(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best body butter

I'm including links to what I purchased on Amazon but you can shop around and get what you need :) If you end up getting what I'm linking to, it'll last you quite a while. I even sell some occasionally.

This is my nut free version but you I'll include some alternatives if you want to use different butters/oils. Basically, you want equal parts so adjust the recipe for amount you want. This will give you a little more than 2oz of body butter which lasts me at least a month and I put it on quite a bit. You only need a little at a time.

• 1/2 oz Cocoa butter
  
  
• 1/2 oz Shea Butter
  
  
• 1/2 oz Mango Butter - You could also use coconut oil
  
  
• 1/2 oz rosehip oil - You could also use Olive Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, or any other liquid oils. Rosehip helps reduce appearance of stretch marks!
  
  
• Optional: 1/4 oz Jojoba oil
  
  
• Optional: 1/4 oz Vitamin E oil
  
  Steps:
  
  

1. Combine everything into a double boiler. If you don't have one, using a mason jar in a pot of boiling water works nicely. Melt the butters on medium low to medium heat, stirring constantly, just until everything is mixed and there are no solids left.
   
   
2. Pour into small mixing bowl. Note: This is where I usually add essential oils, but during pregnancy, you'll want to be extremely careful about using them since many shouldn't be used. You don't need them, but if you want the added benefits, there are sites out there that can tell you which are considered safe. If you add them, let the oils cool for a few minutes then add them and stir the mixture well
   
   
3. Put the bowl in the fridge for 45 minutes until it starts to solidify. If you don't want to wait that long, you can put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes until it starts to solidify. The edges will look more solid but the center should still be pretty liquid.
   
   
4. Either with a whisk or an electric hand mixer (much easier), start mixing it. It'll start to solidify into the whipped texture, especially if you're using the electric mixer.
   
   
5. When you're satisfied with consistency, put it into a jar or tupperware container. If you're somewhere hot and it starts to melt a bit, you can put it in the fridge to solidify it again.
   
   You just need a small amount and it'll melt from your body heat and soak into your skin. Feels AMAZING.

Loove cloth diapers. I've been really happy with them. Fewer leaks and blow outs than disposable, I love the way they smell like... clothes, not diapers. Plus $$ savings.

I was really intimidated buying stuff. I dabbled, a few of these, a few of those, and have settled on my favs which I pass along as recommendations for friends, but I still do just fine using ones I don't care for - they still work! So you can't go "wrong" per se.

Anyway, I posted this a couple weeks ago, but this is my "ideal stash" if I could go back in time and start from scratch. You can buy all these on amazon (easy registry) OR Nicki Diapers on black friday for some extra savings (which is what I did back in the day). I know the list is huge and overwhelming, sorry! But if you click through it I think you'll get an idea of quantities etc. that will get your baby's bum covered.

Newborn stash (for babies up to 11 or 12 pounds, my focus here is CHEAP since it's a limited time): Cotton prefolds, size small or Size small newborn prefolds, bamboo (I like the little bit of stretch) I say 30 of these, so if you forget laundry it's not the end of the world Cotton ones are good too.

Pack of snappis to secure the prefolds .

Blueberry newborn covers I prefer the snaps to velcro because the velcro attracted fuzz in the dryer and really weren't more difficult to secure. I vote for 4 covers minimum, never had a problem with that amount. You can reuse them each change until epic poop which gets on them from the prefold.

Post newbron. This is your big stash - I started using these diapers when my daughter was 3 months and still use them when she's almost 3. For these I prioritized ease of wash, use, and durability over being as cheap as possible.

BumGenius Freetime The ultimate diaper, washes awesome stays soft, effective, dries fast. I'd suggest 12 of these, this is the diaper you use all the time.

