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Grainy Shea Butter? Here’s how to fix it

Grainy Shea Butter

What is grainy shea butter? What are those little sand-like beads that sometimes form on your wonderfully whipped body butter, homemade lip balm or other butter-rich product?

Those grains are parts or molecules of your butter that cooled off faster than the rest. They have separated and have cooled off quickly, while the rest of your product has cooled off at a different temperature.

Let that sink in for a minute: those grains are parts or molecules of your butter that cooled off faster than the rest. Welcome to homemade, synthetic-free skin care.

In a traditional cosmetics lab, there are numerous ingredients and products that, when added to a formula, prevent grainy from forming.

grainy shea butter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The science behind grainy Shea Butter

Shea Butter is made up of many fatty acids, in parenthesis you will see the average percentage of that fatty acid in a typical, high quality, unrefined shea butter:

Oleic acid (43-56%)

Stearic acid (31%-45%)

Linoleic acid and Palmitic acid (4-8% each)

Lauric acid, Linolenic acid, Arachidic acid (about 1% or just a trace)

Each of these fatty acids melt and solidify at different temperature, this is called Melting Point. While you will find from manufacturers what the overall melting point of a butter is (for example melting point for shea butter is 89-100F, while the melting point for cocoa butter is 93-101F), the truth is that all the fatty acids that make up your shea butter are behind the scenes melting and solidifying at their own pace.

How to fix grainy Shea Butter

At this point the answer is getting more and more obvious: to avoid your body butter, balm or other homemade skin care products from getting grainy, you need to melt the butter, add it to your formula. then place the container in the fridge, freezer or over an ice bath to quickly solidify.

If you will be whipping your shea butter or final product, you can remove the container from the fridge, freezer or ice bath when the product is mostly but not completely solid. That way it’s easy to whip it, and it will be smooth and with no grains.

If you will not be whipping it because it’s a lip balm, salve or even a non-whipped body butter, you can leave it in the fridge until it is completely solid, take out of the fridge and use it.

What do you do once it’s fixed?

Once your shea butter or whipped body butter has solidified, simply take it out and keep it stored in a cool place.  Be sure to keep it away from heat and moisture, and if the temperature gets above 80F, it is safer to keep your butters and products in the fridge.

With this trick, we invite you to jump right in and fix any grainy shea or other butters you may have, then have fun making skin care creations like:

Grainy Shea Butter happens, but don’t stress it, just fix it 🙂

We would love to hear your feedback on this subject, please comment below if this blog helped you, and let us know your experience with your shea butter creations!

whipped shea butter

226 responses to “Grainy Shea Butter? Here’s how to fix it

  1. Quick question. Will your shea butter still become grainy again if you are creating a melt and pour recipe. Were someone else will be melting the butter back down and letting it cool without a freezer?

      1. You can whip it now, just leave it out of the freezer about 1-3 hours until you are able to use a whip (when it’s too hard the whip won’t work).

  2. I made some lotion bars about a week ago.. I took the cover off one of them today and there were a ton of tiny white grainy specks on the surface.. the product itself still smelled amazing but just these white specks were a turn off.. this did not happen in all of them just one. It is in a deodorant bar and I don’t really want to remelt it.. how do I know for sure that it’s not going bad?

    Pauline

    1. Hello Sharon! This can happen when the heat used to melt the butter/mixture is too hot, or when it is not cooled fast enough. For example, using a double boiler should be done on low or low-medium heat. Cooling the product in the freezer is a good idea as well. The specks come from the fatty acids separating from the butter itself. I hope this helps! Feel free to write us with questions any time at info@new-bsb.newbird.co and thank you for your comment!

      1. I cooked it too hot, and also cooled it down slow. If I cook it again on low heat then put in the freezer for an hour will this fix the problem, or have i already over cooked the butter?

        1. Unless you boiled it, I don’t think you ruined the butter. Yes, try again with low heat, you can even turn the heat off when it’s 80% melted, the rest will melt even if you turn the heat off and just stir it.

  3. Mixed up a batch of belly butter that ended up being grainy.. Has mango, shea and cocoa butters in it already. Also some oils…I’m going to remedy whole batch and see if that fixes it. At this point its at donation status anyways so I don’t have much to lose. Lol. Will post my results.

    1. Please do! 🙂 Unfortunately it’s much easier before making a product, but it can still work for some products like body butter. Let me know!

      1. Thanks for the great feedback! I am making some beard balms and for the grains, is there a temperature you recommend melting to?

        1. I don’t normally test the temperature in test recipes for our blogs, but every time I have beeswax and butters melting together, I keep the lowest heat, and after all is liquid, I keep them on the heat about 1/2 hour and stir occasionally to make sure that everything is in fact melted well. The tricky part to avoid grains is fast cooling though, make sure you put everything in the fridge. And test a few containers before making a large batch 🙂

    1. You can melt multiple butters together the same way and then freeze it as well 🙂 As for a lip balm, there would be no harm in letting it set in the freezer instead of room temperature or the fridge 🙂

      1. If i put my lip balms in the freezer to cool, how long can i leave them in there? do i need to worry about freezing too long?

        1. Hi there! A couple hours will do 🙂 If you leave them “too long” it won’t harm anything – it will just need to sit in room temperature longer afterwards to reach it’s normal texture.

      2. Please help me, Isabella. What I do to avoid grittiness is : to put all my butters, oils, 15% beeswax and heat to 80 deg Centigrade. I then leave it there on that high temp for 20 min. Blend the whole thing and put it in the freezer for an hour . I then melt the whole blend to around 40 degrees Centigrade, add E Vitamin and Essential oils and in their small jars. They are stored in the fridge straight away . Does this sound ok?
        But what if melt only the butters to that high temp and leave it there for 20 min, then put this in the freezer for 2 hrs., then fridge. Can I then just keep them ready and prepared for whenever I make the balms by : just melting it to around 80 deg again with the other oils and beeswax and NOT letting it hold this second time of heating , then blending it well on ice cubes to 40 deg, E Vit and Ess oils. Pour them in jars and in fridge or freezer for some time? It’s very cumbersome to make non gritty balms – as much as I adore some butters.

        1. Hi Maryanne,
          To be honest I am a little confused by all the steps your mention, sorry! To keep it super simple, grainy butters happen when you solidify a melted butter or melted butter + was TOO SLOWLY. You want to be FAST in the solidification process. You also do not want to freeze all your jars overnight, that would be overdoing it. Just do a test with a small batch, when you are done with melting and mixing all your ingredients you need to put them in the fridge so they solidify. Then you can either whip if you want to, or just remove from the fridge and store at room temperature. But that’s after the body butter or salve or preparation is solid again. Hope this helps!

  4. I made some lotion bars and never had them take forever to cure and once they did they are very grainy and not smooth. I’m confused. Can I melt down and maybe add bees wax or something else to make these work? I did put them in the freezer didn’t really do much.
    I used Shea butter cocoa butter and alittle kokum butter with olive oil any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks in advance

    1. Hello Kim! Are you making sure to melt them on low heat? The heat setting may be too high on your particular stove top. Try lowering it when you melt it. It does take longer, but worth it for the results. Beeswax does help harden!

