Kristin wrote me with the most lovely sounding recipe request—she was looking for a “rich, tingly foot butter that smells like a pine tree”. Mmmm. As a lover of all things forest scented, I absolutely had to make this awesome (and as of yet hypothetical) rocky mountain foot butter.
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The ingredient list she sent over was short, and featured menthol, rosemary, fir, lavender, and tea tree essential oils in a rich shea-buttery base. It sounded luxurious and divine.
I opted for a base of unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) and cocoa butter (USA / Canada) instead of the original shea and coconut oil as I find coconut oil is so thin that it doesn’t pack much of a moisturizing punch against Calgary’s dry climate. I’ve also made some shea/cocoa body butters before, and they’ve been downright indulgent.
To my luxurious buttery base I’ve added a good dose of menthol crystals and rounded it out with rosemary, fir, lavender, and tea tree essential oils. Then I’ve whipped it all together into a thick, creamy foot butter that melts into the skin beautifully, leaving your feet soft and tingly. I think you’ll love it!
Rocky Mountain Foot Butter
50g | 1.76oz unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
25g | 0.88oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)10g | 0.35oz menthol crystals
20 drops rosemary essential oil
20 drops fir essential oil
10 drops lavender essential oil
10 drops tea tree essential oilWeigh the unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) into a mixing bowl and grab your electric beaters. Blend it up a bit, until it’s whippy and creamy.
Weigh the cocoa butter (USA / Canada) and menthol crystals into a small heat resistant glass measuring cup and melt them together over a double boiler (menthol crystals are oil soluble).
Pour the melted cocoa/menthol mixture over the unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada) and whip the mixture together. Blend in the essential oils. Keep coming back to the mixture and whip it for a minute or so until it’s set up nicely.
Scoop your lovely foot butter into a 120mL/4oz wide-mouthed jar and enjoy!
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I love the sound of makng this. I might tweak it a bit though as fir and I are not close friends. Maybe evergreen. Hmmm or spruce. I think this will be my go to butter even here in Florida with our humidity and the constant heat and the occasional freezing temps.
Oooh, any coniferous tree EO would be divine 🙂 Enjoy!
What could I use instead of menthol crystals? Love your recipes/concoctions
Hi Laurie! A 1 to 1 swap for menthol essential oil (by weight) would be the best swap 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Late the party here, but I’ve had good luck using corn mint oil (I got it from Mountain Rose Herbs) as a menthol sub because it apparently has a high menthol content.
Thanks, Beth! MRH doesn’t list a menthol percentage, but apparently the EO has to be modified a bit to make it liquid at room temperature because the menthol content is so high—that’s a really good sign! It’s definitely not pure menthol, but I’ve never seen any other not-pure-menthol EO that’s solid from the menthol content, so it’s probably fairly close. NDA notes their 74.51% organic Japanese peppermint can solidify, so I’d hypothesize the corn mint is in the same range 🙂
This sounds perfect for the soles of New York winters! One question, how do you clean the dense oils from the beaters? I’ve already ruined one stainless steel pot because I can’t completely clean out the beeswax.
Hi Robynne! I actually wrote up an article on DIY clean up tips you’ll probably find very useful 🙂 Enjoy!
Eek like I needed another recipe to try out.. I am having some issues finding things aside from coconut oil as I have a friend who is deathly allergic to it. For soap making it isn’t difficult to swap but for things like this it can be tricky.. I will have to try the cocoa butter…
Babassu oil is a great swap for coconut oil 🙂 For more info on carrier oil substitutions, check out my article on it!
I think my daughter-in-laws would love this for Christmas. Do I need to add some kind of preservative before giving it to them? It might take a while for them to use it all. I’ve never made any type of body butters, so don’t know how to ensure that no “nastys” grow. Thanks, Kathleen
Hi Kathleen! I talk about preservatives in my FAQ, that should answer your questions 🙂 Thanks for reading!
What amount of menthol EO would you substitute for the crystals?
You should be able to swap 1 for 1 by weight 🙂
Can peppermint EO be used instead of menthol crystals.
Hey! You’ll find the answer to your question in my FAQ on my website at https://humblebeeandme.com/faq/ Happy making!
I’m intrigued by the menthol crystals. Why did you choose to use them instead of essential oil? Does it add better texture? Smell?
I used them here simply because my source of menthol essential oil has dried up, and most of my readers don’t seem to be able to find it. Every time I post a recipe that calls for the EO I get questions about swapping the EO for the crystals, so I thought I might as well give them a try. The final product is no different than it would have been with the essential oil, so if you have the EO on hand, just use a 1 for 1 substitution by weight 🙂
It looks so easy to make! I might get brave one day to make the cream, so far made only hard lotion bars. It was easy!
