Another year, more babies. The wife of one of my co-workers is due to have their first baby in the first quarter of 2016, so I thought I’d make her an herb infused belly bar to ward of itchy belly and stretch marks. It’s wonderfully easy to make and just the thing for any expectant mothers in your life 🙂
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The oils in this bar are simple ones—moisturizing cocoa butter (USA / Canada), vitamin rich mango butter (USA / Canada), Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) rich sunflower seed oil (USA / Canada / UK / NZ), and some bonus Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) for added anti-oxidizing goodness. This base, once thickened with beeswax, gives us a nice, smooth herb infused belly bar that leaves the skin supple and hydrated.
I chose chamomile and calendula for their soothing, healing properties—helping the skin to relax and regenerate as it stretches like crazy. You’ll notice there are no essential oils in this recipe; I did that on purpose as there’s not much research on essential oils + pregnancy, so we might as well play it safe. That said, I know lots of women who have used essential oils when pregnant to no ill effect, and many others use boatloads of artificial fragrances while pregnant in everything from dish soap to laundry detergent, and I feel like those are far more dodgy.
We’ll use a disposable tea bag to infuse the herbs into the oils, thicken everything with beeswax, pour it in a mould, pop it out, and you’re done! I like to present my herb infused belly bar to moms-to-be wrapped in tissue paper. Enjoy!
Herb Infused Belly Bar
2 tsp dried calendula petals
2 tsp dried chamomile flowers12g | 0.42oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
7g | 0.25oz mango butter (USA / Canada)
21g | 0.74oz sunflower seed oil (USA / Canada / UK / NZ)
2 drops Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)8g | 0.28oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
Measure the calendula and chamomile out into a disposable paper infuser bag (I use drawstring bags made for use with loose leaf tea). Tie off the bag.
Weigh the cocoa butter (USA / Canada), mango butter (USA / Canada), sunflower seed oil (USA / Canada / UK / NZ), and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) out into a heat resistant measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in a small saucepan full of simmering water. Add the bag of herbs to the oil/butter mixture and heat everything through to infuse, keeping everything warm for at least twenty minutes to give the herbs time to infuse. Be sure the herbs are submerged in the melted oils so they get the chance to infuse!
Once the herbs have infused, remove the bag, pressing it with a spatula to squeeze out as much oil as possible.
Weigh out the beeswax into a small dish and add it to the infused oils, heating through in the water bath to melt everything together.
Once everything has melted, remove the measuring cup from the heat and stir. Pour the mixture into a 78mL (1/3 cup) measuring cup to solidify.
Ingesting calendula during pregnancy is not recommended, but it is recommended as a way to combat stretch marks when applied topically. Also, I’ve noticed the you can find somebody somewhere saying that pretty much anything shouldn’t be used/touched/consumed/thought about during pregnancy, so if you have any questions or concerns, I’d direct those towards your physician.
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Sounds excellent!
Thanks! 🙂
Happy New Year Marie! How lovely! A friend of mine is expecting twins and would find this concoction very useful! Does it feel sticky at all from the beeswax? What if i omitted beeswax to make it a balm-y like consistency?
Hi Sophie! I don’t find it feels sticky, just don’t way over-apply it 😉 If you leave out the beeswax you’ll probably end up with something with a rather unappealing, gloppy consistency—read this for a bit of an idea.
Thanks Marie! Christine says thank you as well 🙂
You’re very welcome! 🙂
Well heck, I’m making this for myself.
I already have calendula and chamomile infused oils, thanks to an old post of yours advising to have these on hand.
Not pregnant but I like body bars and winter dry weather has finally hit my region and myskin needs it.
Great recipe!
Awesome! Enjoy 🙂
Looks wonderful, but I would caution against anyone hoping this (or any balm or butter) will actually prevent stretch marks. Nothing does ((believe me, I tried), although it doesn’t hurt to try to mitigate them. And I wouldn’t worry about using essential oils in this recipe either. The amount, if any, that would be absorbed through the skin and make its way to the fetus is negligible. Breathing car exhaust & pollution is probably more damaging, and we do that every day. Having said that, I’m sure this stuff is awesome for any skin!
From my reading it seems like stretch marks are genetic, so while a bar or lotion might help, 100% avoidance is unlikely without some gifted genes 🙂 And I definitely agree with you on the exhaust vs. essential oils thing; it’s strange that people are so fussed about essential oils during pregnancy and then go wash their clothes in artificial fragrance soaked detergent and walk around in cities and underground parking garages. Car exhaust is at least a known carcinogen!
Kate, believe me, it does help. My mom has visible stretch marks, and I thought I’ll have it too. During my pregnancy, all I did is apply raw cocoa butter on my belly and the rest of the body, and, of course, drinking lots of water every day. I have no stretch marks left on my belly, except for the C-section mark 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing, Cristina!
I agree, Kate. It DOES seem to be genetic, in a way. After asking many women if they did or didn’t get stretch marks, AND asking about their skin, there seems to be a trend … It seems to be related to thick/thin skin. Thick skin – you’ll get stretch marks no matter what you try to prevent them, while women with thin skin seem to be the ‘lucky’ ones. That said, women with thick skin don’t seem to get age wrinkles as quickly as those with thin skin. I’ll take the stretch marks, thank you!
how come wheveever i try to make something, body butter or body bar with similar ingredients ( cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax etc.) , it is never smooth.
it is always chunky and grainy.
i cant tell what i am doing wrong.
