Butters are natural skincare ingredients derived from the extracts of natural sources such as seeds/kernels, beans, and nuts. They are thicker than creams and lotions and are composed of varying amounts of active ingredients, fatty acids, solids, and semi-solid fat oils. Each butter exhibits distinct activities by virtue of its unique anti-inflammatory, soothing, moisturizing, and antioxidant properties. When added to natural product formulations and emulsions, they are known to contribute viscosity, stability, and sometimes hardness. Butters typically do not contain water.
Cosmetic butters may be used in several inventive ways, and the comparison chart below highlights the more common types of butters and suggests ways in which they can be used on a regular basis:
- Shea butter: moisturizing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Used in everything from soaps, body washes, and moisturizers, to shampoos and conditioners.
- Mango butter: nourishing and restructuring action to your care and prevents the signs of aging. It blends remarkably well in your formulas of creams, balms, sticks, etc. .
- Cocoa butter: moisturizing and nourishing properties. Used in lip balms, body butters, and lotions.
- Kokum butter: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties. Used in lip balms, body butters, and lotions.
- Cupuacu butter: moisturizing and nourishing properties. Used in hair conditioners, body butters, and lotions.
Butters each have distinct combinations of properties that make them unique in form and function. The common factors shared by all butters include their high emollience and their versatility, which allows them all to be used in a wide range of ways – massage, cleansing, softening, soothing, moisturizing, wound healing, protecting – on various parts of the body – hair, face, hands, and feet.
Butters are natural and non-toxic, made with simple, natural ingredients, and no synthetic fragrances, preservatives, or other unwanted ingredients. They are rich in natural antioxidants and phytosterols, which bring a nourishing and restructuring action to your care and prevent the signs of aging. Depending on the vegetable of origin, butters also have numerous active properties: they can be moisturizing, nourishing, repairing, soothing, or have an antioxidant action. Thanks to their strong emollient properties, vegetable butters strengthen the skin’s hydrolipidic film and improve its elasticity, thus allowing it to be protected from external aggressions. They also participate in the slowing down of skin aging.
The manufacturing process of butters for cosmetics is a key, as it is the case with vegetable oils. Pulp, kernels, seeds, or any other raw material, from which the butter is made, is first crushed or macerated to extract the fat. During the manufacturing of an emulsion, the butter is added hot during the fatty phase. The refining of butters, like t...