Bumgenius Pockets For your big pee-ing times (aka night) it can be nice to have a "pocket diaper" which you can stuff more in they're chunky but night time is not time to care about a slim bum I stuff with prefolds, the bamboo inserts are slimmer and work too, but I guess I am just more used to cotton prefolds because that's what i grab for. I think 2 pocket diapers is sufficient. My issue with these is that the "inserts" don't really reliably "agitate out" in the wash as they are supposed to, which is why I prefer the Freetime.

Extras:

Baby washcloths I have 24, use them for wiping, easier than a chunky prefold for baby crevasses.

Garbage Bag I use this to line a trash can, throw all dirties in, take everything (bag and all) straight to the wash, toss/empty,wash it all (bag too) use bag 2 during laundry. I suggest 2 of these.

On the go bag For dirty y when you are out of the house (or dirtied clothes)

Cloth diaper friendly bum lotion If your kid's rash isn't clearing up with this, take out disposables, get the classic drug store butt paste etc. sooner rather than later and take care of it (bad rashes suck) Some kids just need that approach - you'll figure it out when the time comes.

Hello AB! I'm super new to this sub, but I've been trying to learn.

Skin Type: Dry/dehydrated (?) with hella oily t-zone

Country/Climate I'm in: Southeast U.S.

Top Skin Concern: controlling oil and PIE

Current Routine/Products I'm Using:

AM

1. Splash face with water
   
2. Stridex in the red box
   
3. Ponds Rejuveness Anti-Wrinkle Cream
   
4. Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream (this might be out of order but my foundation looks amaze when I use this last)
   
5. I know I'm missing a sunscreen and currently patch testing Cosrx Aloe Soothing Sun Cream
   
   PM
   
   
6. Remove make up with Simple Micellar Water & cotton round
   
7. Cleanse with jojoba oil, remove gently with tissue
   
8. Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream
   
9. SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Ant-Aging Moisturizer
   
10. Prescription adapalene 0.1%
    
11. Aquaphor
    
    I'm specifically looking for help with my oily t-zone. I swear, it's like that one episode of The Office where they use grease to get the boxes of paper into the truck. Using Innisfree No Sebum powder helps, and I use a lot of blotting sheets, but I'm worried this much oil production means my skin isn't retaining any moisture?
    
    Every cleanser I've tried makes me feel dry, even micellar water or splashing with regular water. I'm still very new to learning about AB, so I haven't tried any AB cleansing products.
    
    Any advice, or suggestions to improve my routine, is very much welcome! Like I said, I'm very new to this so if anything outside of my main concern is a red flag, please feel free to let me know!

So I bought my Shea Butter a while ago in bulk because I was planning on using it for a diy body butter. It's been stored in 2 alright bags since then but since it's a solid it has a pretty good shelf life I believe.

That being said, if you're only going to use it on your face, don't buy a ton. It'll take forever to run out. This is the one I bought. IMO, Shea Butter is Shea Butter. You want to look for the white unrefined raw Shea. It'll be softer. Hope that helps some! I love my Shea, especially in the morning as a mild occlusive.

If you're wondering more about whats been working for me lately, I like to mix a few drops of glycerin and a more occlusive oil (vitamin e oil and wheat germ oil half and half) into my Shea Butter sometimes too instead of the derma E cream in the morning. I appreciate the interest haha! I'm a little crazy because I have a bunch of raw ingredients. My skin seems to prefer really simple moisturizers and oil blends.

Name/URL: Zenful. https://www.zenfulofficial.com/

Location: Tampa, FL - Sold in US.

Pitch: My company has been in the business of distributing raw materials for use in beauty products for over 18 years and have consistently watched big brands take the natural products and pack them with harsh preservatives. After years of pondering it we thought why not and decided to start our own product line.
Our products are left 100% pure, just like nature intended them to be!! They are cruelty free and vegan certified with PETA as well as paraben free, no fragrance added, no colors, additives, preservatives, fillers, etc. are added.

Our launching product line is available on Amazon and all are prime eligible.
Tea tree oil, Argan Oil, Shea Butter, Mango butter!