Do it! This one is super easy to make, and once you have some good ewax lotions are pretty much fool proof 🙂
Dear Marie, you are so creative!
I just wanted to ask about making makeup. Is sericite mica really natural?
Thank you,
Anvita
Hi Anvita! Sericite mica itself is relatively natural, but processing can effect just how natural the stuff you buy is. You can learn more about it here.
About how long did this take to set up? Mixed this up this afternoon around 4 and it’s still pretty runny 3 hours later.
Since it doesn’t contain any wax it actually takes quite a while to set up—don’t be surprised if it takes a full 24 hours or longer (depending on how warm your home is).
Thanks! Left it on the counter overnight and it was set up by morning. I was just getting a little worried after several hours had passed, thought I did something wrong.
This stuff is awesome, by the way!
Fantastic! Enjoy it 🙂
Last summer my sister gave me a bottle of fancy conditioner that has a similar tingly effect on your scalp as this cream. It’s very nice (just don’t get it in your eyes!!). I have been hoarding it, only using it two or 3 times a month. I’ve been wanting to try adding these menthol crystals to a conditioner, but I’ve never tried making any and don’t know where to start. Do you have any suggestions for just a basic creamy hair conditioner?
Hi Jessica! So, you could just add some menthol crystals to some homemade conditioner, but here’s the thing about homemade conditioner… you don’t want it anywhere near your scalp. Because homemade, natural conditioner contains real oils and not just a bunch of silicone, if you massage it into your scalp your hair will look dirtier than it did before you washed it 🙁 I only use my homemade conditioner right at the ends, and even then it’s just the tiniest amount. You might find a minty water based rinse is more up your alley, though you will need to dissolve the menthol crystals in alcohol instead of oil (and then add that mixture to a bunch of water)… which you may find quite drying if your scalp is sensitive. Hmm. Let me know if you try it!
Hi Marie c: I work in retail, and I was thinking of making this, among other things, as christmas presents for my coworkers. We all always have really sore feet at the end of the day, and this may be a dumb question, but I feel I have to ask..
In your opinion, if you put this on very sore feet, would you get a “oooh tingly!” or “OW
Hi Bree! This is perfect for sore feet—it’s more cool/tingly than ouch 🙂
That’s exactly what I wanted to know, how strong the cooling affect is, I want COOL! lol
Hi Marie –
This foot balm is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. It’s perfect, as is, for me, but my husband was wondering if it would be safe to add more menthol crystals. How much would be considered safe and non-irritating? Thank you!
Hi Michelle! The recommended upper usage NDA suggests is 8%… but this recipe is already close to 12% 😛 I tried 8% and thought it was pretty unimpressive, haha. I’d try another 5g of the menthol and see what you think—it’s a pretty personal thing, obviously. Just work slowly and remember it’s easier to add more later than try and dilute the final product 🙂
Hi Marie, I love your site and all your wonderful recipes! Thank you so much and I love this one! I have everything except the fir essential oil. Do you have an idea of what to use as a replacement or can I leave it out? Peppermint maybe? Thanks!
Hi Megan! If you have any other coniferous tree EOs (spruce, pine, cedar), those would all be great choices 🙂 Otherwise you can leave it out.
Thanks so much Marie! I don’t have any so I will try it this week without. I appreciate your assistance – and did I tell you I love your recipes!
Thanks so much, Megan! Have fun 🙂
Coconut oil is too thin to pack a moisturizing punch? NOOOOO! MY WHOLE LIFE IS A LIE! MARIE! WHY IS THERE COCONUT OIL IN ALMOST EVERY LIP BALM RECIPE ON THIS BLOG?
Ok, I actually do know why. it’s for the melting point and firmness. And with the majority of the oils being sweet almond and cocoa butter, the small percentage of coconut isn’t enough to bring down the quality of the balm.
but I’m going to have to consider either the shea butter or the cupuacu your best recipe now. sorry naked balm!
It’s the beeswax in lip balm that adds staying/moisturizing power to all the other oils, which are all pretty thin at body temperature 🙂 Beeswax + coconut oil is a rather wonderful moisturizer for extra dry weather—as a pair. Coconut oil is super thin on its own, even thinner than many liquid oils.
Maybe i won’t worry about an oil being “thin.” I guess I can just consider absorption speed.
As with all things cooking/DIY, it’s worth understanding the ingredients on their own, but remembering a lot can change when things are blended 🙂
Hi,
Love the recipe. I was wondering about the greasy feelings afterwards. I was thinking of using some dry flo in it. What do you think? Thanks.
