Hand/Lip/Body Balm

One of the other benefits to the journaling I was telling you about is finding cool ideas for recipes and crafts you would of never found otherwise.  I was looking in a landscape magazine and came across an idea for making hand balm using herbs from your garden.  I do not have a very large garden (just strawberries), and it was late fall when I came across the idea, so I modified things and came up with this concoction.  Usually my hands in the winter are a mess.  I get dry cracked hands to the point of bleeding if I am not constantly putting lotion on them.  I really do not like the fact that my body is absorbing a bunch of stuff I cannot even pronounce!  This recipe has worked out very good for me.  I have been using it since mid November and I do not see myself using any other type of lotion.  It is especially good for elbows, knees, and heels.  Try it on your lips too!


The list of ingredients are as follows:  2 cups of olive oil, 1 1/4 cup of grated beeswax, 15-20 drops of essential oil of your choice (not necessary), 3-4 1/2 cup size heat resistant containers of your choice.

Pour the beeswax into the olive oil and heat on low.

As the beeswax is melting, add the essential oil of your choice.  I like to use tangerine because it is a good fragrance for your lips as well as your skin.  If you only want to make lip balm, peppermint is a good choice.  If you choose not to use any essential oil, the smell of the olive oil with a hint of honey will be what your balm smells like.

Once the beeswax is totally melted (it only takes about 5 minutes), pour the mixture back into the liquid measuring cup your olive oil was in.  This makes it easier to pour into your containers.

Now pour your mixture into the containers of your choice.  I used jelly jars and got 3 jars out of this batch.  Any small container that can take the heat of hot oil and beeswax will work.  It cools fairly quickly and is ready when you see that it is hardened and creamy looking (about an hour).

Some helpful tips:

You can find beeswax wherever candle supplies are sold.

You can find nice looking metal containers by candle making supplies, or heat resistant plastic containers by travel size accessories in the big box stores.

You can find a wide variety of essential oils at health food stores.

You can find chapstick type vessels online to pour your balm into.

Add slightly more beeswax for a firmer balm (more suitable for the above mentioned).

Add slightly more oil for a softer balm.