This rich, creamy Soothing Hand Butter is an absolute delight to massage into hands that could use a bit of pampering. It stars some ultra-creamy emollients and beautiful botanical-infused oils to create a stunning, sumptuous skin treat. I’ve used a slightly unorthodox thickening method to ensure the end product isn’t at all a typical salve or balm—it’s a true butter infused with all kinds of goodness, and I think you’ll love it!
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The bulk of this beautiful Soothing Hand Butter is two rich, creamy emollients: lanolin and shea butter. I love both of these ingredients for irritated skin—I find their slow-absorbing, unctuous nature means they stick around for ages to do longer-term battle with dryness and protect my skin. Lanolin is a popular choice with breastfeeding mothers for irritated nipples, and I’ve found shea butter to be one of the simplest and most effective solutions for persistent dry skin. Now, neither of these emollients are what anybody would ever describe as fast-absorbing or lightweight, so you can probably guess that this hand butter is not the sort of thing you should be applying before handling lots of tissue paper (this hand lotion might be, though!).
For a beautiful botanical boost (say that ten times fast!) I’ve included two different herb infused oils—St. John’s Wort & calendula. Both are detailed in the DIY Encyclopedia, so you can learn more about them there, but the general gist of it is that between them they have wonderful anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and soothing properties, making them an excellent choice for this hand butter. You can choose to DIY the infusion (the instructions are in the recipe below) or purchase a pre-made macerated oil. I made my calendula infusion, while the St. John’s Wort macerated oil was a gift from Plant’s Power (thank you!).
I’ve also included a new-to-me carrier oil that I’ve heard no end of good things about: black cumin seed oil. This peppery-scented oil is known for its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. It is, understandably, very popular in products designed for irritated skin, and has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of eczema and acne. I’d say it absorbs at an average speed, and it has a beautiful rich, velvety skin feel and finish. I find the peppery scent blends nicely with the mustier scents of the lanolin and the slightly nutty, herbal scents of the botanical infused oils. If you need a substitution, check out the encyclopedia entry for some suggestions.
Our thickener is stearic acid, and that is absolutely key here. When I first started working with stearic acid I was really struck by its ability to transform liquid oils into what felt like butters, rather than waxy salves, and I have harnessed that beautiful transformational ability here. Because this hand butter is thickened with stearic acid instead of a wax it has a beautiful rich, creamy feel without any waxiness—and because stearic acid is heavier that something like cetyl alcohol we get an end product with a distinctly rich, slow melting feel that is very indulgent.
I chose not to scent this Soothing Hand Butter, though the incorporation of 0.5% lavender essential oil would be lovely if it appeals to you (simply remove 0.5% from one of the liquid oils to make room for it). I have included a wee bit of bisabolol for added soothing, anti-inflammatory properties. If you are looking to learn more about bisabolol or substitute it out, please read the post on it in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia.
The finished butter is soft, rich, and positively decadent. I am really enjoying massaging it into my hands just before going to sleep at night—something about the slow melting speed and luxurious texture makes for a lovely little self-care moment. You could definitely use this on feet, elbows, knees, or anywhere else that could use a bit of extra love, too. Enjoy!
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Soothing Hand Butter
Heated phase
7g | 28% stearic acid (USA / Canada / UK)
5g | 20% lanolin
5g | 20% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)Post-heat phase
1.25g | 5% St. John’s Wort infused oil
3.75g | 15% calendula infused olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
2.8125g | 11.25% black cumin seed oil
0.125g | 0.50%Â Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.0625g | 0.25% bisabolol (USA / Canada)To prepare the calendula and/or St. John’s Wort infusion: Weigh 5% dried herb, 0.5% vitamin E, and 94.5% olive oil into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Prepare a water bath by heating about 3cm/1″ of water until warm, but definitely not simmering (we’re aiming for hot-tub type temperatures). Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath for two hours, stirring occasionally. After the infusion is complete, strain the mixture, reserving the infused oil and composting the spent plant matter. To learn more, click here.
Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the stearic acid, lanolin, and shea butter into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
Once everything has melted, remove the measuring cup from the heat and set it aside. Add the infused oils and black cumin seed oil one at a time, stirring between additions. Because they are cooler the mixture will start to thicken and become cloudy, so it’s important you keep stirring to ensure everything is uniform.
Once the mixture is cool, thick, and creamy, add the vitamin E and bisabolol, and stir to combine. Transfer to a small jar or tin—I used these adorable 25mL glass jars from Voyaguer. Enjoy!
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this hand butter is 100% oil based, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry, it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid. If you notice it starts to smell like old nuts or crayons, that’s a sign that the oils have begun to oxidize; chuck it out and make a fresh batch if that happens.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 25g.
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- Do not substitute the stearic acid.
- You could try hydrogenated castor oil as an alternative to the lanolin.
