Why Body Butters are Brilliant for your skin

Body Butters Deliver deeply nourishing, natural, protective care to your skin. It's a must-have in your skin care routine.

We love Body Butters with an almost embarrassing passion! Why? For their amazing ability to keep your skin and skin biome nourished and protected, especially during the coldest months of the year.

Our Body butters are an oil-based, cream-like product designed to moisturize and hydrate skin, while giving it a protection barrier from the elements. Not to mention they smell wonderful! Fear not, those of you who are scent sensitive. We also make an Unscented version. And you don’t need much to enjoy their benefits--a little goes a long way. 

The Benefits of Body Butter

Free Lion Body Butter

1. Natural ingredients

This one is a huge benefit because natural ingredients deliver everything your skin everything it needs to stay healthy and safe without killing your skin biome. The skin biome, like the gut biome, is an ecosystem composed of diverse, helpful microorganisms that live symbiotically with us. While our skin provides them with a buffet to feed on, they protect us from harmful organisms. Research shows that the organisms in our skin biome might also have a role in educating T cells found in the skin, priming them to respond to similarly marked pathogenic organisms. Think of them as an early warning and training system. Basically, we need our skin biome to be happy and healthy for the overall wellness of both of us. Natural ingredients do just that.

2. Deep Nourishment

Made primarily with plant butters and oils, Body Butters are packed with essential fats, minerals and vitamins, providing rich, deep skin conditioning. They provide more intense nourishment than Body Lotions. We make ours with Shea Butter, Sunflower Oil, Rice Bran Oil and Avocado Oil. This skin love comes from the essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins naturally found in its plant ingredient list. You can use Body Butters all over your body or focus their use on usually drier parts of the body--elbows, knees, feet. 

3. Barrier Protection

The plant butters and oils, in combination with Bees wax, help form a protective layer over your skin.  They lock in moisture, and protect your skin from dirt, debris and other compounds in the environment that can stress your skin out. If you are a swimmer, for example, Body butter provides a thin, waterproof barrier that can help protect your skin from the ravages of chlorine in the pool; or salt in the sea. 

4. Keeping it youthful

Vitamins E and A are plentiful in our Body Butters, as well as essential fatty acids, minerals and antioxidants. These help keep your skin soft and supple. Shea butter also contains oliec and stearic acid that work to help boost collagen production, keeping skin elasticity, texture and composition alive and well.

5. Soothes Irritation

Body Butter has a unique ability to restore pH balance to your skin. It’s ability to melt and absorb quickly into skin helps soothe skin irritations. We’ve gone one further step and added Aloe Vera extract to boost skin soothing power. 

6. Seasonal Protection

You know how winter can be on the skin. The cold, dryness can suck the moisture right out of it. Here’s where Body Butters SHINE in skin care benefit land. It’s triple properties of deep moisturizing, skin soothing and barrier protection replenish, revitalize and protect skin from the elements.

7. Things to Watch Out For

All of that lovely benefit said, there are some things to watch out for, Body butter is anhydrous--that means it moisturizes but doesn’t hydrate. You need water based ingredients for that. So, if you are experiencing dry skin due to lack of hydration, then our Body Lotion might work better for you. 

If you have oily body skin or conditions like body acne, Body Butters may be overkill. That amazing protective barrier means that oils can get locked in and cause breakouts. 

My Favourite Body Butter Ways

Body Butters are actually quite multipurpose, You can use them for a few different moisturizing needs. Here are some suggestions, based on how I use them in my own skin care routine:

After showering

One of my favourite times to use body butter is after a shower. After a shower, your skin is warm, which helps in the application and absorption of the butters and oils in Body Butter. Also, your pores are also open to receive its moisturizing and barrier seal.

To use our Body butter, put a dime’s worth in the palm of your hand. Rub both hands together until the butter melts. This should be enough to do both arms or both legs. Remember, you’re going for a thin layer of butter that your skin can absorb quickly.

Gently massage the Body Butter into your skin. Take some time to enjoy that self-massage. In fact, treat it like a ritual to show your body the love it deserves, something you really look forward to doing.

Photo: Sora Shimazaki, Pexels

Overnight moisturizing

For dry skin on your hands and feet, you can use Body Butter as a deep moisturizing treatment. I’ve found this helps when I’m having eczema flare ups, which occur primarily on my hands. Try this 2-3 times a week for softer, soothed skin.

Take a pea sized amount of Body Butter into the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together until the butter is melted. Massage into your hands. Put on some cotton gloves and go to sleep. This gives the butter and oils time to work their magic. Start with the same amount for your feet. Use more as needed. Massage the butter into your feet, especially the dry, hard bits. Put on some cotton socks and hop under the covers.

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk

If you Hair mask

Back in the day, my mum would apply coconut oil to our hair once a week to condition and nourish our hair ad scalp. I really looked forward to this weekend ritual because i really enjoyed the feeling of my mum's hands massaging my head. I would close my eyes and drift away.

These days I do the same ritual for myself using Body Butter.  I've found it is actually brilliant for my hair, especially the fly-aways and dry ends. It helps smooth them out  and replenish moisture. I like using it in my hair once a week as a mask treatment, just like mum did.

To apply a Body Butter Mask to your hair, take a small amount of body butter into your palm. Rub your palms together to melt the butter. Then apply it to the ends of your hair, not the roots--that will make your hair greasy. Let it sit for 10 minutes or more. Wash the butter out with warm water and/or a VERY light shampoo. Style as usual.

Why do you like using body butters? What are your favourite ways to use it?

Sherazad Jamal is founder, formulator and chief bottle washer at Free Lion Body Care. When she's not testing out a new formula, making batches of Body Care products or fulfilling orders, she can be found puttering about in the garden, hanging out with loved ones, working on an art project or staring into space, dreaming a new dream.