The links to each product are below:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771QB8M4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771R2ZNT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0788CWVNR https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771QVZWV

https://www.zenfulofficial.com/ - our website

What stage are you in?: We just launched yesterday (2/6/18) at 2:50 pm and are VERY excited!!

Looking for: reviews, reviews, reviews. We would love it if you could go leave reviews on our listings. Much appreciated.

We are also actively looking for feedback.

Discount: I will let you in on a secret.. if you follow us on facebook, instagram or twitter (@zenfulofficial) I will be posting a number of promo codes in the next few days!!! So you can save some!!

A long time ago I bought this at CVS thinking it might be a nice thing to try for shaving. It didn't lather at all and gave a horrible shave, but made a great preshave cream. When I ran out I tried to cut out the middleman and bought some straight Shea Butter Cream which was not nearly as creamy as I thought it would be (or indeed creamy at all). It worked alright as a preshave cream but you really have to work it to get it to melt and it stains fabrics in large quantities, so I have a couple yellow hand towels now. I started to look for other uses for it when I found tutorials on making shea cream - usually with some coconut oil, some kind of carrier oil, and essential oils for smell.

I ended up following this guide which worked rather well! the product looks exactly like the african shea butter I get, but it's a little stiffer initially and melts much faster in my hands. It goes on a little greasy, which is part of what I was trying to avoid; straight shea butter sticks so hard it usually survives hand washing, hence the yellow towels. The same guy has a non-greasy recipe here that I didn't see before, but it just seems to be more shea butter and less oil. Also, if you're going for a fragrance, either lay it on thick or get something that complements the smell of shea butter - this stuff kinda smells like lavender leather ballsack right now

Amber butter! A somewhat obscure (in this part of the world, at least) solid perfume. It's made from heating fossilized tree resin, and the oil produced in the process is combined with stuff like labdanum to make it solid.

I love humor in everything. I can appreciate works with darker tones, but I love laughing and smiling, so comics like Deadpool appeal to me the most.

Oh good god... Okay, well you asked for it...

I work third shift, so my routine is a little backwards because of that.

I usually shower in the morning before bed (about 8am). In the shower: First thing I do is shampoo my hair, if I shampoo that day (I usually shampoo 3x a week) and I use SheaMoisture shampoo. After that I condition with SheaMoisture conditioner and leave it in, I put my hair in a clip and continue showering. I wash the front half of my body and whatnot, then I wash my face with Cerave. Then I take the clip out of my hair, rinse the conditioner, and then I use one of those loofas on a stick to wash my back. I actually just started that this week, I noticed that washing my back after rinsing conditioner helped with bacne a lot but there was one spot in the center of my back that I couldn't reach that still had acne.

Then I turn off the water, and standing in the shower I flip my hair over and finger comb it with SheaMoisture leave in conditioner. Then while my head is still flipped, I squirt one handful of Garnier Fructis gel into my hand and scrunch it all around my hair. Then I get one more squirt and go through my hair and twist out individual strands. Then I wrap my hair in a Microfiber towel wrap and I sleep all day with that on. I'm waffling between sleeping with that and sleeping with a tshirt on my head, I can't decide which one is better yet.

Once I step out of the shower, I wipe my face with Stridex in the red box and let that dry for 20 minutes. After that, if I have any active whiteheads, I pop them and stick hydrocolloid bandages on them. Then I rub a mixture of Jojoba and Tea tree oil on my face, I use it in 1 tea tree/9 jojoba oil parts. Then I put vaseline on my hands and lips and go to bed. Sometimes if my hands and cuticles are really bad I slather my hands and sleep with gloves on.

When I wake up (around 5pm) I wash my face with Cerave again, and moisturize with Cerave and I use Trader Joe's sunscreen. Then I flip my hair upside down and sit on the toilet and dry my hair with a hair dryer and diffuser attachment, and then flip back over and kinda organize my part and stuff like that. Then, FINALLY, I am ready for the day.

