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[breeknee.livejournal.com]

I have read up on lipgloss and lipbalm recipes recently and I have discovered a few things I thought I would compile into a list for easier access. I have also added some tips and tricks of my own including products that get around having to buy expensive bee's wax from health food stores.

1) Do not use anything water based or water soluble because it will cause mold over time.
2) Do not use soley a petroleum based (that means Vaseline, too) lip balm, because it is ineffective and can actually worsen chapped lips. Petroleum jelly does not moisturize because in order to do that it would have to be absorbed by the skin, and it does not do that. It provides temporary relief by creating a barrier between your top and bottom lip when they are chapped (like putting a bandaid on a blister so your shoe doesn't rub).
3) Shea butter is the best because it actually increases the moisture retention capacity of the skin cells in your lips, causing you to get get chapped lips less frequently. It also extends the skin's elasticity.
4) When choosing a flavoring or scent, do not use anything alcohol based, it is drying to the lips.
5) Be careful when choosing a flavor, use only oil based flavorings, and be aware of the effects many have: citrus oils are photosensitizers and cause the lips to burn in sunlight, and others are extremely toxic such as eucalyptus oil. Cinnamon oil can burn in direct contact. Research the oil you want to purchase thoroughly.
6) If you are reusing old chapstick containers, remove all chapstick from inside and wash them, then boil them for a few moments to sanitize them (like when jarring/canning vegetables or making preserves).
7) Honey is ok to use in lipbalm because it is obviously ok to injest, and the chemical properties of honey make it nearly impossible (possibly completely impossible) to spoil.
8) Slivers of cheap lipstick are great to add color to your balm. You do not have to choose the color you want. For instance, if you use a bright red and just add a sliver, it will be a sheer red, and a hot pink will come out as a light pink, etc.
9) Shimmer powders such as the .88 cent Bon Bon brand are great to add a hint of shimmer.
10) Peppermint essential oil is great to make a burt's bees like balm, but do not use much because essential oils are highly concentrated!
11) Essential oils will not add flavoring just a scent, but I do not prefer my balms to have a flavor and many people do not, I think its kind of a blessing since most balm flavors taste like artificial sweeteners.
12) To help set up time, pour your balm into the containers then place the containers into the freezer. To help tubes stand up, place tin foil over an ice cube tray and then poke a hole over each cube, then place the tube in the punched hole, fill the tubes, and place in the freezer.
13) The ratio is usually 4 oils per 2 solids.
14) Mango butter is also acceptable.
15) Oils to think about: olive oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, apricot seed oil, castor oil, avacado oil, grapeseed oil, hempseed oil, macadamia nut oil)
16) Soy wax will work instead of bee's wax.
17) A guy on one page uses Crayola crayons to color his balms because they are nontoxic and he only uses just a bit. I don't know if I would recommend this but technically it wouldn't necessarily hurt you since kindergradeners eat them all the time. ;) Just thought it was funny.
18) To sweeten artificial sweeteners such as Splenda do work, but they tend to loose their sweetness when added at the hot stage, so wait to add until the mixture has cooled just a bit - it will help retain flavor.

All you need for a basic lipbalm recipe is:
- beeswax
- an oil (olive oil, sunflower oil, apricot seed oil, any kind of vegetable oil will do [even crisco, but i personally think its gross])
- flavoring/coloring (all optional)
- optional: shea butter, cocoa butter, vitamon E, honey

Products I have found and the odd places I have found them:
I could not find beeswax at my local Walmart and I was all out of lipgloss and determined to make my own, so I had to get creative. I decided to just leave the beeswax and go get some Cocoa butter. I found Cocoa butter lotions on the lotion/bath aisle, but no pure butter so I gave up my hunt completely. Then while browsing up the next few aisles I came across cocoa butter on the shampoo aisle! All kinds of cocoa butter and shea butter and olive oil products are sold in the hair care area. There is a section in most hair care areas for hair care items for black women and men so it makes sense that these ingredients would be in the hair products since they are intensely moisturizing, an element that is key with thicker hair.

The products: Black Thang Beez Wax (actually spelling lol) comes in a 4 ounce tub for only $1.93! The ingredients include beeswax, petroleum (which is ok since i will also be putting in moisturizers), vegetable oils, essential fragrance (theres really no fragrance at all), methylparaben (a food/cosmetic preservative- so we know its ok to injest!) and propylparaben (same kind of thing)

In the same area I also found a push-up tube of Black & Beautiful Cocoa Butter with Vitamin E which contains only: cocoa butter, vitamin E, a type of parafin wax used often in cosmetics, and mineral oil.

I mixed the beez wax stuff with some cocoa butter, added a drop of my favorite oil and put it in the microwave for a bit until it melted, gave it a little mix with a popsicle stick, added some shimmer powder and it was good to go!

Try your local health food store for ingredients, or shop online.

Best store to order from:
www.thesage.com has containers, oil based coloring and flavorings, and right now has a special where you get a free color or flavor with every order. You can get 10 lipbalm tubes (the twist up kind) for 2.75 and colored caps to go with them for 1.00 for all 10.