  5. Most recipes use essential which you don’t add during the heating/melting process. Therefore, if your product is already made and essential oils have been added, can you still reheat the product to fix “grainy” problem?

    1. Hi Kelley, I just answered a similar question. The Essential Oils will mostly evaporate if you melt it again, so you’ll have to add most of the amounts you had to begin with. I know that re-melting and correcting recipes is a little painful, but if you melt them slowly and at low heat, then follow the other steps to remove graininess, your body butter will turn out great. Let us know how it goes! – Isabella

  6. Is there any way to correct this problem after I’ve already made my batch of body butter to include my additives of oils, fragrance, and tapioca starch? Just wasn’t sure if the process of heating and freezing was okay since I’ve already added those other things. Made a big batch and it’s very gritty.

    1. Hi Jennifer, you can still do this process to remove the grittiness, try to do it with a jar-size batch first to see how it turns our before you remelt everything else. Essential oils evaporate easily so you may have to add most of them again. If you have used something labelled “fragrance” – which is usually synthetic – that scent will stick around more than the EOs so you may not need to add any more. Feel free to comment back again if you have any more questions or to let us know how it turned out. – Isabella

  7. Interesting …I am getting back into making balms & butters after being away from it for a few years …I know too well how shea can crystallize! I had always read that it should be melted and held at a certain temp ( around 175 degrees F & held for 20 minutes)…and then quick cooled ( which the freezer would do …and I think I did use the freezer …or maybe the fridge can’t really remember) …so, in your experience, reaching that temp & holding isn’t actually necessary? It more about the quick cool? TY!

    1. Looks like we are both at the same stage. Trying to remember all of these little tips that makes a product the best it can be. I found this forum just as ,I started a batch of lotion bars and remembered there was something I needed to do to the shea. thanks for the exact info I needed!

      1. You are quite welcome! Sometimes I have to search back through my blogs to remember these tricks or some recipes 🙂

  8. Hi! Do you recommend the 20 minute heat & hold method for shea butter or would that render ineffective some of the beneficial ingredients in the butter? I have put balms in the freezer after making them and that works until the weather gets hot and remelts them. Then, I’ve had them get grainy again. I don’t mind for myself but am not sure what’s best if I’m making a gift. Thanks!

    1. Hi Linda,

      I do not recommend the heat & hold method in a balm or preparation that has only butters, oils and beeswax. The heat and hold method is used by some people for preparations that contain water, aloe vera, hydrosols or another “non-oil” ingredient.

      From our experiments at Better Shea Butter, we have noticed no difference in preparations that use the heat & hold method, so I suggest you save your time.

      As for the grainy balm issue, the truth is that if your balm (or body butter) melts after you have made it to look and feel perfect, if it melts it will most likely be grainy when it re-solidifies. It is the nature of the beast in DIY, natural skincare. I suggest you just let it be, accept it, and let your customers or friends know it may get grainy but the efficacy of the product will be intact.

      The cosmetic industry has gotten people used to feel and see beauty products in a certain way: uniform color, intoxicating scent, years-long shelf life, perfect look of your lotion. But these “perfect” products are all PR, marketing and looks, with little true benefits for your skin. I am going on a roll, sorry! My point is to make your wonderful balm and be proud when you give it out or sell it, you have made something wholesome and packed with nutrients for someone’s skin. So what if it gets a bit grainy?

  9. Hi there. Once I leave the shea butter in the freezer, the top cracks and the balm dips slightly. Is there anything I can do to stop that from happening?
    Thanks.

    1. Cooling your balms is a bit of an art – if you do it too quickly it will crack/sag as in your comment. If you do not cool it fast enough, it will get grainy. As you know we melt and filter all our butters when we receive them from our overseas co-ops, and we have had our challenges in re-solidifying the blocks after the filtering phase. If you are able to, try a few different ways to cool your balm: put it in the fridge for 2 hours vs. put it in the freezer for 1 hour then move it to the fridge. Also, weather you use the fridge or freezer, put the balm there right after you have poured it in your containers, this has proven to be useful for us. Let me know if you find the perfect solution to this!

  10. I made foot balms using Shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax coconut oil, avocado oil and olive oil infused with some herbs and essential oils, after about 10days I noticed white specks on the surface. The temperature here is quite warm and I noticed sweating of the balms whenever the temperature goes up that also dissappears when the temperature cools. I added a natural preservative so I’m surprised, I hope this isn’t bacteria

    1. Hi Chinene,
      I highly doubt it is bacteria, unless you have water/aloe or another non-oil ingredients, but if you also added a preservative it’s unlikely for mold to form.
      The specs are most likely caused by the butter turning grainy due to temperature shifts. Whenever you have a butter in a formulation, if it melts even a bit then it re-solidifies slowly, little grains can show up. Your balm is probably great.

  11. Thank you for the wonderful information in this article! Can you please tell me about your filtering process for the butters? Are any chemicals used? TY

    1. Hi Katie, we filter the shea butter with several grade filters to remove any of the shea nuts skin – it’s just like the “skin” on walnuts and almonds, very thin – so we get a golden, clean shea. We do not use chemicals, those are only for companies that refine their shea butter and remove the nutty scent and the ivory color so the final shea butter is white and unscented. Some of the products used are hexane or other bleach-type products, we haven’t looked into these so I don’t have any more specifics. We want to offer pure, unadulterated Shea Butter since it has so many great results for people’s skin conditions. 🙂

  12. Well I was going to try melting mine but would not have known how to cool it properly to prevent it from becoming grainy again. I assumed it became that way from it melting at some point since I live in Miami Beach. I have also been wanting to make lotion bars and try other recipes for dry skin. Thx so much for the information.

  13. Hi,
    I am a novice at making natural products. I am supper excited about the prospect. However I keep running into trouble.I don’t know how to make lotion that includes water, oils, ewax, and shea butter without it getting grainy. I don’t know when to add what and when to cool what. I am lost, please help!

    1. Hi Liz, if you are just starting out making your own products, I suggest you start with a formulation that has no water but only butters and oils (beeswax too, but not emulsifying beeswax, they are two different things). Most of our recipes are made with no water, just go to the /recipes page on our website and download our free ebook with 30+ recipes, pick one and go for it! Grainy butter happens when you don’t cool off your formulation quickly enough, but if you follow our method to melt and cool you’ll get it in no time 🙂

  14. Hello i have a problem i had a ball of shea butter and i melted it in a pan not a double pan this i have done before and it was not cristzliezd and grainy this time it is grainy i dont know how to repair this as i have 6kilos to repair already in jars. Please can you help me . Thank you in advance i bought this direct from Africa because it was not very clean with bits in it i had to put it though a coffee filter.
    Thank you for your advice
    Deborah Butters

    1. Hi Deborah, no worries, grainy shea butter can be fixed every time! The trick to avoid grainy shea is to: melt it completely, maybe in small batches and not the whole 6 Kilos at once. Then you need to pour it in your containers and place it in the freezer or fridge if you don’t have enough room in a freezer. The shea needs to “cure” and stay there until it is completely solid, if you pour it in jars, this may take a couple of hours. Then you need to take the jars out of the fridge and although you should let them get back to room temperature, you will see that the shea is completely smooth and not grainy. The trick is to melt completely, then cool off as fast as you can. Slow cooling causes grainy shea. Sometimes shea melts a bit due to the weather or storage temperature, and if it then sits there and does not solidifies fast, it will create crystals (grainy shea). Give this a try and let me know!

