These bath melts were made with equal parts Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter, for this batch I used 1.5 ounces (42 grams ) of each butter. One teaspoon of essential oil was the only liquid added, if you wanted them softer or didn't want to add essential oil you could add a teaspoon of sweet almond oil.
Start by melting the Cocoa Butter, either in a double boiler or in the microwave. I used a glass measuring cup in the microwave, being careful not to overheat the glass. Once you have melted the Cocoa Butter stir in the Shea Butter, its a bit of a chore because you have the same amount of both butters. Shea Butter does not like direct heat , you can melt both together in a double boiler but I prefer to melt the Cocoa Butter first, it has a much higher melting point.
Shea Butter on its own is pretty soft, some people use it "as is" because its soft enough to apply directly to the skin. You could never do that with Cocoa Butter but Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter have different moisturizing properties to they are a great combination.
To finish melting my last bits of Shea Butter I put the measuring cup in a warm water bath. You want the butters to be pourable and on the warmish side when you add the essential oil so it will mix evenly. I poured my melts in to a silicone heart ice cube tray, any small molds will do, if you make them too big you will probably want to cut them for use.
Lastly here is a ( not very great ) picture of two of the bath melts. I had wanted a small amount of crushed petals adorning the melts and tried doing this by sprinkling two or three little petal bits in each mold before I poured the butters in. This is what I do with my bath bombs and it works great, but with the melts the petals don't stay on the bottom. If you really wanted them visible I think you'd have to stir a handful in to the container before pouring and that's too many petals for me. So the melts came out looking mostly like the one on the left. To add the petals I warmed a few melts up with my hair dryer , they will get a bit of a shine when they're warm, and then pressed the melt into some petals. I like the way they look and there won't be too many petals in the tub. I kept some of the melts plain because they will also make a great solid perfume or lotion bar.
BE CAREFUL getting out of the bath (could be slippery) after you've used one and if you want a really shiney tub, take an old towel and polish it up while its still warm from the bath water. You will wipe off any Cocoa or Shea Butter that's on the sides and any soap scum or grime will come off with it!
If you've gotten this far thanks for stopping by , any questions let me know.
