Making Lip Balm and Power Lip Balm Basics   by Deborah Dolen  Updated February 4th, 2010

Yes, I actually still find time to make products for my own family.  This last year I found I was more busy talking about how to live a cooler life and making neat things, but not doing much for myself.  I decided to finally use the beeswax sent to me from the Official Beekeeper of the Queen of England I was sent after my trip to London.  I found the three pound brick of gold with a cute bee emboss could not last forever.  So, I looked at my recipes that were beeswax heavy and I found lip balm was the first plan of usage.  As you may know, most of my balm recipes are 45% SoyWaxTM of an edible nature and 45% most edible oil, and 10% beeswax.  That is a VERY general rule of thumb depending on how hard you need it.  In the winter you will need less hardening waxes and in the summer more-unless you are after jelly which is what would happen in the summer with no extra wax.  The seasonal divergence is about 10% more hardening waxes for summer-defined by when April hits.  After September of each we tend to drop our wax 5%-10%.  I wanted mine firm, but not Lip Balm Stick hard (where it hurts to rake across the lips.)  I decided I also wanted lots of flavor that would compliment the wax.  More flavor this time is why I titled this "power balm."

I mixed our rum flavor oil with our pumpkin flavor oil and used it for 10% of the total formula of the lip balm recipe.  10% more of the recipe was sweet oil because I like mine sweet.  The other 30% was castor oil and the last 50% was the beeswax.   Castor is my pick because it is nourishing.  In that 40% phase I could also swap some castor for shea oil, emu oil, and/or lanolin.  Regarding flavor most flavor oil is used at 5% or less.  This balm with more emphasis on flavor oil came out so awesome, you almost want to drink it!  [A note about Emu oil - I now love Emu oil again as it is the most healing of all oils. I boycotted it for a while because I was worried about the animal aspect.  Emu is a major source of hormone free Jerky and a fact of life-and why I am OK with it again. Humans do come first.  Plus I have never seen an oil so healing and supple to the skin. Lanolin is my second favorite when dealing with harsh weather.  I know this makes Vegans cringe. For vegans there is Candelilla wax.]

My previous teachings discuss just using a few drops of flavor oil, because you typically do not want to knock yourself out.  Flavor oil at Mabel White Supply company is strong as it is.  Be careful, however, if you plan to use very strong flavors such as Lemon Drops, which is really essential oil.  Usually our citrus and mint flavors are essential oils.  They would be way too powerful to do a 25% ratio and I would drop way back to maybe a 5% ratio if using these.   Flavors like strawberry, you may know, just does not come in an essential oil version, so it would be the synthetics that would work best if you want to make "Power Balm."  If you want to use Candelilla Wax instead of beeswax, that is a very hard wax, so make your ratios 40% Candelilla Wax, to 60% oils.

Basically, one 1/2 ounce of flavor oil, 1/2 ounce of sweetener, to 3 ounces of an edible oil, and 4 ounces of beeswax will make 1/2 a pound of lip balm with the need for soy wax.  This makes 32 1/4 Ounce pots.  I still find I like the white pots the best.  They are easy to label and do not fracture on re-use.  The new Altoid-looking flip tins we just got in were a major disappointment, as I found the pour seeped out the hinge of the tins.  Boy am I glad I figured that out before we sold them. They looked perfect for lip balm--but not when they seep.  Finding round tins in general that will actually open has been a major industry issue.  We feel we have found the best there is, with a ledge to help the tin open, but still not with as much ease as we would like.  If anyone has a secret about lip balm round tins, please let me know.    In the meantime, I feel the all white pots are the most sturdy and refillable than any other container.  

Did You Know? Submitted by my cousin Patty a Cornell University!

Peel a banana from the bottom to avoid the 'stringy things'. That's how the primates do it.

Bananas ripen faster if you leave them connected. To ripen slower, separate them.
 
Store opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil to stay fresh much longer and not mold!
 
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
 
Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef to pull the grease away while cooking.
 
To make better scrambled eggs or omelets, add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream while beating.
 
Easy deviled eggs - Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done - easy clean up.
 
For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler, pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
 
Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.
 
Left-over Snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Chop up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!
 
Reheat pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
 
To double canned frosting, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount and consume less sugar and calories per serving.
 
To reheat bread, biscuits, pancakes, or muffins, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
 
Put wet newspapers in layers around the plants, overlapping with mulch as you go. Weeds will grow through some gardening plastic but not wet newspaper.
 
To pick up shards of broken glass pieces, use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip.
 
To prevent mosquitoes, place a dryer sheet in your pocket.
 
To keep squirrels from eating plants, sprinkle plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.
 
To vacuum heat registers or under the fridge add an empty paper towel or gift wrap roll to your vacuum hose. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
 
Reduce static cling by placing a small safety pin to the seam of your slip or on the inside seam of your slacks.
 
To easily remove sticky ingredients from measuring cups (such as peanut butter), first fill with hot water. Dump out water, but don't dry. Add your ingredient and it will come out easily.
 
To clean foggy windshields, use a clean chalkboard eraser. It works better than a cloth.
 
To re-open a newly sealed envelope, place envelope in the freezer for an hour or two.
 
Use hair conditioner to shave legs instead of shaving cream. It leaves legs really smooth.
 
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, fill a small glass half full with apple cider vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. The flies will drawn to the cup.
 
Get rid of ants by sprinkling small piles of cornmeal where you see them. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains.
 
Clean your dryer’s lint tray with hot, soapy water and a toothbrush at least every 6 months. Just removing the lint isn't good enough because when using dryer sheets, a film builds up on the mesh screen and can cause your heating unit to burn out and/or cause fire. (You can test this by running hot water into your lint tray, and if it doesn't go through, you have a buildup).
 

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