  15. Hello there …forgive me for not first reading all the questions and answers …I scanned but did not see the answer to mine – since we want to melt at a low heat and not directly over the heat – what is the best temp to reach before popping in the freezer? I hit 180-185 F …just a little higher than what I believe the to be the melting point of the highest temp component …does that sounds about right? Or what would you recommend ? TY

    1. Hello there and I’m happy you have asked! Not too many people realize that there are invisible to the eye crystals in shea butter, and those need to be melted at 180F and the liquid shea should be held at that temperature for about 15 minutes. Just make sure you melt it slowly over a double boiler or other similar method (not the microwave). Then pop it in the freezer until all butter has solidified, and your butter will be smooth and free of any graininess.

  16. Hallo, I am happy to find this website. I am from Uganda Kampala. We are into production of Shea butter oil. It’s organic. We extract it using cold press machine.

    The information I have got here has helped me understand so much about Shea butter oil. Especially the fact that it gets grainy.

    What I have is Nilotica Shea butter. It is a pale yellow colour.

    1. Hi Margaret, is Nilotica Shea sustainable? I’ve been looking to get hold of some as it has more moisturising benefits than west African Shea. Any advice on Nilotica would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance
      Emma

  17. Thank you for this informative article. My question is slightly different. I don’t get crystals but what seems to be shea ‘bloom’ at the surface of the jars as well as the jar walls/sides. This is an off-white colour. When pressed between my fingers, it doesn’t feel like grit or crystals, just a “discoloured’ look. I follow a slightly different method of melting and pouring as there isn’t enough space in the freezer and I’ve been thaught to do it this way by some Ghanian friends.
    I melt to about 185 degrees, then leave it to cool at room temperature. When it starts to thicken, I stir constantly until it is thick and cold. This may take 5 hours to reach the pouring stage This is when I start pouring into jars. The consistency at this stage is that of cake batter. It’s creammy and cool. But the these white, non-grainy spots show up over night. I suspect it could have something to do with ambient temperate. Do you have any idea what could be happening, should I change to freezer method? Any advise if freezer is not available?
    Thanks, would appreciate any feedback.

    1. Hi Zibulu, what you are describing as off-white color “bloom” is the fatter parts of the shea solidifying at different speed than the rest of the shea. It is ok to let it melt at 185 and take it off the heat to cool off a bit, but I recommend that you find a cold place – can be the fridge or maybe under an AC vent if you have it? The trick to avoid the discolored look is to cool off the melted shea fast. Trust me, we’ve tried different variations but unless we cool it fast, it will get grainy or with visible “fat dots”. That said, even with crystals or these fat dots, the shea is still great and it won’t affect the efficiency of the shea butter, it’s just that people are used to seeing beautiful looking creams and when they see raw shea with little discolored dots, they tend to worry because they don’t understand it. I hope this helps.

  18. Hi. I made a lovely creamy body butter (she bitter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, rose hip oil, almond oil, evening primrose oil and essential oils -frankenscence, Mhyrr, lavender and lemon grass). It was too oily (probably due to the primrose so I added some arrowroot powder. There are no grains in the butter that you can see. It really feels like the arrowroot powder is leaving a dusty residue on my skin. Can this be corrected? Perhaps I will have to add more oil and live with the oily feel.

    1. Hi Sophia, adding arrowroot powder is the right thing to do to reduce the oily feeling. Realize that we are all used to lotions that have 70-90% of water in them, and switching to 100% nutrients (oils and butters) will feel too oily at first. Just use a lot less than regular lotion, a little goes a long way. The cool thing is that what you made is actual skin food that your skin needs. Maybe next time you make your formulation, try a little less arrowroot, this is similar to cooking a homemade meal – you tweak it every time until you get your favorite recipe.

  19. Hello…I’m using a hot plate that has controlled temps and I can set at 180F it stay at that temp. I’m putting the butters directly into the stainless steel pot which sits on the plate. I’m thinking it’s ok in this case to use direct heat. LOVE your site!!!

    1. Hi Vee,

      Don’t do that, you will burn the butters! I would put some water in the stainless steel pot over the hot plate, heat the water, then in a second container (maybe a glass pitcher) put your butters, immerse the bottom of the glass container in the boiling water and let the butters melt that way. That’s a standard double boiler method that will heat your product without burning it.

        1. It is best if you do not boil butters as they will spoil. Simply melt it slowly over a double boiler, then pour it into your final container(s), and put in the fridge to fully solidify. That’s all!

  20. Hi! I’m hoping you can answer my question. I’ve been making an ointment/salve with all organic ingredients – shea butter, jojoba oil, beeswax, Vitamin E and essential oils. It gets grainy (no surprise there).
    I’m wondering if I melt the shea butter first and cool it as recommended, can I then re-melt it when I’m ready to use it in my recipe? Will that fix the problem?
    Or do you recommend making the whole salve recipe, pouring it into the jars, and then placing those into the freezer or fridge to cool? I hope my question makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help!

    1. Hey Natalie! If you understand how the grains form, you will be able to make decisions as they come. Cosmetic butters have particles in their composition that melt and cool off at different temperatures than the rest of the butter, so the important step to avoid graininess is to melt a butter all the way, then cool it quickly. So, I don’t think it’s necessary to go through this process with the shea first, because when you make your balm recipe you will still need to make sure that everything is melted, and it’s then cooled off correctly. I hope this makes sense, it’s a bit tricky to work without additives, thickeners, stabilizers and emulsifiers 🙂

      1. Hello, this is the best thread I’ve seen yet about making a natural product with shea butter! I use your butters and love them so much! As you mentioned stabilizers and emulsifiers in this answer, I’d like to ask if there are natural options? Also, where does glycerin fall as far as categorizing? Is it a non oil? Am I commenting some kind of natural product sin if I add it into a lip balm?

        1. Hello Sheila, thank you, it’s my pleasure to write blogs and answering questions about homemade skin care 🙂

          The only natural emulsifier I know of is lecithin, I’ll have to schedule a tutorial on how to use it exactly, but here’s an article to give you an idea of how people currently use it (it’s for food, but can easily translate into skin care):

          https://web.livestrong.com/article/276580-why-is-lecithin-a-good-emulsifier/

          Glycerin is water soluble so it won’t work in a body butter unless you also emulsify it, and if you emulsify it but do not add a preservative to your product, you will need to use everything up within a couple of weeks.

          There’s so much to learn about DIY skin care, the best way is to start with no more than 3-4 ingredients and get really familiar with them, how to mix and match, how to control the density of the product by adding more oil, etc.

          Thank you for stopping by, come back again!

  21. So, if you eo’s evaporate at high tempatures; therefore you have to let the product cool to add them- but you are suppose to place the butter in the fridge immediatley- when do you put the oils in? After the butter is tempered can you melt it back down without risking the graininess if it cools slowly the second time?

    1. This blog is about adjusting pure shea butter’s graininess. When you add other ingredients to it, there are different procedures to ensure it turns out smooth. If you need to add essential oils to melted shea butter, let it cool until it gets to about 80F, add your essential oils, then place in the fridge/freezer.

