Homemade Beeswax Balm {multipurpose}



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I was at a fancy spa last week and fell in love with a line of natural smelly-good body products that they carried: Zents. The smells were fantastic, and their balm, Concreta, was fantastically formulated. Then I flipped the cute little sample boxes over. Holy Cow! $34 for 1.25 ounces of balm! I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped...

Then I read the ingredients: beeswax, shea butter, coconut oil, scented oils. Seriously. That was it.

And, just like that, a new DIY project was born.

I added cypress essential oil for its muscle relaxation properties, rose hip seed oil for its skin regeneration properties, carrot seed oil for its anti-aging and detox properties, and orange oil for an energizing scent. You really can go wild, though, and add in any essential oils for their medicinal properties or their scents!

I think I'll be making another batch with calendula oil, peppermint oil, lavender oil, and tea tree oil and use it as a healing balm (just like All Good Goop!).

Ingredients




Unrefined beeswax is yellow, so your balm will be
yellow. The Zents balm must have used refined
beeswax, since their product is so white.






Directions

1.  Combine the wax, shea, coconut, and olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. The texture will be weird and soupy, since the coconut oil melts at 76 degrees and the beeswax doesn't melt until 140 degrees.


2.  Stir the mixture until the beeswax starts to break apart. This may take a little white, because you are waiting for the mixture to come up to 140-ish. {Note: do not stick your candy thermometer in the mix, because you will NEVER be able to wash the waxy balm off of it... Still trying...}

3.  When the wax starts to melt, whisk until it all makes one happy pool of clear, yellow liquid. Remove from heat. Dip a spoon into the liquid and then let it cool. Check the texture. If you want it more solid, add more beeswax and put it back on the heat until it melts. If you want it more creamy, add more coconut oil or olive oil.


4.  Add it your essential oils and stir well. If the oils make the mixture re-solidify, just put it back on the heat until its all melted again.

5.  Spoon or pour into jars. I found these adorable 4-ounce jars at Hobby Lobby to use as gifts {teacher appreciation week and Mother's Day!} I filled 6, so you should get about 24 ounces out of this recipe. If you need less, you can half the recipe. 


I ended up spending about what I would have spent on 1.25 ounces of the fancy Zents Concretas on what will make about a lifetime supply of the exact same recipe!



A few hints to make your process a little smoother than my first go at it was:
  • Don't use anything that can't go in the dishwasher.
  • Be careful not to get the ingredients or the final product on your countertops - they are really hard to get completely cleaned off.
  • When you're done, stick the pan and utensils in the dishwasher and wash on hot with vinegar. Then, run it again with dishwasher soap.



58 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing! Very keen to give this is a try. :)

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  2. Is there a place where I can get these oils for a cheaper price? I've been looking online and the carrot seed oil is $8 for .34 oz.

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    1. Pure essential oils are an investment, but a worth while one. After 3 years of making all my own organic beauty and cleaning supplies, the best prices I've found for quality ingredients is a website called Bulk Apothecary. Carrot seed oil is one that's very reasonable in price compared to a lot of them. And more effective at preventing wrinkles than any department store cream!

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    2. Ananda Apothecary is a great place to get essential oils at wholesale prices... Check them out on line.

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    3. ebay has it for pretty cheap

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    4. Make sure u get the 100% therapeutic grade, they are better and more safe:)

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    5. RE: Carrot oil. Check on Pinterest. Earlier today i saw a recipe for carrot oil. Easy to make using a crock pot.

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    6. Carrot oil and carrot seed oil are completely different.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. a lot of dish soap and a good brush will break down the oils in this on your cookware. Make sure you get it all off before you put it in the dishwasher though =op.
    Great recipe! I mixed in a bit of lavender and vanilla to give it my own scent, also because I hadn't ever seen carrot oil before

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    1. You do NOT want to put any of your utensils that have been in wax in the dishwasher EVER. Cleaning by hand with Dr. Bronner's liquid castille soap is the most effective way to get them clean. When you make these types of products you will want separate tools than the ones you cook with. The wax never REALLY comes off, or out of your dishwasher.

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  5. You could also boil some water (I have an electric kettle) and pour it in the container that you used to get the beeswax and shea butter off…Love this recipe..

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  6. Can you share where you got those jars? The tops look unique and would be perfect for a gift I'd like to give, thank you!

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    1. She got them at Hobby Lobby. :-)

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    2. If you go on the internet to hobbylobby.com and look for coupon they usually have a 40% off of one item. The item cannot be on sale. If you could find a multipack of say 6 or 12 that could be quite a savings. I always use my cell phone to find a coupon when I am at Hobby Lobby. They only need the code associated with that weeks sales. It will be on your phone.