Hi Mimi! I haven’t tried it, but you could. I’m not a fan of adding starches to my body butters, but if you really hate a bit of greasiness it might be a good idea for you 🙂
Do you use preservative in this recipe? Or you don’t need to add preservative because it doesn’t contain any water?
I make my own body butter and balm too, but I never use any preservative before. I still doing research on it. Somehow, my butter goes well for more than a month in very humid and hot Indonesian weather (I don’t put it in the fridge, for experiment). Is it because I only use oil & butter?
Thanks.
Hi Asa! I’ve chatted about preservatives/antioxidants in the FAQ 🙂 That should cover it!
Hi Marie, I absolutely looooved the consistency of this butter. It was a present but I’m pretty sure I’ll be making another batch for moi. A super easy recipe and a very luxurious end result! Thanks as always for sharing.
I’m so thrilled you love it! Thanks so much for DIYing with me 🙂
Marie,
I made this over the weekend and I must complement you – it is lovely!! It’s so luscious I use it in other parts of the body so I can get whiffs throughout the day! My son lives in Colorado and skis so I shipped him a batch. He enjoys aromatherapy and good scents as much as any guy can 🙂
Hi Irene! I’m so glad you (and your son) are enjoying this foot butter 🙂 I just love how fresh and rich it is!
i made it and love it. i think i whipped it a little too long as it.got.a.little too hard and crumbly. i also use it on sore muscles and for chest congestion. another great recipe. thanks
Thanks, Stacy! If you’re finding it a bit hard that might just be the ambient temperature of where you’re storing it. You can try whipping in a bit of liquid oil to soften it up 🙂
This is a lovely recipe. I made a couple of changes based on what I had on hand.
I switched out the Cocoa Butter for Kokum Butter
Instead of Fir Essential Oil I used 8 drops of Frankincense, 8 drops of Cinnamon Bark and 4 drops of Helichrysum.
Well… I fell down some stairs yesterday (no breaks!) and had some light scratches that didn’t break the skin and a whole lot of aches. I put this everywhere I hurt as I was too sore to move and happened to be right next to me. I had immediate second thoughts when the scratches started to sting but was too tired and sore to move and fell asleep. When I woke the next morning all the scratches had disappeared and all the very big bruises I was expecting had appeared but I have plenty of movement and the pain is even bearable. Every time I start to feel a little sore and stiff I massage into the sore spot and the relief is wonderful!
My family had a good chuckle and ask if I also hit my head (I didn’t!) when I say I’m using my foot balm to ease my aches but considering I’m up and mostly mobile I say if it works and makes me feel better I’m all good with that!
Hi Janine! Thanks so much for sharing your story 🙂 I’m so sorry you fell down the stairs! I’m so thrilled that this balm/foot butter is helping, though! Yay for homemade, natural solutions 🙂
I have a back up story to Janines. I’ll try to keep it short, for once.
I slammed my toes into a door this week. I’m a toe stubber. Once a year I’m going to stub my toes and I know the series of colors and swellings that take place after one of these events. There’s no bypassing the unpleasantness. Until now.
1..stub toe. Excruciating pain. Swear words, teary eyes, chastises to my clumsy self.
2..next morning the expected swelling and scary deep red color. Now I know that the next day the purple is coming. It always does, then comes purple black, then black green and then yellow green and I’m good to go.
3..except purple never came. I rubbed this foot butter on GENTLY and the next morning said toe had gone from hot angry red to light red. Still hurts but even the swelling is down and I’m now on Day 5. No bruise. This should have earned me a beautiful purple bruise.
So Marie, what did it??? The menthol? One of the oils?
I’ll never be without this foot balm. I use it every night and my son rubs it on his aches and pains, but now it goes on my Rx shelf. Prominently.
A great recipe. What did we do without you?????
Cj
Ouch! I’m so sorry about your toe 🙁 Though I am rather thrilled that my foot butter did the trick—how exciting! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 I’m hypothesizing it might be the increased circulation to the area caused by the essential oils. Hmm.
Hi Marie,
I’ve made this twice now, and love it for my feet. However, it hardens completely once I get it into the jar (even in over 35 heat in my non airconditioned house).
I did see above where you mentioned whipping in some liquid oil to soften it, would you suggest about 1/8 of sweet almond or grapeseed oil?
Thanks!
Hi Lynne! 1/8 of what? Ounce? Pound? Liter? 😛 I’d probably start with 10g and see how that goes 🙂
Hello, I was wondering if it was possible to substitute some of the essential oils with peppermint EO instead of using the Menthol Crystals? Do the Menthol Crystals have a therapeutic benefit… other than perhaps cooling and refreshing?