  22. Hello. Thank you so much for this article! I know you may have answered this question, but just wanting to clarify. If I am making body butter with many different butters and oils, I can temper them all together before the whipping (heat/cold) method? I do this by melting them all for 30 min. then freezing the melted mixture for about 30 min? Then procede to whip? Thank you!

    1. Hi there! This article goes over the basic idea of why a butter gets grainy, once you start adding other ingredients things can vary depending on how much oil you add, if there’s beeswax, etc. I always keep in mind that if a butter is present in a recipe, since the butter has crystals that solidify at different temperatures causing graininess (the “grains” are the fat crystals that solidify at different speed than the rest of your recipe), I need to 1. whip it when it is liquid and before putting it in the fridge so I keep all the particles/crystals dispersed somewhat evenly, and 2. cool everything fast. Sometimes the fridge is enough, but if you have a large bowl with a lot of body butter to cool, a freezer is best because it will cool it faster than the fridge.

      Regarding the whipping step – once you take the body butter our of the fridge or freezer, you need to have it soft enough to be able to whip it, if it’s hard as a rock you won’t be able to. So let it get back to a temperature that allows you to whip it.

      I always think of making skin care the same way I think about cooking. There are recipes to follow, and foundations and tricks to learn, but once you know them, it becomes more an art than a science.

  23. I read that not melting your shea butter at all and just whipping it will create a more stable texture and not bed grainy in the long run. I’m blending it with only avocado oil and fractionated coconut oil then adding some essential oils. I can’t seem to get the right “whipped” texture and it is still grainy. What am I doing wrong?

  24. I read that NOT melting Shea before whipping it will keep the final product from becoming grainy. I’m having no luck with that. I’m adding only avocado oil at the final whipping step and using a stand mixer on high but still can’t get thal whipped texture. Please help

    1. Not melting the shea before whipping is not related to how grainy or not it gets. Grainy shea is caused by crystals in the butter structure that, when melted in part of fully, re-solidify at different speed. For example, if your butter partially melts because of hot weather in the summer, and later it solidifies because the weather gets colder, some grains will form. Also, the whipped texture you see in some of my recipes or other on line is achieved best when you have the right ratio of butter to oil. To me the ideal ratio is 60-70% butter and the rest oil. Whipping shea butter that is not grainy is simple but tricky, it’s only a few basics but if you miss them, it will go wrong. Check out this blog and try to follow the recipe to the letter but use your oil of choice instead of what I used, you will see that it works 🙂

      https://new-bsb.newbird.co/whipped-mango-body-butter-recipe/

      or this one for cold whipped vs melt and whip:

      https://new-bsb.newbird.co/how-to-whip-shea-butter-melt-whip-or-cold-whip/

  25. I have been having the problem with grainy shea butter in my batches of body butter. My buddy better is never put in the freezer or is it ever whipped cold. I don’t do it whipped body butter because if it gets warm it deflates and the customer ends up with half of the jar. so I fill the jar up with the body butter after I’ve melted everything put in preservative and sent. But I’m having a terrible problem with it becoming grainy. I buy my shea butter in the 50 lb cube. I bought from a really good company. The Shae comes direct from woman’s coop in Africa. I was told to take the shea butter and melt it and bring it up to 200 degrees and leave it at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or more then let it cool down slowly and add other ingredients and I would not get any grains. When I did this the batch was so grainy that it was not even worth keeping. it was horrible. so I understand that you could put a small amount of Shea butter in your refrigerator but I just don’t have the ability to put a 50 lb cube in there. And I don’t make whipped body butter that is in some point or another Frozen. Do you have any advice or help for me?

    1. We melt large blocks all the time and then pour them in our brick size shea butter packaging. Once the shea butter is melted, whether you whip it or not, it will need to go in the fridge or freezer long enough to get solid again. Unless you do that, it will get grainy, the advice to let it cool at room temperature is completely wrong. To avoid your jars of shea from becoming grainy, all you need to do is: 1. melt the shea, 2. pour it in your jars, 3. put the jars in the fridge until all butters has solidified, it may take a couple of hours depending on the size of your jars. Try this with just 1 jar as experiment and you will see no grains. Let me know how it goes!

  26. Hi there! I’m using mango butter to make body butters and have experienced the dreaded grainy-ness. After reading your responses and comments, along with the directions, I have one question. I have a block of mango butter that’s still in it’s packaging and it appears gritty and easily breakable as opposed to ‘buttery’. Do I melt all of that down first to get that whole block back to normal or do I just start making my small batches with the gritty mango butter on the double boiler over low heat and immediately cool in the freezer/fridge once I’ve made the butter with the oils and other ingredients? Thank you!

    1. Hello Kathryn, all you need to do is melt whatever you need for your formula of choice, and when all the ingredients are in and stirred well, place it in the fridge. The trick is to 1. melt a butter and 2. whether it is mixed with other oils or still by its lonely self, cool it in the fridge. That process will make the butter consistency creamy as usual. If you want to whip it, do the steps 1 and 2, then after it’s back to room temperature, whip it. Have faith in the power of melting and fast cooling, it works every time, we’ve only been doing it for 6 years with with all our butters, it works every time 🙂

  27. Hi Isabella! I am using glass jars and attempted to freeze 100% Shea butter (no oils or other additives) in the jars as you suggested, but the Shea is coming out with what appear to be crystals on the sides of the glass and/or pockets and gaps between the Shea butter and the glass walls of the jar. Also, the butter is collapsing a bit at the top center of the butter. Please inform on how I can freeze but eliminate these problems. Thank you!

    1. Hey Nate, it would be best if you called us and I can talk you through it, email info@new-bsb.newbird.co if you want to schedule a call. Otherwise, the collapsing in the middle is normal and nothing to stress over – even lip balms from big brands that are on shelves, if they are made of simple ingredients and not many synthetic ones, will collapse in the middle. The crystals you describe that form on the sides of the jar should not be there so I would need to see a photo or understand a little more what the final product looks like. Again, feel free to send an email, I am very approachable and love to help everyone who is learning this new craft.

  28. I just melted some Shea butter in some sweet almond oil. I put almond oil in a mason jar, scooped about three tablespoons of Shea butter into it and then put the mason jar into some hot water. The hot water it was sitting it melted it all together. Is that too much heat for the Shea butter?

    1. No, I think you did fine. Treat it like you would normal edible butter – you don’t want to burn it, but want to heat it slowly enough to melt it.

  29. Hi, Isabella! I have read all the comments and your responses, tried every suggestion, and I am still coming out with grainy body butter! I am using cocoa butter, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, and apricot oil. Heating over a double boiler to 185 and leaving it there for 10 min (I’ve left it there a lot longer before but it didn’t make any difference), adding arrowroot and a few drops of Vitamin E and then immediately into the freezer until solid. Take out, let get soft at room temperature, then whip. It is grainy! I even used an emulsion blender on it this time immediately before putting it in the freezer and it still ended up grainy. I really hope you can help!

    1. Hello Bridgett! I feel your pain, I really do. I do not have any other suggestion to make a smooth and grain-free body butter, BUT please listen up. Every tiny “grain” in your body butter, is nothing but condensed cocoa or shea or mango (or whatever butter you use). It will still melt on skin contact, it will still do wonders for your skin, it’s just the super natural version of the crap that’s for sale at Sephora or similar stores. Just use it, sell it, own it and you’ll see people will understand what we are doing with handcrafted skin care products.

