Naturally Lefty

Have you ever wondered why there are so many ingredients in your store bought lip balms? I have and that’s why I make my own so I know what I’m actually using on my lips! Here’s a few recipes that I use.

Each recipe makes about 6-8 tubes of lip balm

Recipe 1

Ingredients + Supplies

1 tbsp. Beeswax

1 tbsp. Shea Butter

1 tbsp. Coconut oil

Spoon for stirring

Pipette

Double boiling system (or too pots, one smaller than the other, and a stove)

Lip balm tubes

Essential oils

Instructions

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients

I find it helpful to gather all of my ingredients next to my stove before I begin. I like to set out all of my lip balm tubes so they are ready to easily be filled and everything is easy to get to.

Step 2: Set Up Your Double Boiling System

I just use two pots on my stove to make a double boiling system. In the bigger pot, you will want to add about an inch high of water. You put that pot on your stove and turn the setting on high until you get the water boiling, then you want to turn it back down to low so you do not burn your ingredients. Now that your water is hot, you put your smaller pot inside the larger pot. The hot water will heat up the smaller pot enough to melt the ingredients but it won’t burn them.

Step 3: Add Your Solid Ingredients

Now that your double boiler system is set up, you can add your beeswax, Shea butter, and coconut oil to the small pot to melt down. Add 1 tbsp. of each into the pot and continue stirring the ingredients until they melt completely to a liquid.

Step 4: Remove the Small Pot

After your ingredients are melted down, you want to take the small pot out of the water and let it sit for about 2 minutes off the heat. It is best to allow the mixture to cool down before you add it to the lip balm tubes for the best quality. This will allow you to continue mixing the ingredients as they cool down so you can get the right consistency. You also do not want to add essential oils in when it is too hot because they could evaporate off. It is best to add the oils right before you add the mixture to the containers.

Step 5: Add Essential Oils

Once your lip balm has been off the heat for approximately 2 minutes, you can add your essential oils. For this post, I used a combination of lemon and peppermint. Add three drops of each flavor to the mixture and stir it together. I love the peppermint oil because it gives the lip balm that tingling feeling that I like. However, if you do not like that, you can choose different essential oils. The best essential oils to use are high quality, certified therapeutic grade oils because they are free from synthetic nastiest and many are safe for consumption.

Step 6: Add to Lip Balm Tubes Using the Pipette

We are almost finished! Now that everything has been added together, it is time to put your lip balm into containers. Use you pipette to move the mixture from your pot to each of the lip balm tubes. I like to leave a little extra in the pan because you will notice as your lip balm starts to solidify, it will be lower in the middle. Once it has started turning yellow, I like to top each one off with a couple more drops. Also, if your mixture starts to solidify in you pot before you can get everything into your tubes, you can simply just add it back to the hot water to let in melt back down again!

Step 7: Let your Lip Balm Set

Tadaa!! Your lip balm is complete! All you have left to do is add your caps and then let them sit for a few hours to completely solidify. I typically like to leave mine overnight to make sure it settles correctly. After this, you can design up a fancy label if you choose do so to add some character to your creations. I like to use Avery labels because they are simple and quick!

Recipe 2:

Ingredients + Supplies

1 1/2 oz (3 tablespoons) Coconut Oil

1 oz (2 tablespoons) Cocoa Butter

1 oz (2 tablespoons) Beeswax

3 drops Vitamin E Oil

20 Lip Balm Containers

28 drops Wintergreen Essential Oils

Essential Oil Flavors for DIY Chapstick

If you’re not a big fan of wintergreen, you can easily use these other essential oils.

• Spearmint

• Peppermint

• Orange

• Mandarin

• Tangerine

• Lemon

• Lime

I’ve found that the key to using various essential oil flavors in my lip balm is to test out how many drops of essential oil I need by putting a few drops of the mixture on my finger until it’s at my desired amount.

Instructions

Fill a large skillet with a few inches of water.  Place the glass container in the center of your skillet and melt on medium heat.

As your ingredients are melting, twist your chapstick containers down to the bottom of the tube. (Thankfully mine came that way.)

Stir every few minutes until the mixture is totally melted (10-15 minutes). Once melted, stir in the Essential Oils of your choice.

Using the medicine syringe, fill the chapstick containers.  (I highly recommend the syringe because it would have been messy if I hadn’t used it.)

Once the chapstick hardens (it literally took about 2 minutes), add a few more drops of your melted mixture to the top of the chapsticks – this will even off the tops and make them look pretty!

Lip balms are great for gifting or just for your family. Easy to make, natural ingredients and affordable too!