Grainy Lip Butter Recall

February 1, 2012 by | 12 Comments

Lip Butters
I’m just plain mad at myself right now. I had my lip butter recipe all figured out – finally found a shea butter that wouldn’t turn grainy in my lip butter, and wouldn’t you know I forgot that there just aren’t any substitutes. And I substituted. My friend Cynthie who has been helping me with the videos – hey, girl! – is the one who told me about it. This applies to the following batches (fortunately there’s a made fresh date on every label):

Pina Colada – 11/26/11
Butterscotch – 11/26/11
Nourishing – 11/26/11
Root Beer – 12/1/11

If you happen to have a lip butter from one of these batches and you would like to trade it in for a new one, I will be happy to make that substitution. Or just send me an email and we’ll work it out. If you are ok with your grainy lip butter, then I’m ok with you keeping it. It’s not going to affect the way it moisturizes; it’s simply a texture issue. However, if you’re like me, it will bother you and I will gladly replace it for you!

In the meantime, I’ve taken the rest of these off the website, ordered more of the GOOD shea butter, and will be making new batches as soon as it arrives!

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  1. Sorry to hear that! I read it on swiftcraftymonkey blog that shea butter is grainy because the fatty acids all separated after melting (it’s called fractionation) and they cool off at different temperature, that results in grainy texture. The solution is to either buy a higher melting point shea butter (not a better or worse comparison, it is just refined even more than regular refined shea butter). The more refining process it goes through the higher melting point it gets, very similar to coconut oil. Even that I found it can still be grainy. It helps if you use ice bath or pop it in the fridge or freezer to solidify your lip butter FAST.

  2. @Emily – Yes, the high melt point shea butter works best. But I got sucked into a less expensive version and forgot what a difference it can make!! Never again!!

  5. Oh I hate grainy shea butter, this has happened to me too in the past and your right the product works fine it’s just not as smooth. I used to use unrefined which I prefer then switched to the white refined and had temper the whole bucket of it. I still had issues with it and just use it in soap now.

  6. I also recently switched to the high melting point shea for lip balm and will NEVER go back. It’s so much better. Great in body butter, too.

  7. It also helps to use Cera Bellina or ButterEZ, so I’ve heard. They help prevent the separation of fatty acid profiles during cooling. I took shea butter out of our lip balms because of the grainy problem. It happens!

  9. I don’t use the high melt point shea, instead I use a refined shea and I don’t have a grainy problem. I did switch brands once. I thought it was tempering the shea that prevented it from becoming grainy until I bought a cheaper version elsewhere and found it gets grainy no matter what you do. However, I did find it works great in my soap, so as annoying as it is, at least your remaining grainy shea doesn’t have to go to waste.

  10. @Erica – This is a refined shea also, but I’m wondering if the difference you see between batches is how high the temp is when it is refined… Something is different. I get the same refined shea butter for soap from the same supplier and it changes from batch to batch. Ironically, this time it seems smoother than the “higher quality” shea that I used in the lip butter.

  11. So what refined shea is everyone buying so that the lip balms do not come ot grainy? Any specific brand? Thank you!

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