      **disclaimer**I still snoop around at Sephora and similar stores by the way. I can’t help opening jars and lotions, smelling them and trying them on. But 9 out of 10 times I put it back on the shelf because I know that most of the ingredients in those lotions won’t do anything for my skin, but they surely can make the product look glamorous.

      1. Thank you, Isabella! I was obviously hoping for a different answer but ::sigh:: you are right. I just wish the grains didn’t feel like I accidentally dumped some sand in it lol

  30. Hello Isabella! Thank you very much for this post, very interesting! I have some issues with my lipbalms as they sometimes turns to grainy after a while. I need to avoid that since my clients do not appreciate the change in texture and I understand from your post that if I put my lipbalms in the freezer after pouding in the containers, it will solve the problem. How long after the pouring should I put them in the freezer, max? Also, when a customer tells me its lipbalm has turner grainy, should I recommend something to have it back to its original texture? Or just tell them it is aesthetic only even if it is not as smooth? Thank you very much!

    1. Hi Claude, I would put the lip balms in the freezer right after you pour them. Once they are solid, you can take them out and store them at regular temp. However, graininess is normal in unpreserved and unprocessed balms, if you sell at a farmers market and/or if you ship your products, and partial melting occurs, some graininess may come back. However, the “grains” are just parts of the butters a little more dense than the rest of your product and will melt on skin contact. Prepare your speech and tell that to your customers, highlighting the fact that what you sell them is truly honest, natural and without synthetics, so that should make up for the little graininess.

    2. Here’s a better idea- use less
      Shea butter in your lip balm. It’s unnecessary to have more than 5% Shea in a lip balm. Use 25% wax and 70% oil..

  31. Hi, I am new to making my own skin products and cosmetics. I am tinkering around with making lip balms, trying to work out what recipes will make what final consistency. I found I enjoyed the consistency of the pure refined shea butter I bought and wanted to have it in a stick format. Yesterday I melted and poured the shea butter (the only ingredient) into a lip balm tube and stuck it in the fridge straight away. When I tried it out later I found it was not the same as it bad been before I melted it- it’s now not only grainy but also liquifies as soon as it touches my skin instead of staying that nice creamy consistency. Why is it melting at a lower point than before, and is there anything I can do to stop this?

    1. Well, it’s not that it’s melting at a lower point than before, it just melts faster. As a comparison, think of a small ice cube versus a 5lb ice cube: both have the same melting point, but the small cube will melt faster than the huge one. Same idea here where your large block of shea butter can take a while to melt, but a pea size amount can melt between your fingers in a few seconds.
      For your shea butter lip balm, you can either: a. put it in a tiny container with a screw top, so you can use it like a creamy lip balm and use your finger to apply it on your lips. Or you can add some beeswax to your shea butter to make it har enough to use in a tube (try 3 parts shea and 1 part beeswax).

  32. Hi, thanks for this great article!

    I just want to get a few things clear. Are you saying:
    1. Melt your Shea Butter to 82 Degrees
    2. Pour it in a container and freeze it for 1 hour or until solid
    3. You can now use this Shea butter to make your product
    4. We make a balm so we need to re melt that shea butter with other butters and wax
    5. We then add carrier oils and continue to heat it and stir
    6. we bring it down to around 60 degrees then add Essential oils
    7. We allow to cool to room temp
    8. We out in fridge for 30minutes

    Am i doing the wrong things as i do get the graining texture only sometimes

    Also are you saying that if the finished product then re melts due to be in my car for example on a hot day, it will just get grainy again if it cools down slowly?

    1. Hi Ana, if you melt the shea butter to add to another recipe, you only need 1 melting together with the rest of your ingredients.

      The most important part of this whole process is to cool the melted butter or butter+other ingredients FAST and leave them in the fridge until they are 100% cooled off. Slow cooling creates a grainy product. Fast cooling but not long enough in the fridge to cool all of it will leave the product grainy.

      Not all body butters and balms are exactly the same since people use different combinations that I have not experimented with, but cooling a melted butter (or other oil based formula) FAST and thoroughly is the key to no grainy product. You are trying to “cure” the melted butter or melted balm.

      If your finished product melts in your car or wherever, and it re-solidifies slowly, it will most likely get grainy again. I imagine a chemist formulator with access to synthetic ingredients could solve this issue, but we are working with 100% natural ingredients and I guess the downside is they don’t look perfect.
      The best way is to educate customers on the benefits of these junk-free skin care products, and to let them know that any slight graininess is normal and will melt on skin contact. Then give them a big smile and hand them your balm because you know their skin will love it 🙂

    2. Hi

      My Shea balm cracks & sometimes sweats after cooling even though I pout them in the fridge. Why’s that? Thank you

  33. I made some body balms recently and now they have perfect round dots of wax separated from the rest. About the same size as the wax pellets used. Any idea why this is happening?

  34. Hi Isabella, thank you for such informative blog!
    Do all butters behave the same way as shea butter (when it comes to the graininess problem?)

    Thanks, Monica

  35. BUT when i whip it – cool to make a body butter, .. and it’s grainy what can i do ?? fridge or freezer won’t help here. and the cool whipping is from your idea 😉

  36. I am finding that my whipped shea butter and aloe vera gel loses it’s fluffy texture if it sits in a room below 70 degrees. Any suggestions?

    Thank you!

  37. I found that cooling the butter in a cold water bath,while constantly stirring (and constantly is the key word here) works best for me. Once it’s whipped I leave it in the fridge overnight. I’m yet to see any grains in my butters, the texture remains light as well.

  38. Hi Isabella. I’ve been making my own face balms for years, with organic butters and oils. But today I had the weirdest thing happen that I’m hoping you know something about: white solids that just WILL NOT melt, no matter what. I don’t overheat my oils — I use a double boiler, and only heat as long as necessary to melt. But this time, I had to let it go longer, and still, there were these solids. I basically ignored them, thinking that once I cooled the mixture and used it on my face, that those white bits would somehow melt in my hands (NOT!). After thoroughly cooling and solidifying the mixture in the fridge, I tried some, and there were all these white granules that appear to be tiny and circular in shape but clump together. They do not melt down. Do you have any experience with this? These are the ingredients: shea, kokum, coconut, borage, reship, evening primrose, vit. 3, tamanu, and essential oils. I wonder if they’re coconut solids?? Thank you in advance.

    1. Hi Cheryl, sorry for answering so late!

      This has happened to me once and I could not figure out what the little white floating unmelted particles were. I didn’t think much of it and just removed them from my test formula.

      In retrospect, I suspect that the particles that did not melt were a left over bleaching ingredient that the manufacturer used to refine the butter. I don’t have any proof of that, but we all know from practice and basic science that a butter will melt all the way. If it does not melt it’s not butter, and the only thing that can get into a cosmetic butter is hexane or another bleaching or refining agent. Even organic butters, when refined, can get in contact with agents that can then be left in the butter. I hope this helps.

  39. Hello, once the shea is melted and frozen will it be the same consistency? It looks very shiny. I’m not using it right away, but it really doesn’t look like the same rich shea in the original clump. Main question will it whip the same as butter never melted. I dont normally melt the butter. Thank you.

