Making Balm and Creams
Equipment needed
- A bain marie to melt the ingredients or alternatively a small saucepan with something like this to hold the wax and oils:
- A thermometer to check the temperature of your oils - the one above works well.
- Containers and labels – for lip balms use tubes and for hand creams use tins:
- You may find one of these useful for filling lip balm tubes:
Basic Recipe
All balms and creams use a basic mix of beeswax which makes it hard, and one or more oils to make it soft – any oil will do, e.g. rapeseed, olive, jojoba, sunflower, etc. Note that coconut oil is solid at room temperature so it too can make your product harder. In addition, since oils will go rancid after a while, add a little vitamin E oil (or the contents of a vitamin E capsule). You can leave your produce with its natural smell, or you can add a little scented oil, although make sure it’s food grade.
Note that there are many, many recipes, so you should experiment until you find one you're happy with.
Melt your oils and wax together in the bain marie. Once they are liquid, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool, stirring occasionally, until it starts to set on the sides of the pot. Then add your vitamin E and your scented oils, stirring vigorously so that they are completely included in the melted mix. They may start the oils to solidify, in which case gently head the mix over the hot water until it just melts. Then pour into your containers. Wait until cool before putting on the lid. Label the container.
Lip Balm
This is quite a hard balm, so it contains a relatively high amount of beeswax. The amount here is sufficient to fill 50 tubes.
Ingredients
Hand cream
This is a softer product, so it contains relatively less beeswax and coconut oil and more ordinary oil. The amount here is sufficient to fill 10 tins.
Ingredients
All balms and creams use a basic mix of beeswax which makes it hard, and one or more oils to make it soft – any oil will do, e.g. rapeseed, olive, jojoba, sunflower, etc. Note that coconut oil is solid at room temperature so it too can make your product harder. In addition, since oils will go rancid after a while, add a little vitamin E oil (or the contents of a vitamin E capsule). You can leave your produce with its natural smell, or you can add a little scented oil, although make sure it’s food grade.
Note that there are many, many recipes, so you should experiment until you find one you're happy with.
Melt your oils and wax together in the bain marie. Once they are liquid, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool, stirring occasionally, until it starts to set on the sides of the pot. Then add your vitamin E and your scented oils, stirring vigorously so that they are completely included in the melted mix. They may start the oils to solidify, in which case gently head the mix over the hot water until it just melts. Then pour into your containers. Wait until cool before putting on the lid. Label the container.
Lip Balm
This is quite a hard balm, so it contains a relatively high amount of beeswax. The amount here is sufficient to fill 50 tubes.
Ingredients
- 120g beeswax
- 160g coconut oil
- 40g oil
- 2g vitamin E oil
- 2g scented oil or flavouring extract (optional)
Hand cream
This is a softer product, so it contains relatively less beeswax and coconut oil and more ordinary oil. The amount here is sufficient to fill 10 tins.
Ingredients
- 90g Beeswax
- 270g Oil
- 4g Vitamin E oil
- 6g Scented oil (optional)