Whipped Body Butter: What It Is, How It's Made, and Why Tallow Is Worth It

Whipped body butter is one of the simplest things in skin care. At its core, it's a few good fats whipped with a mixer until they're easier to scoop and spread. What changes from jar to jar is how many other things get added along the way.

This post covers what whipped body butter is made of, how it compares to lotion and regular body butter, and how the common butters stack up. We'll also share a simple whipped body butter recipe you can make at home, and explain why we keep ours to a short list with grass-fed tallow as the base.

What Is Whipped Body Butter?

Whipped body butter is a moisturizer made from butters and oils that have been melted, cooled, and whipped with a mixer. Whipping folds tiny pockets of air into the fat, which makes it softer to scoop than a solid block. How soft it ends up depends on what's in it. Some whipped butters stay light and airy, while others, like ours, sit on the firmer side and soften as they warm in your hand.

Most whipped body butters contain no water at all. That's the biggest difference between body butter and body lotion. Lotion is mostly water mixed with oil, so it needs emulsifiers to hold the two together and preservatives to keep bacteria from growing. A whipped body butter skips both, because there's no water in the jar for anything to grow in.

What Is the Point of Whipped Body Butter?

The point is texture. A solid butter can feel stiff and take a while to warm up and spread. Whipping makes the same ingredients easier to scoop and quicker to spread once they warm on your skin. The whipping process is really the only difference between a whipped body butter and a plain one.

Whipping changes the texture, not the ingredients. A whipped body butter has exactly the same fats as the solid butter it started as. You'll simply use a little less, because the air makes each scoop go further.

Is Whipped Body Butter the Same as Regular Body Butter?

They're made from the same ingredients, so in that sense they're the same. The difference is the whipping process. Regular body butter is dense and firm, while a whipped butter is a little softer and easier to scoop. Don't expect every whipped butter to feel like frosting, though, because the base ingredients decide how firm it stays.

What Is Whipped Body Butter Made Of?

Almost every whipped body butter starts with one or more hard butters and a little liquid oil. The hard butter gives it body, and the liquid oil keeps it soft enough to whip. From there, many recipes and store-bought jars keep adding: two or three butters, several oils, a blend of essential oils, fragrance, starches, colorants, and sometimes shimmer. None of that is required. Here's how the most common base ingredients compare.

Shea Butter

Shea butter comes from the nuts of the African shea tree, and it's the most popular base for a homemade whipped body butter. Raw, unrefined shea butter has a nutty smell, while refined shea butter is nearly odorless. It's rich and moisturizing, though some batches turn grainy if they cool too slowly.

Cocoa Butter

Cocoa butter comes from the cocoa bean, and unrefined cocoa butter smells like chocolate. It's one of the hardest butters, so recipes usually pair it with a softer butter or more liquid oil. Refined cocoa butter has little scent.

Mango Butter

Mango butter is pressed from mango seeds. It's softer than cocoa butter and feels less greasy than shea butter, which is why many recipes use shea and mango together.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil shows up in lots of DIY whipped body butter recipes because it's easy to find. It melts at about 76 degrees, though, so a coconut-heavy body butter can turn to liquid on a warm day. It also clogs pores for some people.

Liquid Oils

Liquid oils like jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, olive oil, or avocado oil soften a hard butter so it can be whipped. Most recipes use one part liquid oil to about three parts butter.

Beef Tallow

Whipped tallow is the old-fashioned option, and it's the one we chose. Tallow is rendered beef fat, and it's firm like a hard butter. What makes it different from plant butters is its fatty acid makeup, which overlaps with the natural oil your skin produces. We explain that in more detail in Beef Tallow for Skin: The Complete Guide.

How to Make Whipped Body Butter at Home

Making whipped body butter at home is easier than most people expect. You need a saucepan, a heat-safe bowl, a hand mixer, and about an hour, most of it spent waiting. Here's a simple whipped tallow version.

Simple Whipped Tallow Body Butter Recipe

You'll need these ingredients:

• 3/4 cup rendered beef tallow, preferably from grass-fed and grass-finished cattle
• 1/4 cup liquid oil, such as jojoba oil, olive oil, or sweet almond oil
• A few drops of vitamin E oil, if you'd like it (optional)
• A few drops of an essential oil you like, if you'd like a scent (optional)

Follow these steps:

1. Melt the tallow gently in a heat-safe bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
2. Take it off the heat and stir in the liquid oil and the vitamin E.
3. Chill the bowl in the fridge until the mixture turns opaque and just firm around the edges but still soft in the middle. This usually takes 30 to 60 minutes.
4. Use a hand mixer to whip it for five to ten minutes, until it turns pale and holds soft peaks. Tallow whips up firmer than shea butter, so don't worry if it isn't as fluffy as a shea recipe.
5. Add the essential oil, if you're using it, and whip for another few seconds.
6. Spoon it into a clean, dry glass jar and close the lid.

If you're rendering your own tallow first, our sister site Texas Grass Fed Farms walks through the process step by step in Liquid Gold from Your Kitchen. Start with good fat and render it slowly, because a strong beefy smell usually comes from rendering too hot or too fast.

Tips for the Best Whipped Consistency

The chill is the step most people rush. If the mixture is still warm and liquid, it won't hold air. If it's chilled until it's rock hard, it won't whip smoothly. You're looking for something like soft butter left on the counter.

If your finished body butter feels too hard, melt it again, add a little more liquid oil, chill, and whip again. If it feels too soft or greasy, use less liquid oil next time. Some people also whip in a teaspoon of arrowroot powder or tapioca starch to cut the greasy feel.