      1. I used the double boil method for my shea butter. Half of it was whipped with other oils, while the rest was just added to a bottle with other oils. The whipped one after creamed was added to a bottle as well instead of a jar to make sure my son did not use too much.

        The next day both bottles were solidified and I dont know why. The bottle that I made that was originally suppose to be liquified I tried to set it in a bowl of warm water to melt it. It did melt, but not even 20 minutes later it was solid again.

        Now I cant get them out the containers unless I melt them and use them quickly. What am I doing wrong?

        1. When you make a body butter that has a lot of shea or another butter, it will eventually solidify again. It can only stay liquid if you add water to the formula, but that’s a whole different technique and requires emulsifiers and preservatives.

      2. So I still have grains in my deodorant. I’ve followed all the instructions, froze for an hour and still within 48hrs I have grains again. Everytime. No matter what I use it in. Its driving me crazy!

  40. Hi. I put my shea butter balm in the fridge straight away in a glass jar and the balm cracks in 10mins. Any tips on this?

    1. Try to let it cool off a bit before putting it in the fridge, I’d say 10 minutes is safe to cool it off without having it form grains.

      Playing with temperatures with these products is a bit of an art – if we were in a lab and were willing to use synthetic ingredients to make our products “perfect”, this would be close to a science, but for us homemakers this is more of an art. It’s been my belief that homemade skin care is very similar to cooking: you need to follow directions and measure everything, but you always end up putting your twist on it depending on the type of pan or stove you have, and depending on your taste.

      Also, I have learned that it’s better to be forgiving about handmade and synthetic-free products we made. If they are a bit grainy or crack or are otherwise “not perfect”, we just need to educate people on why that is and that their skin won’t care about that.

        1. Yup! Rancid odor is what tells you that a butter or oil has gone bad, color inconsistency can be some of the butter fat separating and “floating” to the surface, similar to cream top milk or yoghurt.

      1. Hi Isabella and thank you for all the great info!!

        I have been warming up my Shea/Cacao butter formulas to 165F and poured them in 2oz jars at about 140F to avoid the EOs from evaporating. After 3 hours in the freezer all the butters were cracked at the surface. Would it be possible to provide more specific details on how to avoid the surface cracking? I’m assuming the higher the temperature when they go in the freeze the higher chance they have to crack.

        Graininess hasn’t been a problem necessarily, as long as I keep the jars in the fridge and when I take them out the room temperature is below 75F.

  41. Your fix worked like a charm! I made a huge batch of Shea & Mango Body Butter that was terribly gritty and now it is nice and smooth!

  42. So glad to have found this info! I have a question to try to clarify for my products I make. I use shea butter in my hand salves and lip balm- do I go through the above mentioned process and then make my products (which would require re melting the shea after freezing) or do I make my complete product and then follow the above freezing tips? (other ingredients are coconut oil, beeswax, almond oil, e.o.’s). Thanks so much for any advice!!

    1. If I understand this correctly, the answer is that you just melt everything only once – mix the ingredients in a double boiler system, melt, whip, cool, etc. Your end resulting salve and lip balm will be grains free.

  43. Hi,
    My Shea butter containing balm always cracks in the center when in the freezer. Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

    Thank you!!

  44. Omg thank you for explaining this!! I made soaps and I thought it was bits of lye but did the zap test and just taste like soap. So now about half my recipes have scratchy grits in them. Does this make sense? They are selling like an exfloiation bar but I had no idea it was because I didn’t melt my shea butter then freeze it immediately. I did that for the 2nd bag I bought. I thought it was just in one of my soaps but got about 1/3 way through another bar and it started up again.

    1. I find that the best approach to handling this issue is to either A. take the time to explain this to customers and tell them it’s natural for one of the main ingredients (butter) to get a bit grainy depending on the weather, or B. stick to telling them it’s like an exfoliator bar. Of course you want to keep aiming for the perfect soap, but try not to stress it too much, you are making wonderful handmade soaps that a lab can’t make like you do. If we want to keep making natural products, we also need be able to explain with ease that “imperfections” in our products are to be expected and are a sign that the product is not filled with synthetic ingredients.

  45. You’re a saint for answering this mystery!! I made a ton of lip balms and salves with Shea butter. They were smooth and wonderful at first and later, without melting, became grainy later. How did that happen, and how could it be prevented? They were melted, poured, and quick cooled in the fridge. Then they were smooth for weeks before becoming grainy.

    1. Overtime you have temperature fluctuations in the environment where you keep your lip balms, sometimes you won’t notice it, but the butters will. They will melt a little, then re-solidify slowly, and the little grains will show up. It’s completely normal and unavoidable when you don’t resort to chemical ingredients to “stabilize” a product?

      1. Hello. I made my lotion yesterday and added shea butter, vegetable glycerin, aloe, coconut water, beeswax and essential oils. It was perfect yesterday but today its grainy. Can I remelt the whole batch then freeze?
        Thank you

        1. If you added water and glycerin to your butters and oils, you need an emulsifier that will keep them from separating or getting grainy. You will also need a preservative unless you use up your product within 7-10 days or it will start to mold.
          We only recommend using 100% oils and butters and no water of any kind, that way your product is easier to preserve and will last longer.

  46. I made my body butters for my mom yesterday, so today when I looked at it there were small butter pieces in there now. How do I fix that problem? I melted the butter down and added oils them put it in the fridge.

  47. Great info! So after you “fix” your Shea butter and use it to make lip balm, should you keep the lip balm in the fridge to prevent it from happening again in the lip balm? Seems
    like if the lip balm isn’t temp regulated, the Shea butter would get grainy again in your finished product.

    1. Ideally the temperature is fixed and doesn’t fluctuate to the point of melting any part of your balm, so keeping it in the fridge is a good solution. But frankly even if you have a bit of graininess, once the balm is on your lips, it will melt and moisturize your skin, so don’t stress it too much 🙂

  48. hi I made a batch of shea butter with jojoba oil almond oil and essential oils but after a few days it was porous what did I so wrong

    1. After the body butter settles for 24 hours, it’s not unusual that it will get harder in consistency, but that does not affect the workability of the product. Handmade skin care without all the synthetic and junk ingredients doesn’t look as flawless as the ones in the store, but that’s ok.

  49. I whipped shea butter with coconut butter. They started out very smooth in their original container. They are raw and cold pressed. So I didn’t want to melt them since they are already very smooth (I checked). But after I whipped them, although they look nice and fluffy, but when I put some on my hand, I can feel the fine grains mixed in smooth fluffy whipped creamy texture. Did I whipped too long? or do I have to melt them first? even through they were smooth to begin with? Thank you.

