Tutorial: How to make your own Lip Balm

Aside from paper, my other obsession is lip balm. I have one in every room, in each purse and in my car.

About 6 months ago, I ordered some organic beeswax lipbalm from an Etsy store. It soon became my favourite lipbalm and I carried that little pot where ever I went. A few weeks ago, I realized I would soon run out, and contacted the Etsy seller. Her storefront was empty and as I clicked the "send" button on my convo, I remembered she was doing her PhD and was probably not selling on Etsy anymore.

I waited for a reply, but came up with a Plan B just in case.

When a few weeks had passed, I decided Plan B needed to go into action. I became obsessed determined to make my own lipbalm. I had the list of ingredients, it was just a matter of putting them all together.

So to save you from your own "I'm running out of lip balm" emergency, here is how you make beeswax lip balm.

This recipe is from the Methods of Healing website for organic lip balm. I was surprised how easy it was to find all the materials in town.

Ingredients:

Organic Beeswax

Organic Honey

Organic Scented oil (I used peppermint because it's my favourite)

Castor Oil (you could use organic, but I could only find it in a 3 Litre bottle, which was too big, so I used the castor oil from the pharmacy).

Equipment:

medicine droppers (if you're putting the lip balm into tubes),

glass mason jar or glass measuring cup (a makeshift double boiler),

whisk and

your lip balm containers.

I found these containers at an Apothocary in town; you can find them online if you can't find them where you are. I also had 3 empty tubes from lip balm that I had finished. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse and dry thoroughly.

Recipe:

1 tbsp beeswax

2 tbsp castor oil

1 tsp honey

few drops scented oil (do not use extracts, those are made for cooking)

Step 1:

Prep the beeswax. I could only find organic beeswax in a block, so I grated mine with a cheese grater that will now only be used for beeswax. You can also find beeswax in pellet form, which will eliminate this step.

be careful! we were having spaghetti that night for dinner, and shredded beeswax looks hilariously similar to shredded cheese ;)

Step 2:

Set up your double boiler system. Fill a small saucepan or pot with water and heat. Place your mason jar or glass measuring cup in the water. Add 1 tbsp shredded beeswax and melt.

Step 3:

Add the Castor oil and honey to the melted beeswax. There's a temperature difference so I found some of the beeswax came back to solid form. Keep whisking and heat until melted again and smooth.

Step 4:

When all ingredients are smooth, remove the jar from the heat. Let cool 30 seconds and add your scented oil. Whisk again to ensure the oil is mixed in.

Step 5:

Working quickly, fill your containers. Use the medicine dropper to fill lip balm tubes; I was able to pour the liquid right into the pots with the mason jar.

Step 6:

Cool in the fridge for about 10 minutes or less; you can leave this at room temperature to set, but it might take a little bit longer.

Step 7:

Enjoy your new lip balm!

There are many variations of this recipe, and you can add other scented oils and Vitamin E. The Castor oil provides shine, which is why I chose this recipe. I have purchased other homemade lip balms with other oils and found the balm to be really gritty. This balm is very smooth and keeps your lips soft. It will not protect from sun damage, although I have read online that you can obtain SPF factor and add it.

I found this recipe to be nice and soft, perfect for the lip tubes. I might add a pinch more beeswax when I make it again for the pots to make it a little bit thicker. You can alter the amount of oil and solid (beeswax) until you find a consistency you like.

I now have a hunk of beeswax, so you might find some more tutorials until I use it up ;) Either way...I now have a lifetime supply of lip balm materials.

Ciao for now,

Posted in: lip balm,tutorials