Body Butter Ratio Calculator
Work out whipped body butter by weight: the 60:40 butter to oil ratio, each butter and oil in ounces or grams, and cost per jar.
Butters plus oils, before whipping.
Weigh one filled jar. Whipping adds air, so a jar holds less weight than its label suggests.
How the 60% butter share splits between butters, as percentages of the butters.
How the 40% oil share splits between oils, as percentages of the oils.
Optional. Enter what you pay per pound for each ingredient.
Your recipe
- Shea butter60.0% of batch9.60 oz2.40 oz
- Sweet almond oil40.0% of batch6.40 oz1.60 oz
- Total batch16.00 oz4 jars
The body butter ratio: 60:40 by weight
Whipped body butter has two groups of ingredients: hard butters and liquid carrier oils. The standard starting point is 60% butters to 40% oils by weight, with no water.
Butters = batch weight × 0.60
Oils = batch weight × 0.40
Example: 16 oz batch = 9.6 oz butters + 6.4 oz oils
60:40 sits in the middle of a working range. Makers run anywhere from 50% to 70% butters. More butter gives a firmer, thicker body butter. More oil gives a softer one that spreads more easily and is more likely to feel greasy.
| Batch | Butters (60%) | Oils (40%) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 oz | 4.8 oz | 3.2 oz |
| 16 oz | 9.6 oz | 6.4 oz |
| 250 g | 150 g | 100 g |
| 500 g | 300 g | 200 g |
Weigh everything. A cup of shea butter and a cup of oil don't weigh the same, and the ratio only holds by weight.
Hard butters and soft butters
Butters differ in how hard they are at room temperature, and that changes the finished texture. The calculator splits the butter share between up to three of them:
- Shea butter is the usual base for whipped body butter. Unrefined shea has a noticeable nutty smell; refined shea has very little.
- Mango butter is a common partner for shea, or a swap for it, with little smell of its own.
- Cocoa butter is the hardest of the three. A little firms the whipped butter, but keep it at or below 20% of the batch. Above that, body butter sets hard and feels greasy, and the calculator flags it.
The oils are the liquid part. Jojoba, sweet almond and fractionated coconut oil are common choices. Regular coconut oil is solid in a cool room, so it behaves partly like a butter; use the fractionated kind if you want it to count as a liquid oil.
For the simplest recipe, leave one butter and one oil at 100% of their group. To blend, enter each one's share of its group, for example 70% shea and 30% mango. If the numbers don't add up to 100, the calculator scales them so they do.
Why whipped body butter has no water
Whipped body butter is anhydrous, meaning it contains no water. That is what lets a plain butter-and-oil recipe go without a preservative, since bacteria and mold need water to grow.
Add water, aloe or a hydrosol and you are making a lotion. Water and oil need an emulsifier to stay mixed, and anything with water in it needs a broad-spectrum preservative. Water can also get in after the jar is filled, from wet fingers in the bathroom, so tell customers to keep the jar dry.
How to keep body butter from feeling greasy
Check the oil share first. At 60:40 the butter holds its whipped texture and spreads easily. Below 60% butters, each step gives a softer, oilier result that sits on the skin longer. If yours feels greasy, move the slider back to 60:40 or toward more butter.
Cocoa butter is the other thing to check. Above 20% of the batch it can leave the finished butter both hard and greasy. Move some of its share to shea or mango butter.
How to whip body butter
- Weigh the butters and melt them gently, in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
- Take the bowl off the heat and stir in the oils.
- Cool the mix until it turns opaque and starts to set around the edges: soft, but no longer liquid. The fridge speeds this up, so check it often.
- Whip it with a hand or stand mixer until it is pale, light and holds soft peaks.
- Spoon or pipe it into jars and put the lids on.
If the finished butter turns grainy, the shea butter most likely cooled too slowly and formed small crystals. Melt the batch again until it is fully liquid, cool it quickly in the fridge, and whip it again.
How to scale a batch
Every ingredient is a percentage of the batch weight, so the recipe scales up or down without changing. To work from jars, switch to the By Jars tab and enter how many jars you want and how much one filled jar weighs.
Weigh a filled jar rather than going by its label. Jars are sold by volume, and whipping adds a lot of air, so a jar marked 8 oz holds less than 8 oz of whipped butter by weight.
Cost per jar
The price fields cover the butters and oils, priced per pound or per kilogram. A jar you plan to sell also carries the jar itself, the label and your time. The candle pricing calculator covers turning a unit cost into a retail price with labor and overhead included, and the method works the same for body butter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best ratio for body butter?
60% butters to 40% liquid oils by weight is the standard starting point for whipped body butter. Makers work anywhere from 50:50 to 70:30. More butter gives a firmer body butter; more oil gives a softer one that spreads more easily but is more likely to feel greasy.
What is the shea butter to oil ratio for body butter?
60:40 by weight: 60% shea butter and 40% liquid oil. For a 16 oz batch that is 9.6 oz of shea butter and 6.4 oz of oil. For a 500 g batch it is 300 g of shea and 200 g of oil. If you mix shea with other butters, the 60% covers all of the butters together.
Why is my body butter greasy?
Check the oil share first. Keep the liquid oils at or below 40% of the batch; going past that gives a softer, oilier butter. Cocoa butter above 20% of the batch can also leave body butter hard and greasy, so move some of its share to shea or mango butter.
Why is my body butter grainy?
Shea butter that cools slowly can form small grainy crystals. Melt the batch again until it is fully liquid, then cool it quickly in the fridge until it starts to set, and whip it again.
Does whipped body butter need a preservative?
Not while it stays anhydrous: butters and oils only, with no water, aloe or hydrosol, and no wet fingers in the jar. Once anything water-based goes in, it needs an emulsifier and a broad-spectrum preservative, and at that point it is a lotion rather than a body butter.
How do I make whipped body butter by weight?
Decide on the batch weight, multiply it by 0.6 for the butters and 0.4 for the oils, and weigh each one. Melt the butters, stir in the oils, cool the mix until it starts to set, then whip it until it is pale and light. The calculator above does the arithmetic and splits each group between individual butters and oils.