*super sad face *
I read once that you should leave cocoa butter in the hot water bath for 20 mins after it has melted to ensure the product won’t be grainy. I have alway done this and I have never had a grainy product. Good luck 🙂
Thanks, Tanna!
Check out my FAQ for some good links on this 🙂
Love this one!! My daughter-in-law and my niece are both pregnant and I am making body bars for shower gifts. Will have to find out how many more moms-to-be will be there! Always love an excuse to make sixty body bars!!
60—wow! That sounds like a lot of baby bellies 🙂 Enjoy!
I’m thinking of making this for my daughter-in-law, but I hate the smell of cocoa butter. Can I use Illipe or Kokum butter instead?
Thanks
Hi Janice! You should be able to use kokum butter, but why not just use deodorized cocoa butter? I can guarantee that will work.
My daughter is a vegan so can I make this with soywax or use less liquid oil, omit the beeswax and whip it into a butter instead?
Hey Frann—I don’t have any experience with soy wax, but I have done some experiments on candelilla and carnauba wax, both of which are vegan. Check this out to learn more about beeswax and the “c” waxes—you can use a “c” wax instead of beeswax, just use ~75% of the amount of beeswax called for and that should work out quite nicely 🙂
Thanks Marie, I made the body bar using candellila wax in place of the beeswax. This is my recipe: 21 grams almond oil, 12 grams cocoa butter, 7 grams mango butter, 5 grams candellila wax, and a drizzle of vitamin e (.2 grams?) It came out nice but a bit on the light side. Has a really nice lasting feel on the skin though. I think my daughter will like it.
I also played around and made whipped belly butter. 2 oz. cocoa butter, 2 oz. babassu oil, 2 oz. mango butter, 2 oz. hemp seed oil, and 2 grams vit e. It was so easy, I just melted all the ingredients except the vit e. When it cooled a bit I added the vit e and stirred well and placed it in the freezer. I kept checking on it and stirring. When it had finally started to set up just around the edges I took it out and used a small hand held immersion blender, the kind you froth late’s with and whipped air into it and just kept whipping till it was too thick to whip anymore. Filled a couple 4 oz jars and whipped them one more time with the little blender and it looks great!! Not sure about the hemp seed oil though, it made it green and maybe an off smell but you can use any oil.
I also made chapstick with candellila wax. here is that recipe:
10 grams candellila wax, 10 grams avocado oil, 8 grams mango butter, 8 grams babassu oil, 2 grams vitamin e. melt together everything except the vitamin e, stir in the vit e after you remove it from the heat and pour into containers. I filled 8 lipbalm tubes. You can add essential oils or flavor oils also right before pouring. Because the belly bar was a bit light, I used more candellila wax in this recipe and it turned out perfect.
Thanks Marie for all you inspiration, I have made quite a few of your recipes and it is so much fun 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Frann! I’ve already directed another reader to your comment who was looking for a candellila lip balm 🙂
Hi Marie, a note about my whipped belly butter, it harded up after a day so I scrapped it lightly with a spoon into a bowl and spooned it back into the jar. Now it’s the consistency of butter and easier to use.
The chapstick is the best I’ve ever made!! Candellila wax is a nice alternative for anyone who wants to make a vegan chapstick.
Hey Frann! I do find whipped body butters are tricky to keep whipped; I always end up developing those recipes over several days (or weeks) so I can be sure the consistency stays light. It’s definitely a bit frustrating!
And I’m stoked you’re loving you’re chapstick!
This sounds so nourishing; what a perfect present for a mother-to-be . . . or anyone! Thanks for sharing Marie. =)
Thanks, Anne-Marie! 😀
Hi Marie. I just finished making this for my daughter who is having her babe next month. She has had itchy skin off and on during the pregnancy so am hoping this will help! I also had my own infused oils and I poured the mix into a twist-up tube so it would be easy to use.I received my book and am anxious to try some new recipes. Have made quite a few off your site, my fave being the herbal hemp and shea cream. I use it as a face cream and it is wonderful. Thanks for all your time and patience in giving us these gifts! You inspire us to try new paths. Bravo!!
Yay! I hope she likes the bar, and congrats on your impending grandmother-hood, first time or not 🙂 Happy making and thanks for DIYing with me! 😀
I made this bar for myself today and it’s fantastic! I substituted meadowfoam seed oil for the sunflower and because I’m not pregnant and plan to use this as a lotion bar, I added some citrus essential oil, which when paired with cocoa butter, makes this smell like the chocolate orange stick candy! I love the balm like consistency of the bar and that this doesn’t have coconut oil as my skin finds it drying. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and sharing with us!
Oooh, how lovely! Watch out for the photosensitizing effects of citrus—you didn’t say exactly which one you used, so you may need to stay out of the sun for ~12 hours after using this bar. Thanks for DIYing with me!
Can i use this on baby’s cheeks?
Yup!
How do you use/apply this?
Rub it on your skin. That’s it 🙂
You have saved me again Marie. I just found out I am pregnant and though stretch marks are the last thing on my mind right now, I know I will be making this. I’ve been itching to do some DIY skincare for a long while and this is a great opportunity. And if I remember, I’ll let you know how this belly bar worked for me ;D