When I first found out I was pregnant, all my mama friends told me to start slathering up my belly with lotion right away to avoid stretch marks. With my nut allergies, I struggle at the best of times to find good quality moisturizers that don’t contain nut products, but it proved to be even harder to find any kind of a belly butter that would keep the stretch marks at bay and not give me hives at the same time. Most moisturizers contain shea butter (made from ground shea nuts) or sweet almond oil, both of which make my skin itch, so I needed to find another solution.
That’s when I came up with the idea to make my own belly butter, using organic nut-free ingredients that not only would keep my skin moisturized, but would hopefully reduce the chances of stretch marks. I’m already at 35 weeks and I haven’t seen any yet!
I never thought I’d share a picture of my bare belly on the blog, but when this stuff has been so great, I just couldn’t resist putting it out there for other future mamas. ha!
Making my own body butter turned out to be much easier than I expected and I feel confident that I’m using safe ingredients for both me and the baby. What’s the point of eating organic product right now if I’m slathering myself in chemicals, right? More and more, I’m finding myself drawn to organic (often homemade) products where I can be sure of what is in them. The little time that it takes to prepare these things goes a long way to making me feel more confident in what I’m using.
The only two ingredients I use to make the belly butter are Nature’s Gate Vitamin E Oil and Giddy Yo Yo’s Organic Raw Love Butter, which I use as a moisturizer all year long. I started using it a few summers ago and loved it. It contains organic cacao butter, organic coconut oil, organic “ice pressed” olive oil and raw ground vanilla beans. Loaded with high quality antioxidant ingredients, I feel pretty good about putting this stuff on my skin. You can actually eat it or spread it on toast if you feel so inclined. I’ve found that it absorbs into the skin easily and smells a little like chocolate!
The butter is either a hard substance in colder weather or melts to an oil in the summer. You can easily scoop it out with your hands and it melts with your body temperature. See all those little flecks of ground vanilla beans? Yum!
DIY Nut Free Body Butter
You’ll need:
- 6.8 oz (200 mL) Giddy Yo Yo’s Organic Raw Love Butter (OR use a 50/50 mixture of organic cocoa butter and organic coconut oil)
- 1.1 oz (32 mL) Vitamin E Oil
Scoop the butter into a small bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until it is a liquid.
Pour the vitamin E oil into the bowl and stir really well to combine. (If your bottle comes with a roll-on lid like this one, you can pop it off with a flat head screwdriver, making it easier to pour.)
Pour the liquid into a storage container. I wipe out the bowl at the end with my hands and use it on my belly then too – no need to waste any!
Allow to cool to room temperature before putting the lid back on. I like to pop it in the fridge to let it get back to a semi-solid state.
I find that when it’s colder in our house, it is more of a cream base and when it gets hotter it return to a liquid oil. Both ways are easy to use and work great.
I apply it all over my belly, legs and chest in the morning after my shower and let it absorb while I finish getting ready. It’s nice to take the time out of my morning routine to rub it all over my belly and think about our sweet little girl growing inside! If I’m feeling extra dry at night, I’ll apply more to my belly before bed as well.
Aw, cute belly! And it looks as though you have no stretch marks!