SO YEAH. Most people regret asking.

That's awful... a way to help it from scarring is to keep it moist and not to scratch at it.

Using a good natural moisturizer like Shea butter or cocoa butter works wonders. I've had a lot of luck using Cocoa butter to fade scars, and my mother has had a lot of luck using shea as a moisturizer. She uses this one. It's hard, but you can warm it up a bit to make it softer. Just make sure to get the natural stuff with whatever you get.

Also, make sure to check with your doctor to make sure they won't interact with the infection. I don't think they would, but just in case.

Try to have her lay off the makeup if possible as well. I know it's terrible going out in public with something like that, but makeup always ends up making things worse. You want to keep it moisturized and aired out. That will do a lot to help avoid scars.

I lived in NYC with a large Asian community where there were lots of Korean fashion boutiques that sold eyelid tapes. However, since it is now 2014, you can easily order from Amazon. :) That one looks pretty similar to the one I used to use but if you search some more, there's a lot of different brands. I'm sure they all work well. Good luck!

Edit: Also, just be aware that the amount of time it took for me to maintain the crease might not be the same for you. I wore the tape for 1 year throughout the day and then another 6 months in the morning. But definitely cheaper and less painful than having surgery done!

Have you tried pure shea butter or a product with shea butter in it? That's what I have had the most success with in terms of reducing darkness. It helped with puffiness for me too, but most significant effect was on the color of the circles.
These are two that I like:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KH6C2WG/ref=sr_ph_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1466619721&sr=1&keywords=shea+butter
^For the raw shea butter, i just scrape out a little bit, soften it in between my hands, and gently dab on the circles at night

http://www.evanhealy.com/index.php/whipped-shea-butter-with-olive-leaf-242.html
^This one is my FAVE because it doesn't smell bad like raw shea, so i use this one if I need to put something on my eyes during the day


Also, for what it's worth, I actually don't think they look that bad!! (And I promise I'm not just saying that because I don't think anything will help)

OK here's a step by step as good as I can get it-

You will need:

1. powdered kratom
   
   
2. cocoa butter (available from Amazon)
   
   
3. suppository molds (also from Amazon)
   
   
4. oral injection syringe (again, Amazon)
   
   
5. a square sided mason jar or glass
   
   
6. masking tape
   
   
7. cheesecloth or a clean old tee shirt
   
   
8. a small mug
   
   Melt about a cup of the cocoa butter. You can do this in a little pan on the stove, or in a bowl in the microwave. Add about 2 tbsp of the kratom (I used a good painkilling red vein). Saute for a minute or two but be careful - if you're on the stove, you don't want to burn the kratom, just infuse it through the cocoa butter.
   
   Get your cheesecloth or old tee shirt fabric or whatever you're using to strain the kratom, and strain the cocoa butter through it into the mug. Discard the kratom solids.
   
   Tape your suppository molds to the outside of the square sided mason jar or glass. This was the easiest way I could figure to keep them upright in the fridge - they come in a sheet, so you just tape a sheet to the outside of the glass.
   
   Use the syringe to fill the suppository molds with the kratom cocoa butter. Put the molds in the fridge - they should be firm enough to use in about 15 minutes. You can clean the syringe afterwards by boiling it in soapy water. If you have leftover kratom cocoa butter, you can put it in a mason jar and stick it in the fridge and it will keep so you can make more suppositories later.
   
   SO was using one once in the morning and found that it helped him all day. He said he wouldn't do it more than twice a day - I think on the first day he used another one at bedtime. It isn't enough kratom to give him a full-body effect, but it's very good pain relief.

I use the cocoa butter cream (it's a small tube, they used to sell bigger ones but I haven't found any recently) that I use for my feet, but I'm afraid of getting an allergic patient or someone sensitive to smells. But for at home use, that stuff (the cream, not the lotion) is a godsend. The cream is a lot thicker and absorbs better, imo. It's supposedly fragrance free, but it still has that cocoa butter scent to it.

