This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Works For Me Wednesdays, hosted by We Are THAT Family.

In cold weather, even the best hydrated among us can get chapped lips. The petroleum-based lip balms readily available in the store aren’t something I want to put on my body, but more natural versions can be pretty expensive. Making your own is easy and you can customize your recipe to suit your needs. Here’s how I do it:

Ingredients:
3 parts grated beeswax (can be found at craft or health food stores)
5 parts room-temperature liquid oil
OR
1 parts grated beeswax
3 parts room-temperature solid oil

You could use avocado oil or olive oil with the first recipe, and coconut oil with the second. All three are very skin-friendly and don’t dry out your lips in the long-term the way petroleum or glycerine-based products can.

Procedure:
Melt the oil and beeswax together in a glass measuring cup sitting inside a pan of hot water, stirring frequently. Take it out before the last of the beeswax is melted, and just stir. You don’t want your formula to be so hot that it melts the tubes. When cooled a little but still liquid, pour it into tubes or small pots. Let the tubes stand upright overnight before capping and packing into purses and backpacks.

If you use a lot of lip balm, you probably won’t need a preservative. If you’d like, a couple drops of GSE (grapefruit seed extract) per batch is all the preservative you need.

I have used this same recipe and added herbs or infused the herbs into the oil before hand. Once or twice I’ve added a touch of natural color. About a year ago I made a batch for my daughter in a small tin that had been used for mints. It tasted so minty and good that she licked her lips and defeated the whole purpose of the lip balm!

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