Sensitive skin deserves a gentle hand with essential oils. Fragrance of any kind is a common reason skin reacts, so leave it out at first, or keep it to a few drops. It's also wise to patch test anything new, and the American Academy of Dermatology explains how to test a skin care product before using it widely.

How to Use Whipped Body Butter

A little goes a long way. Scoop a small amount with clean, dry fingers, warm it between your palms for a few seconds, and smooth it onto slightly damp skin. Right after a shower is the best time, because the butter helps hold in the water that's already on your skin. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends the same habit in its tips for relieving dry skin.

Whipped body butter works well on arms, legs, hands, elbows, knees, and heels. You can use it on your face too, especially if your skin runs dry. Use only a pea-sized amount there, and go lighter if your skin is oily or breaks out easily.

How Do You Keep Whipped Body Butter From Feeling Greasy?

Use less than you think you need. Most of the greasy feeling comes from using too much. Apply it to damp skin, give it five minutes to sink in before you get dressed, and cut the amount in half if your skin still feels slick.

How to Store Whipped Body Butter

Whipped body butter likes a cool, dark spot. Keep the lid on and store it away from direct sunlight and heat. It doesn't need refrigeration.

Heat is its biggest enemy. In a hot car or a sunny window, it will melt and lose its fluffy texture, and in Texas that happens fast. Melting doesn't ruin it. You can chill and re-whip it, or simply use it as a richer, denser butter.

How Long Does Homemade Whipped Body Butter Last?

Because it contains no water, a homemade whipped body butter usually lasts several months to a year. Keep water out of the jar and always use clean, dry fingers. If it starts to smell sharp, sour, or stale, it's time to make a new batch.

Why We Keep Ours Minimalist

Shea butter, cocoa butter, and mango butter are all fine moisturizers. We chose tallow because it's a fat your skin already knows. Grass-fed tallow is roughly half saturated fat and a little under half monounsaturated fat, and it carries palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids, which are also found in human sebum. The two aren't identical, and we lay out the numbers honestly in our post on grass-fed tallow and fatty acid differences.

We also like what tallow doesn't need. It's stable on its own, and it doesn't call for a long list of helpers. That's why we stop where many recipes keep going. Ours is grass-fed tallow whipped with raw Texas honey and vitamin E, and one version adds frankincense for a light scent. You can see the full list on our ingredients page.

The tallow itself comes from grass-fed, grass-finished cattle with no feedlots, no grains, no antibiotics, no hormones, and no mRNA. We know every producer we buy from and how they raise their animals. If we don't know the producer and how they raised the animal, we don't use it.

Why We Call It Body Butter

We call ours a body butter because the texture is a lot like butter. It's firm in the jar, it softens when it warms, and it spreads like butter left out on the counter. It doesn't contain shea butter or any other plant butter, and that's fine with us. The name describes how it feels, and the ingredient list tells you what's in it.

Is Whipped Body Butter Worth It?

If your skin runs dry, we think it is. A good whipped body butter gives you a rich moisturizer with no water and no preservatives, and it doesn't need a long ingredient list to do its job. It also tends to last a long time, because you only need a little at a time.

It isn't for everyone. Very oily or acne-prone skin may find it too rich, especially on the face. Anyone allergic to animal fats should choose a plant butter instead, and anyone sensitive to fragrance should choose an unscented jar.

What Whipped Body Butter Won't Do

We'd rather be plain about this. Whipped body butter won't erase wrinkles, protect you from the sun, or replace anything your doctor prescribed. It isn't a treatment for eczema or any skin condition. What it will do is moisturize, soften dry patches, and support your skin barrier through dry seasons. For more on that, our page on tallow for dry skin is a good next read.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the point of whipped body butter?

Whipping folds air into a body butter so it's easier to scoop and spread than a solid butter. The ingredients stay the same, and only the texture changes. How soft it gets depends on the base, so some whipped butters stay fairly firm.

Is whipped body butter the same as regular body butter?

They're made from the same butters and oils. The difference is the whipping process. Regular body butter is dense and firm, while whipped body butter has air whipped into it, so it's a little softer and spreads more easily.

What is whipped body butter made of?

Most whipped body butters combine a hard butter, like shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, or beef tallow, with a small amount of liquid oil. Many add essential oils, fragrance, starches, or colorants, but none of those are required. Most contain no water, so they don't need preservatives.

How do you make whipped body butter?

Melt the butter, stir in a liquid oil, and chill the mixture until it's opaque and softly set. Whip it with a hand mixer for five to ten minutes until it's pale and holds soft peaks, then spoon it into a clean, dry jar.

Can you use whipped body butter on your face?

Yes, if your skin isn't very oily. Use only a pea-sized amount on slightly damp skin. Start with an unscented version, patch test first, and go lighter or skip it if your skin breaks out easily.

How should you store whipped body butter?

Keep it in a closed jar somewhere cool and out of direct sunlight. It doesn't need refrigeration. Avoid heat, which melts it and flattens the whipped texture, and keep water out of the jar.

Where to Start

If you'd rather skip the mixer, start with Blanco, our fragrance-free whipped body butter. It's grass-fed tallow, raw honey, and vitamin E, whipped, with nothing added for scent. If you'd like a light scent, The Alamo adds frankincense to the same base.

You can browse both in our tallow and honey body butter collection. Whichever way you go, homemade or ours, a small scoop on damp skin is all it takes.