Good idea with the gloves though, I may just try that when I get home from my clinic site.

Not really AB or non AB, but really like nilotica shea butter, especially [this one](https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Shea-Butter-Fair-Trade-Replenishes/dp/B0732K9T9B/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=nilotica+shea&qid=1557344997&s=gateway&sr=8-1). I like it because hard texture like cold butter and then melts. Also like shea oil. I have really dry skin and eczema and it's been helping.

Just ordered on Amazon thanks! Here is link to (it looks like the same one based on the picture) http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JT3SLF0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1C763OAWPVHW1

Also just a karma FYI I have been using Amazon "Smile" for purchases.. a percentage of your purchase goes to a charity of your choice… :)

I want any of the lip balm making supplies on my hobbies list. I make my own lip balm because it works better and I can tailor it, but I can't justify that I "need" any of it because chapstick exists. And it's way more expensive and totally unnecessary but i'm a perfectionist.

• Lanolin because i'm low and it's heaven in oil form
  
  
• beeswax because I want less runny balms so I can take them with me
  
  
• cocoa butter because it's soft and creamy :3
  
  
• Sweet almond oil because it will smell great with the coconut oil I have
  
  Fun Fact: I wrote a series of books when I was younger. No I will not say which ones or my name.

Supplements: apple cider vinegar, complete multivitamin

Cleansing: TJ's serum after every wash, Mario Badescu enzyme cleansing gel at night, philosophy salicylic acid ceanser in the morning, honey and black sugar scrub two/three times a week, lush brazened honey face mask at least once a week. bliss triple oxygen moisturizer or Mario Badescu seaweed night cream; my choice varies by the weather, on really cold/windy/dry days, I go with the night cream.

Make up: mascara, eyeliner, eyebrows filled in/dyed, palmer's cocoa butter stick, sometimes lipstick or a lip tint.

Routine: I wash my face every morning and evening, and remove any/all make up. Every tinted face anything makes me break out, as do most spfs (although, this seems to work okay). I change and wash my sheets at least twice a week.

Lifestyle: I shower/wash my face after I do anything physically exertive. I run 4 mornings a week, do yoga 1/2 times a week, and do strength training at home every day with the SworkIt app. I also do keto, which has been great for my breakouts. I drink at least 70 fl oz of water a day, and avoid other liquids except black coffee.

Never forget about Amazon. You can find these products at any time and get it shipped in two days with Prime! Love Amazon



Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E, Swivel Stick, 0.5 Oz (Pack of 4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WRDXY38/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_uLhryb1ZGW54D

Well... it's not exactly difficult to find. Now, whether or not you want to mix in an eightball or two is up to you.

Edit: Well, that joke flopped...

If you're worried about that I'm sure you can find some raw or additive free Cocoa Butter somewhere.

I use Palmers Cocoa Butter swivel stick found at Walmart or Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick, 0.5 Ounce (Pack of 3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0067ETBJE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XFoLxb78RMQQZ

It is a giant chap stick that is made from their cocoa butter and I lightly put it around my nose and it greatly helps.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E, Swivel Stick, 0.5 Oz (Pack of 4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WRDXY38/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.Jhryb0AYEZGF

I just got it off Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CIZ0DNO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

I bought a can of this stuff on a lark from my supermarket: http://www.amazon.com/Shea-Moisture-Shave-Butter-Ounce/dp/B00541OSRQ

I give it a resounding meh because it got stuck to the blade of my DE. I mean, shave butter is logically going to be thicker than lather, although you would expect it to be at least partially water soluble. This stuff did not want to come out of my DE using water, which is surprisingly infuriating.

It can give a decent enough shave, not to far off from a brush-less cream, but I just don't see a good reason to recommend it. Thus far, I prefer soaps and creams.