Hey Yasmine! I wrote an entire FAQ on this to answer your question 🙂
Marie,
This looks like a great recipe for feet! I am allergic to lavender essential oil, though, so what would you suggest as a substitute? helichrysum? Thank you for such lovely recipes!
Belinda
Hey Belinda! Chamomile would be a good alternative for a bit of the same calming effect as lavender, but you could just drop it entirely. Helichrysum would be fine, too, but ’tis rather pricey for the feet!
Thanks Marie! I don’t know why I didn’t think about chamomile! Duh!!
Have a good one!
Belinda
😀 you too!
I made this today without any substitutions–divine!!
Woohoo! Enjoy it 😀
Just made this! (without the essential oil blend just grapefruit EO)
Tad Greasy but moisturizes great!
Nice! The greasiness helps it actually hydrate super thick foot skin; try slathering some on and then putting on socks for extra soft feet 🙂
Holy bejeezus this stuff makes an AMAZING replacement for Vick’s Vaporeon-Rub. Bf came home from doing a lot of hiking and fence-hole digging and he rubbed this stuff all over his sore muscles and subsequently needed to grab the box of tissues. I was feeling stuffy and when I noticed him do this, I joined in on the drippy-nose fun! Definitely very handy!
Woohoo! The list of uses for this stuff just gets longer and longer haha 😛
Another point about Rocky Mtn Foot Butter: I love this recipe not only for my feet, but for sore muscles and chest congestion as mentioned by other comments. Here in the U.S., you can’t legally make claims for those uses when selling (puts it in the drug category according to the FDA). But you could sell this, or something similar, as formulated as a foot cream. The menthol crystals make it obvious to people once they use it that it would be great for the other uses as well. However people decide to use it is pretty much their business. I would probably add a warning to keep it away from the face and eyes on the label, tho!
Thanks, Janine! It’s the same here in Canada—only cosmetic claims or you need to be doing clinical trials and what not—no thanks, haha. There’s also product reviews—consumers can share their uses for it without it being a claim 😉
Is there any way to add magnesium oil to these recipes. I, as many others are deficient. “Receipts” such as yours would be an incredible way to introduce magnesium transdermally. Thank you so much for your lovely “receipts” and look forward to your reply.
I’m sure there is, but having never worked with it, I can’t offer many suggestions beyond “try it and see what happens”. Sorry!
Hi Marie
Kids and I made this foot butter a couple of weeks ago. Wow, thE menthol in it is such a potent addition. Awesome! By the way, it turned out to help against headache as well (with applications on the temples obviously 🙂 )
Thank you for this fantastic idea!
Woo! I’m glad you are enjoying it 🙂 I’m finding I love menthol in almost everything for a wonderfully fresh, minty tingle!
To give you a glimmer of an idea how far-reaching your help has traveled…an elderly diabetic veteran in Union Point, GA now keeps this foot butter (with magnesium) on his nightstand. Thank you again.
Aww, this is so lovely! I honestly teared up a bit when I read this 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing and for DIYing with me!
Well another batch landed in West Columbia, SC this evening (if you’re keeping a pin map). A childhood friend (our mothers were friends). She has lost all her family. First her mama, then her baby sister; last her dad. She too is diabetic. By the way, from what I understand, the magnesium (a salt) can only be “melted in water”. I quadrupled your recipe – first dissolving 4 Tbs magnesium flakes into 1 Tbs boiled distilled water. Using the immersion blender multiple times as the blend cooled. I have a batch that I’m watching to see if any weird moisture occurs..so far, so good. Magnesium is said to help fight diabetes, reduce muscle cramps, atrial fibrillation, etc. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart .
Very cool! Thank you for sharing 🙂 How are you emulsifying and preserving it with that added water? There’s nothing resembling an emulsifier in the original so I’m rather worried about the magnesium solution seeping out (and causing mould growth).
Marie, thank you for checking to see how things wound up. A quadrupled recipe to which 4 TBS magnesium flakes (dead sea salt) & 1 TBS boiling water was added.
Perhaps emulsify was incorrect terminology – I used the stick blender and blended until thick. So far no “nasties” are spotted and no moisture/no seapage is appearing in the jars. I promise to let you know if anything weird happens.
Perhaps you will chuckle a bit, because you know the “type”… DH refused to try the cream, but he got caught yesterday! Yes, he started using it recently and had to ask for it since I’d moved the jar.
Such a coincidence that this notification occurred just as I was about to search your site for skin/hair products. A friend is undergoing cancer treatments; soon a cleansed version of her bone marrow will be “injected”. This 70+ yr old will be quarantined for 5 months since her immune system will be destroyed. Searching your site for skin/hair products that I can make for her. If you have any thoughts, would greatly appreciate them.