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  7. I always wipe my pan and counter dry of wax with paper towels while the wax is still warm and liquid - whatever residue remains is easily washed off after that.

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  8. I've found that using a little baking soda on the pots and pans before washing with soap & water helps absorb the oils. I just sprinkle some in, smoosh it around and clean out the residue with a papertowel, and it takes away a bunch of the melted mess!

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    Replies
    1. great idea! i have my 'special' tools for this kind of thing, that keep in big ziplocs. that way they don't get used in cooking, just my puttering.

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  9. I'm a beekeeper and the color of the wax depends on several things. The whiter the wax, the younger it is. Very white wax is first time honeycomb wax. Also, the color of the pollen can make even new wax yellow from little bee feet tracking it all over. Wax in the brood nest can be black from all the use and cocoon spinning by the larvae. Now, here is the biggest upsetting factor in buying beeswax, all beeswax is contaminated with pesticides, etc., especially commercial, treated hives. When wax is harvested, they take the wax from all combs (old brood comb, too) and melt it together--the older the comb, the more chemicals is has. It is a well known fact in the beekeeping industry. The best way to buy the cleanest beeswax is from a local beekeeper that does not treat their hives, ie chemical free and ask for wax from new honeycomb. Usually, It will be near white to pale yellow, but not always. I had some this year that was greenish. So, that's the skinny on beeswax. One of the reasons I became a beekeeper is so I know where my beeswax comes from and it is as chemical free as possible. I am putting it on my lips and body! ;)

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    Replies
    1. Jae, I agree with your take on wax. Purchasing beeswax foundation, to use in a beehive, probably contains all the chemical deposits of every beekeeper that has shared their stock with the manufacturer. Beeswax is a fatty by-product that bees "sweat" when they eat honey.

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  10. I am allergic to coconut but love all natural stuff like this. Do you have any ideas on what to use instead of coconut or could I omit it completely? Thanks :)

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    1. I'd use unrefined olive oil, but only about half as much (to keep the consistency) - you may have to play with the beeswax-to-oil ratio to keep a solid-ish texture!

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    2. Shea or mango butter would work. You may need to add a little liquid oil to the mix.

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  11. I am also a beekeeper and agree with Jae that its best to source your wax from a local, chemical free beekeeper :) Made without the oils this is an excellent base for lip balm. Beeswax melted with olive oil makes an ointment that can be used for anything from making drawers slide properly to milking the cow (to lube the teats).

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  12. How greasy feeling is this lotion?

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    Replies
    1. It is a little greasy at first, but the oils soak in quickly and the beeswax leaves a non-greasy after-feel!

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  13. If you'll be making this regularly, set aside a large mason jar just for this purpose. When you're ready for a batch, put your ingredients in the jar, then set the jar in a pot of water on the stove. Bring to a simmer. I have also dedicated a chopstick for stirring, but you could just get a whisk from the dollar store and use it only for body cream production.

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    Replies
    1. Love this idea! I just bought a 2 quart sauce pan to make this in...but I'll try this double boiler method first. now...what to stir with??

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  14. fyi Zents fragrances are not natural they are synthetic blends = they are full of synthetic musk.

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  15. I make a very similar balm, and I melt mine in my crockpot with one of the crockpot liner bags, and a ladle from the dollar store that only gets used for that purpose (like someone already said). Easy cleanup. I store the ladle with a plastic bag around the scoop, secured with an elastic.

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  16. Consider adding the coconut oil in after the beeswax is melted..the longer it is exposed to higher heats, the more of its goodness gets cooked off. That's why unrefined is better than refines....

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  17. This rececipe is missing 2 important ingredients that are VERY nurturing & healing for the skin - honey and propolis! Honey is moisturizing and like propolis, very healing. As for the beeswax, if its unrefined it's filtered of particles but not necessarily of pesticides or other chemicals. Refined beeswax is probably bleached and filtered with no concern to contaminents like pesticides. Virgin beeswax, however, is where want you want to go. It's been built by bees but not had any hive products or contact with any chemicals. Yet, beeswax having contained honey has some propolis and would be ideal!!! In the end, its best to know and trust your source...

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    Replies
    1. Honey is a water soluble ingredient. This recipe is anhydrous. The water soluble ingredient will eventually cause this to "sweat", ie, water droplets will form on the top unless you add an emulsifier. Of course, adding water means also adding preservative unless the water activity level is very low.

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  18. Can you tell me what the essential oil measurements would be for the one you are thinking about making...the one with the calendula, peppermint, lavender and tea tree oils? I am an avid DIYer but am new to working with essential oils...and I would love to make some of that kind. Thanks a million in advance!

