Trying to get the perfect Cocoa Butter Mix

Hi People,

Has any one  ever used Cocoa butter in place of Shea butter as a sealant? Like most naturals, I have been using Shea butter for a long time now and the major complaints I get from other Naturals about Shea butter is that it sometimes leaves the hair feeling sticky and heavy.   

Why continue to use it inspite of this? 

For me it was really simple, once I mixed Shea butter with coconut oil and Olive oil and found the right amount that my hair needed,  I was able to do  away with the heaviness and reap the benefits of Shea butter as a sealant.

So why try Cocoa butter when my Shea butter mix works fine?

Well, a reader on Iheartmyhair.com advised me to try it and since I had a free sample from Natural Nigerian who sells export quality by the way (thank you NN!) why not try something new.Abi?

First Impressions

1. It looks like Shea butter
2. It smells like CHOCOLATE. 
3. It's a bit harder than Shea butter
4. It is not as heavy as Shea butter:- When compared to Shea butter, Cocoa butter is much more lighter on the hair . 

Getting the right mix...

First, I put some Cocoa butter in a bowl and melted it using hot water as shown below.

After that, I let it seat and by the second day, when it had completely thickened, it was hard again. But not as hard as it was before melting.
From my cocoa butter "experiments", I've found that unlike shea butter, Cocoa butter takes a much longer time to thicken after melting.I'm thinking that the weather is to blame for the length of time it currently takes to thicken up but since I have not tried this out in the dry and harmattan season, I can't say for sure.

 

Cocoa butter and Coconut oil

Next, I tried mixing cocoa butter with coconut oil (thanks VanityOils! I love my coconut oil). I poured some coconut oil into the hard raw cocoa butter and  put the bowl into a bowl of hot water so that the cocoa butter could melt and mix with the coconut oil.
I then put the mix in the fridge-cause I was impatient- and took it out after 45 mins.Oops...too long. The butter mix was hard! So I let it sleep overnight, and by the next morning, it looked like this...(see picture below)

It had little cocoa butter balls and the coconut oil kind of stood out on its own 0_o. So I whipped up the stuff and  ended up with something that looked like a cake mixture (see pic. below)

I was so happy with the results that I rushed to apply some on the ends on my just washed hair. Application was super easy and the mix smells like chocolate! Love it!!

 

Sadly, by the next morning my cocoa butter and coconut oil mix was hard again...

The mix might not be as hard as the raw thing but I wish it stayed as soft as it was the previous day. Fortunately the little balls stayed away and application is still easy.

I think I'll add more coconut oil and some Olive oil next time. Abi what do you think?

 Cocoa butter and Jojoba Oil

 

Finally,in an attempt to make a lip balm I mixed some cocoa butter with lots of jojoba oil and little sugar . Although the sugar did not completely dissolve (it settled at the bottom of the container) the jojoba oil and cocoa butter went well together and the mixture stayed soft.

So I'm asking, has any one ever used cocoa butter before? How and what did you mix it with to get the best results?

Thanks in advance for your contributions, I would really love to hear from you.

Ehn... and before una begin to ask NECO question, make you transfer to the PRODUCT FIND page above for information on how you fit catch Natural Nigerian to get your own 'shocolate butter'. And if you dey Abuja, I get  better amebo for you o: Natural Nigerian will be coming over in September! Yayy!! Abegy make una bring out rice make we perfect our masa making skills for our September visitor... 

New Shea Butter Recipe

For my Soft Shea butter mix I used:

• 4tbs of coconut oil
• 4tbs of olive oil
• 5tbs of Shea butter

I mixed melted Shea butter with Coconut oil and Olive oil,  added a few drops of  fragrance, and put the mix in the fridge. When it got thick I took it out and stored it in a cool dry place.

 coconut oil

 Unlike raw Shea butter,the mix is so easy to apply

 End result.
To make it thicker you can use more Shea butter.

 This recipe is easy and my hair LOVES it!!

Simple Coconut Oil Recipe...you can do it yourself!!

What you need;

• Coconut..of course.I bought 4 and my siblings ate 1/4 of each...lol
• Water
• Sieve
• A deep pot
• Bowl
• Bottle for storage.

Now, here's how I did it;

1. Remove the husk from your Coconut, wash the meat (white part stuck to the husk), and cut into little pieces for easy blending (Or you could break husk into half and scrape out the meat using  a scraping tool, pour water to get the milk and sieve).
2. Blend Coconut with water in blender. Do not use too much water, just enough to blend Coconut into pulp.For me, the water  used  was two levels above the Coconut.
3. Sieve blended Coconut to separate the milk from the chaff.
4. Pour milk into pot and boil till all the water dries up and the oil is visible. See pics below
5. Allow the oil get cool and then separate oil from dried milk.
6. Store

Blended Coconut  

20mins on fire...the oil is already visible 

 Notice the oil floating on the milk

 At this stage you should stir continuously so that the milk does not stick to the pot

 See how the milk becomes brown and floats on top of the oil...

End result. I love the smell, plus the oil is light enough to be used on the scalp.It looks so pure!!

It took approximately 2hrs for me to get my Coconut oil. I think it took longer because I used too much water  blending the meat. My mom said I should try boiling the chaff and milk together. I'll try it her way and post results.Now that my oil has been made, I'll use it and post a Coconut oil Review.
Blessings!!!

Shea Butter

Shea butter is one of my fav. butters. Not only does it make our mane's soft, it also works as a good sealant, a good deep conditioner, great for the skin, and from personal experience, it helps heal and dry wounds link. When  I heard about  shea butter, I ran out to buy some, but urgh...the smell. I used it anyways and loved the results. I had a problem though; storage. When exposed to heat, the butter melts.When it thickens, it can form little balls like in the first pic, making application difficult.

After  some research I came up with a way to get my Shea butter smooth and getting it to stay so. I used;

• 1 cup Shea butter
• 4 tbs Olive oil or any oil of your choice
•  Large bowl
• 3 drops fragrance(optional)
• Mixer
• Ice cubes
• Bowl for storage.

Here's what I did:

1. Melted Shea butter,olive oil and fragrance in the microwave. Don't let it get too hot. Just enough to melt away all the balls in it.
2. Put some water and ice in a bowl.
3. Allow the melted Shea butter (in a bowl) seat in the water and ice.
4. Allow Shea butter thicken (Pic 5)
5. Put thick shea butter in a bowl and mix with mixer using medium speed till it gets fluffy.
6. Store your Shea butter in a bowl.Keep in cool dry place.

Bought a bucket full of unrefined Shea butter for less than N2,000 (two thousand Naira) last year. Notice the little balls.

Melted Shea butter. 

Spilled a little of the melted butter in the bowl. It thickened in seconds.Closer view is in the pic below.

Thick Shea butter

End product.

This is my first attempt at writing a recipe... ^_^ ..hope it helps.