Body Butters vs Body Creams vs Body Lotions

What’s the difference between a body butter, body cream and a body lotion?? And when should you use each?

Let’s start with body butter. Made from various seed, plant, produce and nut butters, body butters are a combination of butters and oils that have been blended with essential oils and extracts to provide a nourishing skin moisturizing experience. Typically, a body butter will not contain any water content. This is the biggest difference between body butters body lotions and body creams – the water content. A body butter is usually extremely thick in its texture and structure resembling actual butter and melting as it comes into contact with the warmth of skin. Body butters are great for use on dry parts of the body regularly or on all parts of the body during extremely dry weather periods such as during the winter time. When using a body butter for the purpose of healing skin ailments the best time to use it is typically right after skin has been moist with water- like after a bath or shower - to help with the absorption rate of the nutrients and extract that it contains.

A body cream however is a base of mostly oils and/or butters that have been combined with water using an emulsifying agent. An emulsifying agent is an ingredient used to help maintain the blended consistency between two ingredients. In this case, the emulsifier is maintaining a stable balance and blend between the water and oils. While there is water present in a body cream it is typically a lower amount of water than what is usually found in a lotion, leaving the oils and butters to be the base - or main ingredient - of the cream. Most body creams will also feature a blend of extracts and essential oils as well.

A body cream is thinner than a body butter yet thicker than a lotion and can include ingredients that are purposely added to give it a silky or smooth texture. Body creams are great to be used all year around as they provide a nice balance between moisturizing and hydrating.

Finally, there is body lotion. Most body lotions feature water as the main ingredient and then an emulsifying agent is added in to hold an emulsion between the water and whatever oils or extracts have been added to the lotion. Because of the high water content in body lotion, as opposed to a body cream, it is typically very thin in its consistency and may or may not include an additional agent that acts as a “glide” or “slip” to improve its texture. If you are someone that sweats routinely - or if you have oily skin, a body lotion it’s a great tool to implement in the warmer weather to reduce the impact on skin during that period. Due to its thinner nature and higher water content body lotions typically do not provide as much moisture as body creams and butters. A body lotion also has to be applied more frequently to maintain the impact on skin.