- You can use refined or unrefined shea butter—your choice! I used refined to eliminate the scent of shea butter in the end product.
- Another soft butter, like cupuacu or mango, will work instead of the shea butter.
- There is a total of 20% herb-infused oils in this recipe. The herbs I chose were selected for their soothing/healing benefits. If you would like to choose different herbs/use a different blend of herb-infused oils, please keep that in mind.
- Read this if you would like to use an herbal extract instead of an herbal infusion.
- You can use a different liquid oil your skin loves instead of black cumin seed oil.
- Read the encyclopedia post for bisbolol for substitution suggestions.
Gifting Disclosure
The St. John’s Wort Macerated Oil and Black Cumin Seed Oil were gifted by Plant’s Power.
%’s for the oil infusion instructions add up to 95%.
Do’h! Thank you, I’ve fixed it 🙂
Dear Marie,
I’ve been reading your posts & recipes and wanted to inquire about the most deep conditioning body butters to use for my sad sore hands. I battle Rheumatoid Arthritis & Fibromyalgia daily and find my fingers even knuckle areas are cracking even with all the water I drink and creams I use.
Thank you dear and much continued success!
Hello Penelope!
I’m afraid I can’t help you with the arthritis and fibromyalgia, but this might help you out with the cracked knuckles. This one might help you out too! Might I suggest a quick hand soak in warm water, then applying a nice thick layer of the salve/butter, cover your hands in socks, and go to bed! Hopefully this will help!
This looks decadent! I noticed that you didn’t cool it in an ice water bath, like you did in your sugar plum body butter, to prevent the butters from going grainy. Is that not needed in this recipe?
It’s not so much the ice bath that reduces graininess as the stirring while it cools, and the ice bath helps that happen faster. In this formula I found that introducing the liquid oils post-heat cools things down enough that it works as a sort of alternative to the ice bath—reducing temperature so you don’t have to stir for ages 🙂
Ohhh, I see. This will be so helpful in the future. Thanks Marie!
I’m definitely going to try this recipe ! I’ve been suffering with eczema for so long I can’t even remember when it started. I was treated with all sorts of dermatological treatments but the healing was only temporary and my skin would get used to them. I decided to turn to strictly natural remedies and after many failed attempts I finally came up with a hand cream recipe that worked wonders !
The ingredients are similar to this butter but, as it is a hand cream it has a water phase in which I add : Aloe extract 10x, Roman chamomile, 2% colloidal oatmeal and zinc oxide (zinc oxide made a big difference on my eczema !).
The oil combination that works well for me is Shea butter, Cocoa Butter, Caprylis Coconut oil and calendula infused avocado oil.
I also add 0,5% of Spike lavender oil and Roman chamomile oil to the cooling phase.
I was thinking of making a butter too for the cold days and nights of this never ending winter, so your recipe just made my day ! 🙂
OOOh, your lotion sounds stunning! Soothing to the MAX with all those amazing ingredients 🙂 I have definitely had tons of friends and readers have great luck with shea butter for eczema as well—it can be downright magical! I look forward to hearing what you (and your skin) think of this formula 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Your perfect body butter bars work wonders for the eczema of my son, Marie.
I am SO thrilled to hear it! 😀 Thank you so much for sharing 🙂 Happy making!
Yes, shea butter really is a miracle ingredient
I’m going to order both SJW oil and Black cumin seed oils. Can’t wait to try.
I’ll let you know how my skin likes it!
I hope you fall in love! 😀 Happy making!
As an herbalist, I wanted to suggest a correction on the St. John’s wort infused oil. With this particular herb, you need FRESH plant to extract its medicinal properties into oil. SJW oil, when made properly, is a beautiful deep red color…it looks like blood! This isn’t possible with dried herb. But you can definitely use dried calendula and still get it’s medicinal properties.
Hmm, interesting—thank you! My concern there would be the spoilage—I’ve always been instructed to infuse dried herbs so no water is introduced to the infusion, which will lead to mould. What are your recommendations to prevent microbial spoilage? Thanks!
I infused some almond oil this summer with the fresh flowers for 40 days – no spoliage so far. The oil is still going strong.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing! I’ll have to do some more reading on this particular maceration 🙂
Hi Marie, I am wondering what you meant when you said you used unrefined shea butter to eliminate the scent. Wouldn’t refined shea butter have less scent then unrefined?
Whoops, good catch! Your instincts are 100% correct and I have fixed it 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Marie! Thanks for another formulation that I’m excited to try (yay! weekend project!) I’m wondering if you experimented with isopropyl myristate for this formulation. Do you think it would change the outcome significantly? I really don’t like the feel of greasy hands but Canadian winters and soap making do a number on my paws! Thanks again – I love getting your little gems in my inbox 🙂
Hey Sue! I haven’t played with IPM in this formulation, but I can’t see why you couldn’t swap out some of the liquid oil for some IPM to reduce the greasies 🙂 Happy making!
