Homemade Beeswax Lip Balm

First, I must apologize to the Burt's Bees company. I have been a loyal buyer of Burt's Bees Beeswax lip balm for AGES, but I will never be buying any lip balm ever again. Because this homemade stuff is AWESOME.

I've been researching homemade lip balm recipes for quite some time, and there are lots of recipes out in the web which contain multiple oils, flavors, scents, etc. But I decided to Keep it Simple, as is typically my style, and go with just the basics... a pure, clean, healthy lip balm which is inexpensive, easy to make, and works great. It contains just 3 ingredients:

Beeswax: You can purchase your beeswax in different forms... as little pastilles, chunks, bars or in various size blocks. Pastilles are ready to measure and use, but if you buy a block or a bar, you will need to grate it with an old cheese grater before you begin. I bought a 1lb block of organic beeswax, but I only used a fraction of that for this project.

Coconut Oil: I LOVE coconut oil! One of these days, I will write a post on all the reasons I love this stuff. But I digress. I use Nature's Way organic coconut oil.

Vitamin E Oil: This can be purchased at any pharmacy. You won't need much... just a few drops.

You will also need a Pyrex measuring cup, a spoon and something to put your lip balm in. I purchased little lip balm pots, but you can also find empty lip balm tubes online. If you want to be extra frugal, you can reuse old tubes or pots... just make sure they are cleaned really well, first.

OK, here we go!

Measure 3 Tbsp of beeswax into your Pyrex cup. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. If not melted all the way, keep putting it in for 10 seconds at a time until it's melted, stirring each time. Next, add 6 Tbsp of coconut oil and stir. If necessary, microwave a bit to melt. Add 2-3 drops of vitamin E oil and stir again. Pour into your containers. If it starts to solidify before you finish pouring, you can just pop it back in the microwave for a few seconds. I got 8 pots of lip balm out of this recipe, but you might get more or less, depending on the size of your containers. Wait until they completely solidify before capping.

If you don't have a microwave, you can probably use a double boiler to melt this. One other bit of advice... I found the cup and spoon a bit hard to clean after... you might want to designate a cup and spoon just for this purpose, as it does get a bit messy.

I love this lip balm as it is, with a light, honey-and-coconut scent, but my daughter wants to try experimenting with adding some other oils for scent. We plan to try this soon, and I will post the results!