    1. Hi Patsy, if you sure they were not grainy when you started, it’s possible that after you whipped them, there was some temperature fluctuation that caused the graininess. It’s really nothing to stress over, the little beads will melt on your skin, some people like to call them exfoliating beads 🙂

  50. Hiya, I run a small business making Shea Butter creams and have always used the heat method. It’s taking up so much time which isn’t feasible every day with the orders I am getting through. I am now experimenting with everything raw, no heat and Im not suffering with graininess AFTER the product is made…my shea butter is grainy before I’ve even whipped or heated it. It’s grainy in it’s natural form before I’ve done anything with it, meaning at the moment I’m still having to heat it down. It’s refined shea butter that isn’t in hard blocks so to speak, it’s quite mushy and already looks grainy and separated. What can I try without heating it? I’m not getting any further than a grainy, whipped shea butter from the very beginning. Do I try unrefined shea butter that is harder? I can’t help but heat it due to the graininess of it from the start! Thanks so much in advance. Jess x

    1. Refined Shea Butter has more crystals so it will be more grainy than unrefined shea. You’ll need to give unrefined shea butter a go. Unrefined Shea Butter is not harder, it is very pliable and easy to whip. One difference you will notice is that refined shea butter has no odor, but ours (the unrefined type) has a smokey/nutty undertone smell that is NOT removed with bleach or hexane like they do with refined shea. Just try a small batch before you commit to changing your formula.

      1. Hi Isabella, thank you so much for your article. Last 2 weeks I tried to mix unrefined shea butter , aloe vera , almond oil, argan oil and essential oil, without heating any ingredient. After couple of days it start granulated. In the next batch , If I put the mixing formula for fast cooling in the fridge, will it reduce the risk of granulated? But what if after that I keep it in room temperature? I dont want to keep it always in the fridge as I travel alot and I like to bring it everywhere I travel.Is it ok for other formula (aloe, oils and essential oils) to be kept in the fridge for fast cooling?

        1. Hi there, adding aloe vera without also adding an emulsifier will cause separation of your formula and similar issues. Aloe vera is water based and will not mix properly with butters and oils unless you use an emulsifier. Also, unless you add a preservative, your product will only be safe for about 1 week, then it will start to grow mold, bacteria and yeast that is not visible to the naked eye. When you add aloe vera to any butters or oils, you need: 1. an emulsifier and 2. a preservative.

  51. Hey there! I received my shea butter and felt the block and knew it would be graing if I started to whip it. I melted it and out it in the fridge. I took it out after it solidify and let it cool down back to room temperature. When i whipped it, it was almost lotion-like instead of the fluff. Once I put it in the jar, I noticed it was not lotion like at all and it stiffen. How can I get it fluffy? What am I doing wrong?

  52. Hi there, I made my pure Shea butter with no any other oils. I did the fridge method, so after melting the Shea butter, I let it cool down to room temperature and then put it in the fridge overnight. When I took it out, I left it by my window seal and within an hour or two there was some kind of moisture on top of the butter
    Where have i gone wrong? And is there a specific amount of time to be left in the fridge? Everything I used was dry so I’m not sure what I did wrong. Thank you!

    1. Sometimes condensation will appear on top of the butter, I wouldn’t worry about it, just pat it dry and use the shea butter normally, it’s not spoiled.

    2. Hi, I tried my very first attempt of body butter using shea butter, coconut oil and bee wax. At first the butter was creamy but the next day it had solidified. Can I still fix it or need to start all over again?

      1. It seems you needed to add more oil … it will solidify as temperatures cool down. Then again, coconut oil solidifies below 76 F.

  53. I have made baby balm using shea butter and coconut oil with an essential oil. It has turned out grainy. I understand now why but how can I fix my baby balm?

    1. I wouldn’t worry about fixing it, you can just melt the balm between your hands then apply it to the desired areas. The graininess will just melt away.

  54. Hi ? I made my first body butter using Shea butter, sweet almond oil, vitamin e oil, raspberry seed oil, and carrot seed oil. I left it in room temperature and it has not hardened. It’s been around 7 so far and wondered if it’s normal for it not to harden? Thank you

  55. I have used this butter for lip balm and after about a month it turned grainy. Was great until then. I was told I could melt and heat the Shea Butter at 175 degrees for 20 minutes and this would break it down and stabilize it. Do you agree? if so can I do this with a large amount of the butter and save the rest for use later?

    Is this same process OK for Cocoa Butter. I have heard it also gets grainy

    1. No, remelting and holding it at a temperature won’t prevent graininess. The main reason for graininess is slow cooling off after a butter has melted. Even small partial melting that is not very obvious can cause this.

  56. I recently bought pure ?% Shea butter and when I used it the first time, it was so grainy I wanted to return it. But, I seen your solution to return it back to the soft butter it supposed to be. My question is, can I used the plastic container it came to melt it and place in the freezer or ice bath soon as it’s melted down???

    1. It’s better if you use a glass container for the melting step, and I always suggest a double boiler at low heat and never a microwave.

  57. Hello, How Are You? I have created a salve with unrefined shea butter and it cools smooth…the grainy bead like texture happens over time…I’m keeping the salve in a flat tin container but I have been looking into thick wall jars and double wall jars to keep things cool and smooth…So thick wall or double wall or something better? What container can I give my customers that do not like the gritty beads in the salve. Thank You, Have A Great Day!

    1. Unless you introduce synthetic ingredients like emulsifiers or other similar stabilizers, a homemade natural salve will over time have the little beads you are talking about. It’s a matter of informing your customers that it’s a normal sign that this is truly chemicals-free, they’ll get used to it 🙂

      1. Hello. I read your response about adding an “emulsifier or other similar stabilizers.” Can you suggest specific emulsifiers or or stabilizers that will help mitigate the formation of the fatty grains?

  58. Good-day, My body lotion stick got grainy after a week of using it. I keep it between my drawer at work and my handbag. I live in South Florida but the office is cool as is my home. The most heat it would be exposed to is between my office and my car which is no more than a three minute walk to the car and to get my a/c running.

    Will adding plant based alcohol to the formula help? Thanks

    1. Hi
      I use to make a great lip balm, and no matter what temperature they were exposed to they never went grainy even 6 months after through all summer, but recently every batch comes out grainy within a few days and I have tried all manner of heating, tempering and cooling and changing brands of products. Are there any other factors to consider with grainy balms, for what could be causing the issue?

  59. this is the cure! I don’t have a legit system for double boiling other than little pot in a medium pot of boiling water. Melted it, poured it back into container that I set in an ice water bath and boom! PERFECT AGAIN! Thank you!

  60. Hi! I’m new to unrefined shea butter. I just got my first order of it and it’s a bit granulated. I don’t intent to mix it to make a product, just want to use the plain Shea butter as a body moisturizer. Will this work as well to fix the texture of it? Thank you!

      1. I have Shea Moisture brand and it beaded up, do I just stick it in the microwave? It doesn’t just melt on my skin when I put it on.

      2. My beads are rather large and did not completely melt when I applied to my body and scalp, which makes for a huge mess. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

    1. It does but you need to use a very small amount of shea butter and need to first let it melt in your hands, then apply. It is a butter so it’s 100% fat. Keep that in mind.

  61. Hello friends, I make a magnesium deodorant that contains cocoa and shea butter, my problem is that the product turns grainy after a few weeks. Can someone offer any help on what changes I can make to correct this problem? Thanks in advance. Cheo Peo

  62. Hello friends, I make a magnesium deodorant that contains cocoa and shea butter, my problem is that the product turns grainy after a few weeks. Can someone offer any help on what changes I can make to correct this problem? Thanks in advance. Cheo Peo

  63. I’ve already mixed my shea butter with oils. I haven’t put the essential oil in yet. Is it still safe to melt? And will this change the texture of my body butters overtime?

