What’s the difference between body butters, body creams, body lotions, and body balms or salves?
Body balms, or salves, are very thick and concentrated occlusive hydrators that are made to form a barrier over your skin to prevent moisture loss. They consist of butters and waxes and perhaps oils (like GingerGanics Fix Your Sh*t) made to help aid in protecting and potentially healing your skin barrier. They don’t usually contain water. Natural body balms use plant-based ingredients and potentially beeswax, instead of petroleum. Most commercial balms and salves are petroleum-based because it’s a cheap, widely available by-product.
Body Butters mainly consist of – well, butters. These add moisture back to your skin. For instance, shea, cocoa, mango, and sal butters all deeply hydrate and coat skin in moisture and help prevent water loss from your skin.
Naturally, body butters are thick in texture, and concentrated. Often, commercial body butters also contain preservatives and stabilizers to keep them shelf stable. (GingerGanics body butters do not contain artificial preservatives and stabilizers. We make our body butters fresh and send them to you, and do not plan to keep them sitting on store shelves.)
Body Creams tend to be thick as well, but less so than body butters. They tend to contain smaller concentrations of butters and higher concentrations of emollients like oils and humectants to draw water to the skin. They also usually contain some water, and therefore preservatives and stabilizers as well.
Body lotions are similar in ingredient makeup, but tend to contain a lot of water and naturally be lighter than creams often because of the water content.
So, which do you need for your skin type?
If you’re like me, born with dry or sensitive skin, then you have probably tried them all. When/where your skin is at its driest, you’ll want a great body butter that contains a great mix of oils and butters to deeply moisturize and hydrate your skin. For many years I cultivated a routine of slathering on body oil after soaking in a bath (also with oils), then coating body butter or cream after getting out of the bath, and then later in the day would be dry again and top my skin off with another layer of cream or lotion.
But then I worked on creating our innovative Body Oil Butter that combines these steps together for a body butter that melts on contact with your skin into a silky oil that sinks in for long-lasting luscious hydration.
If your skin barrier is compromised, irritated or damaged, you’ll need a balm or salve like Fix Your Sh*t to help your skin barrier repair itself, and protect your skin from further damage.
If or where your skin is not dry or irritated (lucky you!), and you just want easy, lightweight daily moisture for your normal or perhaps oily skin, then opt for a lighter cream, lotion, or lightweight oil.
Either way you go – moisturize your skin EVERY DAMN DAY ya’ll. It’s a key to youthful, beautiful skin.