Thanking you again for helping so many of us.
Bless You.
Hey! So… you NEED a preservative. The fact that you cannot see or smell anything is functionally useless; if all harmful bacteria could be seen or smelled, nobody would ever get food poisoning! This is ESPECIALLY important if you are making concoctions for somebody with no immune system; I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say you could kill your friend with an un-preserved product.
I have definitely had the reluctant love happen with my dad… he was all “nawww” and then ordered himself a full kilo of shea butter
Do you have a recipe for the rocky mountain soap company’s foot balm in the deodorant type stick without the menthol or peppermint.
thanks.
Definitely no—I know the founder of that company and she is lovely, I’m certainly not going to try and undercut her by duplicating her products 🙂 Rocky Mountain Soap is a great company run by great people, I can’t recommend supporting them enough!
I made some and love it. I had extra and had a friend from work try it now I have a few others that would love some as it helps with aching hands due to artists. Thank you for the recipe.
Wonderful! I’m so glad 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing, reading, and DIYing with me!
Looking forward to trying this out but I don’t have an electric beater. What kind of texture do you think this will have if I just melt everything down and give it a really good stir? Maybe I can just whisk it until my arm gives out? 😉
It should be a perfectly nice texture without whipping—quite firm thanks to all the solid butters. If you’re not going to whip it I’d pour it into your container and then pop it in fridge to set up. I think trying to hand whisk it would probably be quite arduous and not really worth the effort haha.
Great -thank you! Fingers crossed it’ll be ok in a push tube container.
How did it go? 🙂
Turned out fine! I had a bit leftover and poured that into a small tin which I’m still working through so I’m set for the year!
Woohoo! Enjoy 😀
Hi Marie, Could I use peppermint eo in this or would it be to much with the menthol crystals?
I’d make it as-is first, see what you think, and then you could always whip in a bit of peppermint EO if you feel it is needed—I doubt you will, though 🙂
I’m definitely looking forward to trying this recipe! I was wondering if you think this would smell ok without any fragrance in it. Essential oils can be pricey so I’d like to avoid them while I’m still learning the basics of bath and body products 🙂
This is one of those recipes where the EOs are a big part of the function, so I really wouldn’t recommend eliminating them for this particular recipe.
Thank you for taking the time to answer, I will just have to find some EOs I like 🙂
The specific EOs are a big part of the function of this recipe, too—the function doesn’t come from just any EOs that you like, if that’s what you’re suggesting you are going to try?
I’m wondering if there would be a way of making this into a solid for a push up stick? I love the idea of menthol for my feet but not sure how to incorporate it into a solid final product. Any suggestions? I have gained so much knowledge from your webpage and videos. Thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom with us.
You’d have to redevelop the base fats blend to create something firm enough for a push-up stick, but it’s definitely doable 🙂
I made a large batch of the Rocky Mountain Foot Butter to give as gifts. I made it exactly as the recipe is written. It was a big hit with everyone, lots of polite inquiries to see if I would be making more. With Christmas just around the corner I plan to do it again but would like to try an additive that would make it a bit less greasy. I’ve seen reference to starches, dry flo and isopropyl myristate. I know I’m not emulsifying as no water in the recipe. I want it to be a little less greasy but don’t want to go into full test kitchen mode. Any guidance on what product/quantity would be my best bet?
Hmmm. Unfortunately this one isn’t a super simple one. Your IPM instincts are great—the easiest thing to do would be to swap some of the liquid oil in the recipe for IPM, but there is no liquid oil in this recipe, so incorporating IPM will make the product softer. I think that’s probably ok, though—I do hear from people that this recipe can be firmer than they thought it would be. The first thing I’d try would be dropping the cocoa butter from ~30% to closer to 20% (~17g) and making up the difference with IPM.
Something even easier (but likely more expensive) would be to use mango butter instead of shea butter 🙂
Happy experimenting! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
hi, can we use every day before we go to bed…
Definitely!
Marie- Is it true that bees wax in body butter helps super dry and clacked heels? If yes, can part of one butter be substituted for some bees wax in this recipe? If not, do you have any recipe for foot butter with bees wax? Thanks
Thanks for your for peppermint and menthol. I have been finding it hard to find menthol oil. If I order crystals, can they be used in other DIY products
Yup!
Hi Marie, Loooove your work 🙂 Could you please suggest an alternative to Tea Tree EO as I am severely allergic to it and would love to make a good foot balm/butter.
I’d just leave it out 🙂