for your skin and hair. It's also high in vitamins A and C for hair and skin health.
Ucuuba butter also has natural antisetic and anti-inflammatory properties, so it's great for irritated skin or eczema.
For the hair, ucuuba butter boosts shine and elasticity for less breakage. It also helps hydrate dry or damaged hair.
Ucuuba butter is used for:
- Anti-aging skin care
- Body butters
- Salves
- Eczema relief
- Lotions
- Dry or damaged hair
- Lipsticks
- Lip balms
Shelf Life: 1 year
Ucuuba Butter Recipes
Have you used any of these types of butters for skin and hair in your DIY beauty or DIY bath and body recipes? Which do you think is the best butters for skin and hair?
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