Four Butters You Can Add to Your Melt & Pour Soap

If you are a beginner, making melt & pour soaps is a good choice to start with since it’s safer, easier and less time consuming. It takes less than a day before a melt & pour soap bar can be used whereas most cold process soap bars require 4+ weeks to cure. Moreover, there are many options when choosing a melt & pour soap base. You don’t have to come up with your own soap base recipe until you’re confident enough with your soap making skills!

Why Add Butter?

Butters like shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter and kokum butter (all of which are available at our store) have moisturising and nourishing qualities. They make soaps more luxurious, though we recommend not adding more than a teaspoon of butter per pound of melt & pour soap. This is because too much butter will make the bases oily or soft, or cause them to crack or feel brittle/waxy.

Types of Butter and Some of Their Properties

Shea Butter

1. Extracted from the seeds of the fruit of the Shea (Karite) tree
2. May reduce inflammation and help avoid skin mutations
3. Aids the skin’s natural collagen production
4. Comes in either raw (ivory/gray in colour), natural (yellow), and bleached (white)
5. Has a softer texture than cocoa and mango butter, but is slightly firmer than avocado and coffee butter
6. Suitable for all skin types

*You can buy our ready-to-use, melt and pour shea butter soap base here. Or, you can get our Pure Shea Butter here.

Cocoa Butter

1. Extracted from cocoa beans
2. Antioxidants may help fight signs of aging
3. Comes in natural or deodorized
4. A type of hard butter
5. Contributes firmness to soap
6. Most suitable for dry and combination skin types

*You can buy our Pure Prime Pressed Virgin Cocoa Butter (Unrefined) here.

Mango Butter

1. Comes from the seeds of the mango tree
2. May help ease dry skin conditions and help slow down degeneration of skin cells
3. Most mango butter on the market is refined and deodorized to remove scent and colour
4. A type of medium/hard butter
5. Contributes some firmness to soap, but not as much as cocoa butter
6. Suitable for all skin types

*You can buy our 100% Mango Butter (Refined) here.

Kokum Butter

1. Comes from the fruit kernels of Garcinia Indica.
2. Extremely good for damaged skin since it’s super moisturising.
3. Has a high stearic acid content of around 40-45%
4. It is the most stable and hardest exotic butter.
5. Contributes firmness and also helps thicken products
6. Suitable for all skin types

*You can buy our Unrefined Kokum Butter here.

NOTE: All of these butters contain moisturizing and nourishing properties.

Want to know more about making your own soaps at home? Check out these posts of ours!
For Melt & Pour Soap
👉 Commercial Soaps VS Melt & Pour Soaps
👉 Melting Soap Bases – Which Method to Use?
👉 Why you shouldn’t add breast milk (or any fresh ingredient) to Melt and Pour Soap Bases
👉 Soap Sweat and How to Fix It
👉 Guide for Adding Honey to Melt and Pour Soap
👉 Why You Should Use Honey Soap Base for Super Easy and Beneficial Honey Soaps

Some Recipes for Melt & Pour Soap
👉 DIY Chamomile and Green Tea Organic Melt and Pour Soap
👉 DIY Melt and Pour Anti-Acne African Black Body Soap
👉 DIY Cool Peppermint Aloe Vera Soap
👉 Make Shower Time Great Again with Jelly Soap
👉 DIY Soothing, Nourishing and Moisturizing Solid Shampoo Bar for Hair Growth

References:

1. “All About Butters In Bath & Beauty Products”, Soap Queen
   <https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/all-about-butters-in-bath-beauty-products/&gt;.
2. Gardenofwisdom.com
   <http://www.gardenofwisdom.com/butters.html&gt;.
3. “How To Use Kokum Butter”, Soap Queen
   <https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/how-to-use-kokum-butter/&gt;.
4. “Shea Butter Vs Cocoa Butter Vs Mango Butter: Which Is Best And Why?”, DIY Natural
   <https://www.diynatural.com/shea-butter-vs-cocoa-butter-vs-mango-butter/&gt;.