Body Butter and Lotion: Which Should You Make

Learning how to make your own skin care can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Let’s go over what the difference is between body butter and lotion. As well as information about when you would want to use body butter over lotion and vice versa. Plus, there are links to recipes for both body butter and lotion, so you can learn how to make them both!

What is body butter?

Body butter is a combination of natural butters, carrier oils and specialty ingredients (such as green tea or aloe powder). It is mostly just skin loving oils. It is important to note that body butters do not contain any water or hydrosols. The cool thing about that is you are able to skip the preservative all together, unless if you add something that needs to be preserved.

Body butters are more temperature sensitive than lotions. If left in the heat (or even a house without air conditioning in the summer) your butter can and will melt. It is still completely useable, but you lose that nice whipped buttery texture. And, you lose that satisfying crackling sound you get when getting the butter out of the container. Due to the fact that it is so sensitive to heat, I wait until fall or winter to make my butter.

When to use body butter?

I find that my skin is a lot dryer in the fall / winter than it is in summer. Body butter is significantly thicker than lotion because it has a high concentration of natural butters, this means that the oils and butter are going to sit on your skin longer.

This is exactly what you want if you have dry skin, you want this high concentration of oils on your dry skin.

You will find that body butter is something you want to use right after showering because your skin will still have moisture on it and the body butter will go ahead and lock that moisture in.

Learn how to make it with this Whipped Body Butter Recipe.

What is lotion?

Lotion is an emulsion of water, oils and other specialty ingredients. Normally, the number one ingredient in lotion is water (or a hydrosol). It is created by heating your ingredients and combining them with an immersion blender. Normally does not contain a significant amount of natural butters and it is lighter and thinner than a body butter.

Lotion is non greasy and quickly absorbed into the skin. You are going to want to use lotion when you don’t have super dry skin.

Learn how to make it with this Beginner Lotion Recipe.

So, when should I use lotion and when should I use body butter?

As a general rule, you want to use lotion on the greasier parts of your skin (areas that are less dry) for a quick lubrication and save the body butter for the dryer areas with thicker skin (elbows, legs, feet and hands).

If you skin is really dry, use body butter right after showering to retain that moisture or select a cream that has a high water content.

Personally, I like to use lotion more throughout the day and save the body butter for night time, when skin is in repair mode.