Tired of waxy drugstore lip balms? We asked aromatherapist Andrea Butje to share her favorite recipe for homemade lip balm. Use our step-by-step guide to make your own organic lip balm to share with friends and family.
Lip balm is one of the easiest natural beauty products to make at home. Once you invest in the basic tools, you can make lip balm for less than you’d pay at the store. When you make it yourself, you know exactly what goes into it. Aromatherapist Andrea Butje shows us how to make easy DIY coconut lime lip balm at home.
Supplies:
- 1 ounce beeswax pellets
- 2 ounces coconut oil
- 1 ounce jojoba
- 5 milliliters distilled lime essential oil (Citrus aurantifolia)
- 1 lip balm tube filling tray
- 24 lip balm tubes with lids
- Glass-spouted measuring cup
- Stovetop pot
- Spoon
- Kitchen scale
- Optional: small beaker for pouring
Instructions:
Prepare the lip balm tubes
Snap the empty lip balm tubes into place on the tray. This recipe makes around 20 tubes of lip balm. You can purchase a tray and 24 tubes for $16 at SKS Bottle and Packaging. When you purchase additional empty lip balm tubes in bulk, they cost about 15 cents each.
Measure and melt the beeswax
The easiest way to measure for this project is to use a basic kitchen scale. Begin by melting the beeswax in a glass measuring cup. To keep this delicate mixture from burning, place the measuring cup in a shallow pot of boiling water. Stir as the pellets soften.
Add the jojoba and coconut oils
Once the beeswax pellets have started melting, measure and pour the jojoba oil and coconut oil. Depending on the temperature in your home, the coconut oil may be liquid or a soft paste. This is normal. Stir the mixture gently as it continues to melt, and mix on the stove. Once it has melted and is thoroughly combined, remove it from the heat.
Mix in the essential oil and pour
Five milliliters of essential oil measures to about 100 drops. The easiest way to measure this is to use a slim graduated cylinder. If you don’t have one, just count the drops. You don’t have to be perfectly exact, but try not to add more than the recommended amount. Pour the essential oil into the mixture of hot oils, and stir briefly. Before the mixture cools, carefully fill the lip balm tubes in the tray. Each should be filled to the top. If your measuring cup has a wide mouth, you may find it easier to use a glass beaker for pouring.
Cap and cool the balm
Now that the tubes are full of delicious lip balm, give them about five minutes to cool in the tray. Then remove them one at a time, and carefully snap the caps onto each. They will appear solid very quickly, but you should wait about six hours for them to fully harden to the consistency of lip balm before using.
About DIY lip balm
Andrea makes batches of lip balms several times a year. “I like choosing my own ingredients, buying fun-colored caps and giving them as gifts,” she says. You can experiment with your own essential oils, but keep in mind that citrus aromas work best and blend great with the taste of coconut. Why make your own? “Using pure ingredients means I am not putting any chemicals or preservatives on my lips,” says Andrea. “Many lip balms have unnatural petroleum-based ingredients that definitively do not help your lips heal. Natural lip balms contain plant-based oils and wax from bees. Which sounds better to you?”
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