Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Another stab at honey lip balm - and it worked!


For better or for worse, I haven’t given up hope that I can mix the world’s greatest honey lip balm.

I guess the world is turning against petroleum jelly, so I’ve stopped using it in my recipes, even though I happen to like the consistency it gives the balms (search google for “petroleum jelly side effects” read the news and decide for yourself)

This time I decided to test the following recipe:
½ tsp beeswax (I like the prills from www.thesage.com)
2 tsp lanolin
2 tsp Coconut oil
¼ tsp honey

I melted everything except the honey in a measuring cup set in boiling water. Once everything was melted, I removed the measuring cup from the pan, added the honey and then stood there and mixed it (and mixed it) until it started to thicken. The mixture stays hot for awhile so I mixed for quite some time.

It appears to have worked. The honey didn’t separate from the other ingredients. The color is a nice, natural honey color, and the consistency it pretty good. I put it in a pot, but it would probably work in a tube.

I can’t see making large batches of this because of the long mixing time involved, but a small quantity isn’t that big a deal.

Give it a try and let me know what you think. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions!! Thanks!

9 comments:

madpiano said...

Try the lipbalm with sweet almond oil here. Much nicer than the petroleum ingredients and the butters leave your lips really smooth. I haven't tried it with honey, not sure why you would want to as honey doesn't really combine with oils, but if you really feel like adding it, switch to honey powder.

http://www.gracefruit.com/scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=19

I make this lipbalm a lot and the kids love it with Peppermint Essential Oil.

France said...

I read somewhere that the "inventor" of this byproduct of the petrol industry which Vaseline is, i.e. the guy who saw it and thought of a use for it, used to eat, yes, actually eat something like 1 tsp or Tbsp of the stuff a day and lived for a while!!! Fun silly fact I remember: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Chesebrough

Cheers!!

Stefanie said...

Not sure if you saw that MS has a new recipe on her site: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/natural-beauties-lip-balms?comments_page=1

It is without the honey, and a little different combination of oil vs. beeswax. I am going to try making it this weekend with peppermint oil for the xmas season.

Freda julius said...

I love it ! Very creative ! That's actually really cool Thanks. i definitely try this lip balm recipe at my home.

Anonymous said...

lanolin is gross. it gets excreted by sheep to make their wool waterproof. think of it like a waxy sweat. bleh.

Anonymous said...

We're actually on the same journey in finding the right recipes for lip balms... And BTW, I'm so loving your posts. keep them up! :)

emy said...

wow does it have any flavor it definetly looks amazing

Hockette said...

Interesting article. But I take a teaspoon of coconut oil a day. I'm guessing the same principal but way healthier.

Island Grandma said...

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. My husband and I have just gotten slowly into bee keeping with two hives. I've been researching recipes using beeswax as I will have my own supply. It's great to learn from others trials and errors!