Simple Homemade Lip Balm

“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”? Henry David Thoreau

I love making homemade gifts as well as products I can use daily. One of the homemade items I made this year is lip balm. I made two different flavors: mint honey lip balm and orange honey lip balm. Making lip balm is actually very simple to make and you will absolutely love it!

Simple Homemade Lip Balm

1. After robbing my honeybees this year, I saved the beeswax for this project. If you do not have your own honeybees, you can buy beeswax online, at a local retailer, or from another beekeeper.

2. One very important reminder is that you do not want to use your best pots and pans to make lip balm because beeswax is difficult to remove. I made a double boiler apparatus by putting water in a saucepan and a smaller saucepan on top of that. I then turn the stove on medium low.

3. I then put the beeswax in the saucepan and let it melt slowly.

4. Once the beeswax was all melted, I strained it to remove any other honeybee byproducts. If you bought your beeswax, you may not need to strain it.

6. I then re-melted the beeswax in my double boiler. I added olive oil. I used about 4 ounces olive oil per 1 ounce beeswax. I also added about 20 drops orange extract to this ratio of ingredients. You can substitute the orange extract for mint or any other essential oil you think would make a good lip balm flavor. Adjust this recipe for the amount of beeswax you are working with. I did not add any honey to this mixture because when I first melted the beeswax it still had a bit of honey clinging to the beeswax. If using store-bought beeswax, I would add 1/2 teaspoon honey to the lip balm ratio above. I stirred this mixture for about 2 minutes until blended well.

7. I then poured lip balm mixture immediately into containers I ordered from Bulk Apothecary. When the lip balm was completely cooled I covered it with a lid.

9. Lastly, I designed a label using 1-inch round labels with a free download template from Avery.

I hope you are tempted to try making your own homemade lip balm. It is actually quite easy, and I am sure once you learn how to make it, you will love it as much as I do.