I will never forget how much “crunchier” I got after having my first baby. I have long preferred natural ingredients, but something about another human life depending on me and my choices really caused me to take an honest look at all the products I bought and used.
Sometime in those early days of motherhood, I was kissing my sweet firstborn on the forehead when it occurred to me that I have no idea what ingredients were lurking in my cheap chapstick. Whatever toxins were in that chapstick was being smooched all over my newborn’s face. I had bought the same cherry chapstick for years and never once cared about the ingredient list… but now, now I had become a mom. After some brief research, I knew I wanted to start making my own. I loved the original Burt’s Bees products, but since Clorox purchased Burt’s Bees company in 2007, I could not trust them as a natural source anymore. So it was time for a DIY.
Admittedly, making my own chapstick seemed a little daunting and time-consuming. However, I am glad to say it was neither! In fact, I was surprised at how easy it was. Better yet, I was also surprised that I could make my own natural chapstick for less than $1 a tube! My local health food stores sell natural beeswax chapsticks for $4 – ouch! Best of all, bulk making my lip balm with this recipe produced my entire stash of lip balm for the year! No quick runs to the gas station or Walmart to refill my chapstick stash; I just wander over to my bathroom and grab a new tube when I need it.
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Ingredients
- 4 oz Food-grade beeswax (most pellets are not food grade – be sure to double check)
- 4 oz Organic Coconut oil (rendered beef tallow makes a great substitute if you have it on hand)
- 2 tsp organic almond oil (you may substitute with olive oil)
- 1/4 tps pure Vitamin E (If you have liquid capsules on hand, puncture and use about 3 capsules)
- 30-40 drops of Peppermint Essential oil (optional)
This recipe will make about 45 standard tubes of lip balm. However, the exact amount will depend on the type of oils you use and how it sets up.
Additional Supplies
- Double boiler (a DIY version is great, too). Note that beeswax can be tricky to fully remove from dishes. I prefer to just have a dedicated beeswax melting bowl. Pro-tip: grabbing a mini crock pot from a local thrift store and designating it your beeswax melter is also a great option!
- Pipettes to pour the hot wax into the lip balm tubes.
- Lip balm tubes (lip balm tins can work here too, but I prefer tubes).
- Candy thermometer to ensure you don’t exceed 180 degrees.
Directions
- Using a double boiler (or a DIY version with a heat-resistant glass bowl above a medium pot with 3 inches of water in it), melt the beeswax with coconut and almond oil over medium heat. Do not add vitamin e oil and essential oils until later.
- Melt just long enough so beeswax and oils are smooth or about 180 degrees F. TIP: melting the wax slowly over medium or medium/low is better than scorching the wax.
- Once beeswax and oils have melted together, removed from heat and add essential oils (optional) and vitamin E oil.
- Line lip balm tubes in the fill tray. I highly recommend using this one because it makes the pouring process so much cleaner when attached to a fill tray! You can just fill empty tubes without a fill tray, but it can be messy.
- Allow tubes to cool for an hour at room temperature before removing from the fill tray to allow lip balm to set up properly.
- That’s it! Enjoy for yourself and/or share as gifts with your crunchy loved ones!
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