Best Natural Lip Balm Recipes for Winter

With winter around the corner, it’s time to bring out the woolens, the moisturizing creams, body lotions and of course how can we forget Lip Balms. The air around turns dry and you often end up looking like a dried scaly fish if you do not moisturize enough.

Do Your Lips Need Moisture?

Lips are prone to drying faster than other parts of your body when exposed to the elements. This is because lips have a very thin layer of skin to protect them. That’s when you turn to lip balms, lip salves to keep your lips from drying and cracking. Most of you are happy with the results, but did you know that chemical based lip balms tend to make your lips drier. You end up applying more balm, which doesn’t really help you much.

It’s not just the weather, but a few other things you do every day that may make your lips red, chapped, dry or even cracked. Here’s a list

• Not protecting against the sun. Low or no SPF in your moisturizer
• Parabens present in branded lipsticks
• Smoking can lead to low circulation and wrinkles
• Perfume, present in a few lipsticks can make your skin drier
• Camphor and menthol are known to dry out skin, though they are used a lot in lip care items
• Intake of artificial sweeteners
• Dry air because of an Air Conditioner can dry your lips too

Not all ingredients in your must have lip balm are bad for you. Humectants like glycerin and Aloe Vera in the balm help to get moisture from the air and attach themselves to whatever they are on, like the skin or even your lips. Just like dry and parched soil needs water, we need it too. However, water will evaporate quickly, unless there is something to hold it in. That is why lip balm was made.

The best way to keep the moisture in is to exfoliate first before applying the balm. To scrub you can mix a little sugar or salt with oil and rub on your lips in a circular motion gently. You are now ready for glistening lips now! DIY or do it yourself watching a few YouTube videos is all the rage now. Going organic with homemade lip balm is fun and eco-friendly and side effect free. (Shh! We don’t mean the branded ones)

Know if the Balm is Good for You:

Ingredients you should keep an eye out for in some lip balms are camphor, menthol, phenol. Though these ingredients are natural they tend to make your lips drier, cracking them even if they make you feel cool and refreshed. Another ingredient is alcohol which is usually listed as OL, which tends to dry your lips quickly. And then there is salicylic acid that is meant to keep flake off your lips, but it could make the peeling worse. If you find one or more of the ingredients mentioned above then you should avoid using them. Moreover, making your own organic chap stick is better.

Why homemade lip moisturizer?

A lip balm made at home will not only keep the moisture in, but will also drop into your lips making is soft and supple without leaving any residue. Do remember to exfoliate so that you get rid of dry and cracked skin on your lips before applying any moisturizer.

From the land of Ayurveda and home recipes, we have a few natural lip balm recipes for you. To start off with here’s what you need.

• 1 tbsp. – beeswax grated or paste
• 1 tbsp. – carrier oils like almond or coconut oil
• ¼ tsp. –honey (preferably organic)
• 1 bottle – essential oil (could be any and its optional)
• Vitamin E capsules

Method:

Heat the beeswax in a double broiler; add the coconut or almond oil with honey to the beeswax. Mix thoroughly and then add the capsule contents. Once dissolved, pour into a container or a tube, and cool.

Once it sets… you are ready to use your new homemade lip balm.

This is the basic natural lip balm recipe without any added essential oils. We have a few other variations as well

Rose Coconut Lip Balm:

To make this balm here’s what you need

• 7-8 drops of rose essential oil
• 2 tbsp. – coconut oil
• 1 tbsp. – beeswax tablets
• 1 dropper and 1 glass jar
• Lipstick shavings for color

Heat the beeswax in a double broiler; add coconut to the beeswax. Mix thoroughly and then remove from the heat. Add the rose essential oil, and stir. If you like tint then add the lipstick shavings and stir till it is completely dissolved. Pour into a container or a tube immediately and let it harden.

Once it sets you are ready to use your new rose coconut lip balm.

Honey and Hemp Lip Balm:

The idea of lip balm is to moisturize your lips, but adding honey makes it antibacterial too. Try making this balm

• 16 grams. –beeswax tablets
• 10 grams. –cocoa butter
• 5 grams. –shea butter
• 20 ml. –almond oil
• 5 ml. –hemp oil
• 10 ml. –organic honey (preferably manuka)
• 8-10 drops. –citrus essential oil

Method:

Add the beeswax, cocoa and Shea butter to a double broiler to melt. Then add the almond oil to it. Once done add the hemp oil and honey stirring continuously. Use the milk frother to mix in the honey as it may not dissolve in oil. Take off from the heat and mix in the essential oil till it dissolves completely. Pour it into containers and allow it to set. For this recipe make sure you weigh in the ingredients before making the lip balm.

You can always have other favorites like strawberry, chocolate, or mint flavored lip balms. The basic recipe remains the same; all you need to do is change the essential oil you are adding to the melted beeswax and oil mixture. If you love chocolate then add a few chocolate chips to the mix and voila you have chocolate lip balm!

Hope you love reading these recipes and fun making them, as much as we had writing them for you. Do send us your comments or any natural lip balm recipes you have.