The purpose of this homemade balm is to help keep moisture in your lips rather than just cause them to dry out and disappear. Furthermore, it won't create a smooth, exclusive barrier. Use it in conjunction with a homemade exfoliator to help reveal the softness beneath all the dead, dry, and peeling skin that comes with chapped, rough lips. Both of these have helped me a lot, and I live in a place where, if you're not careful, your lips can turn into the Sahara.
Ingredients: Beeswax, Coconut oil, honey, vitamin e capsules, essential oil (optional).
Why Beeswax: Beeswax can act as an emollient (moisturizer) as well as protect your lips from the elements, but the most important role it plays is that it is what gives your lip balm its stiffness and body so that it can be easily transported and applied.
Why coconut oil: Coconut oil will not coat and smother your skin like petroleum based products, and moisturizes deep down. Its fatty acids hold onto moisture, and can help reinforce the skins lipid (fat) layer, which promoted hydration.
Why honey: Honey is a natural humectant, which means it attracts and holds onto water molecules.
Why vitamin E: Full of antioxidants, vitamin E can neutralize the effect of free radicals that damage healthy skin cells and lead to dryness.
Why essential oil (optional): I like to steer clear of fragrances when it comes to my lip balm, but if you like you can add in a few drops of your favorite scent.
You will need…
- -1 tablespoon grated beeswax or beeswax pastilles
- -1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
- -A dash of organic raw honey
- -2 vitamin e capsules
- -several drops of essential oil (optional)
Directions
In a double boiler, melt down the beeswax, adding in the coconut oil and
honey when about half of the beeswax is no longer solid. After it’s all
melted and blended together, stir in the contents of 2 vitamin E
capsules. Pour into container or a tube and let cool. Apply as
needed-but not in excess. Resist! There can always be too much of a good
thing.
I live in Minnesota. I understand chapped lips. Cracked, dry and yes, even bleeding, lips are all too familiar to me. I don’t even care if it’s not the most appealing look in the world; I just hate how uncomfortable it is. As winter starts to set in-well fall is just starting technically, but one must be prepared here-I already feel the dryness beginning. Already I find myself digging through the black hole that is my purse to find my lip balm, and the familiar anger that comes along with taking 5 minutes to fish it out.
Watch out for…
The main culprits in chapstick or lip balm that can make your lips dry out even more include camphor, phenol, and menthol, which can lead your lips to ultimately cracking though they feel cool and refreshing. Then there is OL, as its listed on ingredients, which basically means alcohol, which dries out quickly. Finally theres salicylic acid, which is added to help flake off dry skin, but it can just leave you with lips that peel even more (I use homemade lip exfoliator for helping the dry skin instead.)
Are you hooked?
I read an interesting book once called “The Power of Habit” that talked about toothpaste companies, and how they figured out the hook to getting their product to sell was to make it foam. In all reality, the foam did absolutely nothing, but it made people think it was. If the toothpaste foamed, everyone thought, obviously there was some sort of action going on, and this resulted in them going back to that toothpaste again and again. The same thing goes for lip balm-if it feels cool and tingly, it feels like it’s doing something, which hooks you in. In the end though, there’s really nothing to it-except that it dries up and then you feel like you need more-which is why the industry is now making over $370 million a year.