    1. Yes, this is safe to melt again. Ensure you melt it in a double boiler on low heat, that it is melted fully and then cooled quickly in the freezer or fridge.

  64. I’ve already mixed my shea butter with oils. I haven’t put the essential oil in yet. Is it still safe to melt? And will this change the texture of my body butters overtime?

  65. Was wondering what would happen if I preheated and then quickly cooled the shea butter and stored it for future use? When ready to make something, I would then reheat (melt) it a second time with the other ingredients (perhaps coconut oil, or cocoa butter) before cooling it to create a whipped butter. Would that help or make any difference (an initial sustained heat and quick cool and then a second sustained heat with other ingredients and another quick cool)?

    1. This would be fine. Ensure you melt the butter on low heat until fully melted and as you said cooled quickly (in the freezer or fridge).

  66. Hi! I’ve added in candellia wax however even when I fully melt it down with my butters it causes small grains in my butter. Anyway to fix this? I need it as its warm here and id like my butters to not melt.

    1. You need to completely melt everything and keep it melted for a bit (10 min), then pour it in the final containers and put them in the fridge to solidify quickly. If you have done anything different than what I just said, that’s what may be causing your grains.

  67. My body butter turned grainy after a few days I had it in a tin container to be shipped.

    My customer would not like their order if they received this grainy butter.

    Any suggestions

    1. Hello Zundra, I am sorry to hear this. It can be a challenge with shipping 100% natural products as the fluctuations in temperature can cause it to melt and slowly solidify again which can result in a grainy texture. The good news is that this in no way affects the beneficial properties of the product. In terms of suggestions, we have had some small businesses have luck with shipping their products only in mild weather and adding in a shipping ice pack with insulated packaging. Uline and similar websites sell these.

  68. This is what I’ve done to fix grainy Shea butter in products, and it works great: put the product (lid off) in the oven or toaster oven at 100 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or until it’s melted. Carefully place it in the fridge or freezer. Leave until solidified, maybe an hour or so.

  69. Just come across this page loving it. My ? Is. I’ve had 2 small contianers of shea butter in my deep freezer over 2 1/2 yrs are they still good to use. Thanks for you help

  70. hello I was trying to make a body butter I did all the steps putting in the freezer after I made but when I take out from there and wait like 2 or 3 days started get grainy again I want to sell this product but I don’t know if that body butter supposed to be keep in the freezer always

    1. When you took it out, was the temperature in your home hot? If it partially melts in a warm room, it may get grainy. You can still sell it and it’s 100% usable, it’s a natural product and people should get used to it. Once they melt it between their fingers and apply it on their skin, any graininess will melt away.

  71. Thank for all your guidance on Shea butter. My cream contains more oils(30%) than a blend of butters(7.5). If I continue to whisk beyond the streak to make it fluffy, the oils start seeping out. Is this because there is too much oil? I use 11% emulsifier too because I use aloe Vera in the formulation.

  72. What are the best containers for making and storing oils and butters in? Yes all of this has been very helpful plus informative. Thanks.

  73. Hi!

    I really appreciate this post/guidance and wanted to know if a beauty/cosmetic fridge would be appropriate? Does it have to be a certain temperature?

  74. Thank Goodness for this post. I made baby shea butter with coconut oil, palm kernel oil beeswax and vit e. Little zinc oxide to clear rashes. After 2 or 3 weeks it started forming grains on it. I remelted it after some weeks again am seeing the grainy stuff again. Please should I remelt it again, selling it that way or discard it? And is very huge batch ?

  75. Thanks for the tip. I have been making my products for a while now and I noticed after a few weeks they became grainy. I thought it was beeswax so I stopped adding it but it kept getting grainy. I guess I will have to stop melting it in the microwave. Thanks again.

    1. Shea Butter can become grainy if your product melts and resolidifies slowly, which is common during summer time. Any grainy shea will melt on skin contact and is not a sign that the product is defective, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

  76. Hello, I’m new to diy lotion. I whipped my last batch and it got lumpy. Just tiny lumps throughout. Did I leave it in the fridge too long or not long enough? I used equal parts Shea butter, Cocoa butter, coconut oil and jojoba oil. Thanks for any insight.

  77. Thank you so much, nice to see such a post to write such a beautiful post, and when I saw this post of yours, I was very happy to see its design and when I read it, I love to appreciate it. Because those who write such a beautiful post must get credit for it

  78. It is not everyone’s business to write such a great post, one person in a million can write such a beautiful post and you are one of those millions. I hope that you will write more beautiful posts in life and also hope that you will keep climbing the ladder of achievement in your life, very few people do this but I have full hope from you.

  79. Hello! I just saw a comment by another person – they got small lumps. Me too! However, I’m selling my body butter, not giving it away. I realize that the little lumps just melt – but if I want it to be totally consistent, what do I do to get rid of the lumps? Help! Any advice would be so greatly appreciated! I really love your website, and your recipes and the fact that you share so much! Any advice is greatly appreciated!
    Thank you!
    Shari

    1. Hi! So sorry for the delay. To get rid of the lumps you can add some emulsifying wax, but this is not normal beeswax, it’s something different. Have you worked with it before?

  80. Hello Shari! There is a technique that you can try to avoid graininess, and that’s to melt your butter/butters, add other oils according to your formula, then hold the liquid melted mix for 10 minutes before you take it off the heat and go to the next steps. The only oils you do not add on this step are essential oils since too much heat can reduce their scent. Another important step to avoid graininess is to cool your product quickly in the fridge or freezer. There are small tweaks for formulas that have different butters or waxes and I will need to make a good tutorial soon about this. But until then, if you follow these two tips (hold the liquid for 10 min and cool the final product quickly), you should see a difference.

  81. Hi, when I cool the Shea Butter formula at room temperature it it nice smooth consists for 3-4 months, then it slowly starts to get grainy and it gets drier.
    If I start to fast-cool it in the fridge, will this PREVENT it from getting grainy in the future?

    1. The only way I’ve been able to maintain grain-free products is by cooling them in the fridge. That said, I wouldn’t stress if graininess appears, it doesn’t mean that the body butter has gone bad, it’s just the way natural and synthetic-free products behave. It will still melt on skin contact and will moisturize you like no other 🙂

  82. Hi! I need HELP!
    I melted the butter, added my other oils, placed in the frig, let it cool, but it got hard! I added more of my oils while I was whipping it- it got soupy. I popped it in the freezer for about 15mins, took it out, whipped it again- consistency is PERFECTION BUTTTTT I HAVE LITTLE BEADS/ tiny chunks of butter. How do I get them out? Melt it all over again, then let it cool to semi hard then whip?

    1. Sorry about the late reply, we were updating our website and I missed answering comments!
      You should not add oils after you put it in the fridge or that will cause graininess. The solution is to start from scratch by melting everything again slowly over a double boiled, put it in the fridge, then whip it at the right time. Just follow the steps in this blog, I promise it works.

    1. Once everything is melted, wait (another word for “hold) for about 10 minutes and keep the melted ingredients on the stove and do not remove them and start the next step. They need to stay completely melted over the heat at that same temperature. I hope this clarifies.

  83. It’s really a great and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.

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