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  19. Dawn fish washing liquid is the best thing ever for getting it grease! Don't buy the concentrated, just get the plain original scent, blue dawn that's about a dollar and it will remove any oils or grease from just about anything other than carpet. Clothes, walls, stoves, dishes. It really is a one dollar wonder buy!

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    Replies
    1. When I first read this, I took it literally and assumed there was a special Dawn product for washing fish. LOL. Just figured it out......

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    2. Nicole Stone, that one cracked me up! I know you meant "dish", not "fish", but since Dawn is used for cleaning up oil spills that contaminate sea birds and such, the typo fit perfectly. Made me laugh out loud.

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  20. I am also interested in the measurements for the calendula, peppermint, lavender and tea tree oils. My husband works out in all weather and has cracked skin on his hands, this would be awesome for him! Thanks!

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  21. I have read that if you heat the shea butter to temperatures that are too high too long, it can make your finished product gritty. That's never happened to me, as I have always added it close to the end.

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    Replies
    1. Nope, that has to do with ingredients coolings at different temps. You can avoid the gritty problem by putting the balm in fridge or freezer to cool.

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  22. For cleaning microwave stuff that can be put in microwave and wipe off the excess with paper towel.

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  23. Try using some baking soda and vinegar, (if you haven't already) to get the balm off of you thermometer. If you mix some in a tall glass and let the thermometer sit in it, it may help break it down.

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  24. Love this! Thanks. And love your page design. Just a silly little tip, I've found that a putty knife is a good tool to scrape up any bees wax mixture off of your counter tops! BevChildress.com

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  25. Just made three batches! I added about 1 cup of beeswax and shea butter. Left everything else the same. One batch was lavender and melaluca; one wild orange; one eucalyptus, peppermint and lavender with HONEY! Can't wait for them to set up!

    Each batch made a pint--used two half pint jars for each one.

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  26. Thanks for your recipe! I DIY my own balms all the time, but I usually use mango seed butter or cocoa butter instead of shea, because I don't like the smell of shea. I use dōTERRA brand essential oils for anything therapeutic, and I think I'll mix up another batch this weekend! If you're interested, you can check out my dōTERRA website at www.oils4me.com. Thanks!

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  27. Just made some of this tonight and my skin is sooo silky feeling! Thank you so much for the recipe! After I poured most of it in a container, I used what was left (maybe 1/2 a cup) and about 6 ounces of water to see if I could whip it into lotion. I used an emersion blender and it worked great. Planing of using the lotion on my two toddlers. Thanks again!

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  28. I love this recipe! It worked great, and smelled fantastic without any added essential oils. When cleaning up, I followed your advice, but still had a little bit of waxy residue on my pot and spoon. I drizzled in about a Tbsp of olive oil and a heaping Tbsp of Kosher Salt, gave it a little scrub with my hand, rinsed under the faucet, and all was well. Hope that helps if anyone else needs a little extra residue removal. :-)

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  29. I use a canning jar in a pan of water to melt all the ingredients. Chances are the next recipe will contain a lot of the same ingredients so I just use the jar over again. I don't add the essential oils in this jar. I put the essential oils in the bottom of the small jars before I pour the mixture in. It works great and I can make different mixes very easily.

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  30. Use paper bag and iron to remove wax off of items

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  31. can I make this without the other oils? Like the carrot,cypress,rose and orange oils? I am making this for my sister who has cancer. She is not allowed to use regular lotion, or any thing with mineral oil or petroleum in it. The chemo and radiation is drying her skin out so bad that it cracks and bleeds. And top it off, she lives near Chicago--with the dry winters.

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  32. I adjusted the amount of beeswax to make lip balm, cuticle cream and all-over moisturizer. I used peppermint, lavender and rosemary oils. I couldn't love it more! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.

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  33. What size are the jars (ounces, etc..)? Cant wait to try this!

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  34. could jojoba oil be subed in for the coconut oil?

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  35. Plant therapy is a wonderful source of oils that are very reasonably priced…Yes, they are 100% therapeutic grade:)

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  36. Do you think Cocoa Butter could replace Shea Butter ?

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    1. Cocoa butter is a hard butter. Shea is considered soft. You could try cocoa with a little liquid oil. Still a different skin feel.

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  37. I have psoriasis and no store bought lotion, helps my extra dry skin on my lower legs. feet and ankles. I did find two products. one with Shea butter, which i can not find. anymore. the other is a off brand Vaseline which in a creamy form. I will check into these essential oils

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  38. This really is the best recipe. I made this last year for a friend that works construction and his hands get so dry they crack and bleed. Using this each night and his hands did not crack all winter long. Also used for many other purposes. Thank you for this receipe. I am making a batch for Christmas gifts tomorrow.

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