I love all your recipes, however, if you are not making products to sell, it becomes very expensive to make some of the recipes.
That is why every recipe comes with an extensive list of substitution suggestions, and the encyclopedia is full of them as well 🙂 I try to keep things interesting and accessible, and that can be a difficult balance to strike sometimes, but I try!
Hello!
I made this recipe today and it’s the first time I’m trying stearin acid. I did switch up some ingredients. The final product wasn’t creamy like the body butters I make with butters, liquid oils and essential oils. The final product does feel waxy but I’m getting used to that. But it’s not creamy in the jar, it doesn’t stay together well. It’s like it flakes a bit. My main substitution was mango butter for lanolin, I don’t use lanolin. Is the consistency less creamy and more waxy?
Thank you.
Hey Sharon! I’m betting these differences you are describing are due to the changes you’ve made as they’re pretty big differences. Lanolin is much smoother, richer, and more occlusive than mango butter in addition to being much heavier/slower to absorb—it does have a sort of waxy finish to it, but not on the level of something like beeswax. Lanolin can also help stabilize things, so that might be why yours isn’t staying together well? It’s hard to do more than hypothesize without having made it with you, but hopefully that was helpful!
Hi, Marie. Thank you for the reply. How would you make this without lanolin, or should I just look up another one of your recipes? I am having a blast making your recipes by the way.
Hi Sharon!
Check out this link. For myself, if I were to swap out the lanolin, first thoughts that pop into my head are upping the shea butter and adding in some castor oil. You want something with a lower absorbency speed in this one! Happy making!
I’ve made this hand butter, only substituiting St.Johns wort infused oil with calendula infused olive oil. it’s the best hand butter I’ve ever made! I apply before going to bed, at in the next morning, my damaged hands have been a lot recovered. Thanks for the recipe!
I am SO thrilled! Woohoo 😀 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
I just made this yesterday and love it so far! I did not use any bisabolol and had been considering subbing an essential oil in, but I’m glad I did not because I think the smell of the base ingredients would overpower it. I think the lanolin and black cumin seed oil are the main culprits, but I am not complaining because it is definitely not a bad smell :] I cannot wait to experiment more with black cumin seed oil, I love it when your recipes give me an excuse to try something new. I made this for my mom for mother’s day; I prepared a “hand bag” for her (not an actual purse, a bag with this hand butter, some cotton gloves, and a cuticle oil). I think I am going to attempt to learn how to do a hand massage for her, this stuff seems to have enough slip. Thank you for always saving the holidays for me!
Oooh, how lovely! The lanolin and black cumin seed oil definitely have their own kind of musty/spicy scents that give this butter an interesting and, err, “characteristic” smell. Thankfully I find it to be quite soft and not noticeable after application, but I always know which jar I’ve opened when playing “what is this unlabeled jar?” LOL (I really must be better about labelling ha… I KNOW BETTER.).
Your mom is one lucky lady! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
hello marie,
thanks for all the information that you give!
what a populer oil can i use instad of the blake cumin seed oil?
Hey! Have you read the substitutions list at the end of the post? I’d also recommend referring to the encyclopedia and this post 🙂 Happy making!
I just made this lotion using all your ingredients (except the bisabol) and followed your directions. It came out very hard and difficult to use. Is it possible to fix this? What should I do? Can I reheat it and add additional oil? I now have a bottle of black cumin – what else can I use this in?
Hey Lynn,
GENTLY reheat your product at the lowest temperature you can. Add in about 2% of a liquid oil (I’d use olive oil as the St. John’s infusion was olive oil), stir till you hit a light trace, and decant. Should work better for you!
Good luck and happy making!
Barb
Thank you for developing and sharing this beautiful formulation. This was my first lanolin balm. Luckily I had most of the ingredients so I made it today with great results! I used yarrow infused oil instead of calendula infusion, calendula CO2 and olive oil instead of St Johns Worth infusion and both lavender EO (around 0,1 %) and allantoin as extra ingredients (0,4 %). It needed some extra mixing to the end but consistency looks even. I like the way these aromas blend together. I also like the richness and slow absorbing speed…it feels luxurious yet grounding In terms of skin-feel this reminds me a bit of my beeswax honey balms. The lanolin I have definitevly has some scent (faint ‘chemical’y’ scent IMO) but I was expecting that it’d come through more. Luckily I barely notice it thanks to potent yarrow infusion and nigella sativa (I used a bit too much accidentally and less olive oil). I apply this for damp skin when I feel like plain hand lotion and green & gold body butter bar isn’t enough. Looking forward for trying this as overnight foot balm too. This is a keeper! 😀
i just did this reciepe – it is wonderful, but I dont like the smell of unrefined shea! It is far to earthy and heavy to me 😉 …. so I´ll make another with refined shea or mango butter. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!