How To Make a Balm, Plus 5 Great Balm Recipes

Balms and salves were one of my greatest surprises when starting to make my own natural cosmetic products. They are just too simple to make and very versatile. Balms are very conditioning, and may have several medicinal properties, such as anti-septic, anti-inflammatory, or skin regenerating. They can be as much as the oils and medicinal plants you use on them. Learn how to make a balm with this post, plus find 5 great balm/lip balm recipes.

Table of Contents

What Is A Balm Made Out Of?

Balms are solid oil-based products, made of vegetable oils and waxes, that will melt once rubbed on skin. They are tipically a deep conditioning treatment to dry, damaged skin from cold/dry weather. But they can also treat other skin conditions, depending on the ingredients you use.

Balms basic ingredients are a vegetable oil and a wax, usually beeswax. You can also add an anti-oxidant, not only will enrich your balm to treat your skin, it will also help prevent or reduce oils rancidity. And, of course, an essential oil for scent and some added medicinal plant properties.

herbs-infused-oil

Oils

Use any vegetable oil you like or have at home, in your kitchen. You can find here a chart to know about the most common vegetable oils and its properties for skin care.

Still, the most common is to use an infused oil on your balm. Infused oils consists of a so-called carrier oil like sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, olive oil, coconut oil, etc., that are infused with plant material, like leaves, flower petals, roots, bark. The infusion can either be cold infusion (takes four weeks or more to prepare) or hot infusion (uses heating to accelerate the process).

Very important: use only dry plants to make oil infusions. Use fresh oils to prevent spoilage. Learn more about How to Make Infused Oil With Dried Herbs.

beeswax pellets

Waxes

A wax is necessary in balms to provide some structure to the product. It hardens and “binds” the vegetable oil(s) together. It’s also a great ingredient for skin on itself, providing a good protection barrier.

Beeswax as the name says, is a wax produced by honey bees to buld their own beehive. Thanks to its antibacterial agents, beeswax has a long history in cosmetics and as a medicin for certain skin issues. Beeswax is ideal for moisturizing sensitive skin, hydrating the skin and soothing certain skin conditions.

This makes beeswax a very good candidate as a wax for my balm recipes as a hardening agent. It’s the wax I use, and since I am satisfied with it, I didn’t try any other so far, even because they are expensive.

If you wish to use alternative waxes here are some options, although they are even more expensive than beeswax:

  • Carnauba wax: it’s a wax made from the leaves of the carnauba palm Copernicia prunifera, from Brasil. It is one of the hardest vegetable waxes, with a fusion point around 80 – 88 ºC (175 – 190ºF) – beeswax has a fusion point near 60ºC. It also provides a glossy finish to the products it incorporates. In addition, it has hypoallergenic and emollient properties, making it a great ingredient for lip balms, eye liners and other cosmetic products, having a low probability to cause allergic reactions.
  • Candelilla wax:  it is derived from the leaves of the small Candelilla shrub native to Mexico and US. It’s similar to beeswax, making it a great vegan alternative. It works well as a thickener agent, and it has great skin conditioning properties. It provides a great shining finish to the products it integrates.
are-Essential-Oils-safe-for-soap

Other Ingredients

If you use only vegetable oils and a wax, you will have a balm. But I do use some additional ingredients to improve the balm properties:

  • Antioxidants: I use vitamin E oil as antioxidant, to help preserve the oils used and extend the balm shelf life. It is also a great skin ingredient, a potent antioxidant that works as an anti-aging for skin. Other alternatives mostly used in soap are rosemary oleorresin extract (ROE) and grapefruit seed extract (GSE).
  • Essential oils: your natural ingredient to scent natural cosmetics, balms not being an exception. I love to use eucalyptus essential oil for oil-based products. I’ve tried for alternatives like rose geranium and the result was not so good, but that is my personal opinion. You can also choose your essential oils based on its medicinal properties (just take them with a grain of salt, the internet overstates its medicinal properties).
  • Lip balm flavour oils: you can use lip balm flavour oils instead of essential oils for a different lip balm, with mango, coconut or banana flavour! Be aware they are made with synthetic ingredients.
  • Mineral colorants: I don’t color my balms, I love its natural golden yellow color. But I can make an exception to lip balms. Adding some color can provide you with a natural lip stick. Use a tiny amount of red iron oxide (0,2g) or pink mica in your lip balm, for example. Make sure they are cosmetic graded and can be used in lip balms.

How Do You Make Herbal Balm?

Use herbal infused oils and herbal essential oils on your balm. The infused oil will impart its plant medicinal properties into the balm or salve. They are not as strong as essential oils, therefore, an essential oil will help strenghten or complement the infused oil plant’s properties. Still, in my opinion, an infused oil is richer and more nourishing than plain oil. And it’s so easy to make!

Learn more about how to use medicinal plants and essencial oils in balms, or skincare in general, in these posts:

cocoa-and-cinnamon-lip-balm-homemade
Lip balm to treat chapped lips

How Do You Make Natural Lip Balm At Home?

Lip balms are essentially the same as balms: they are made with vegetable oil and waxes. Make a balm recipe (around 5ml) and pour it into a lip balm container or lip balm tube. Make a herbal lip balm using herbal-infused oils.

I don’t have a recipe for that – would you like to see one here? – but you can make a lip stick by adding color to your lip balm. Use mineral colorants, like a red or pink mica, or iron oxides. Make sure they are appropriate for skincare and especially lips.

Instead of essential oils, you can use as aroma a flavour oil, with flavours like coconut, mango or raspberry for a delicious lip balm. Still, I personally prefer peppermint or eucalyptus. I don’t use citrus essential oils because they are phototoxic, and can cause photosensitivity. Learn more about essential oils safety in Are Essential Oils Safe For Soap?

An important tip: use very low quantities on your lip balms, like 2-3 drops of essential oils or 1/16 of a teaspoon of colorants. Do not overdo your ingredients or they can easily become irritating, and the skin of your lips is a very sensitive one.

What Is a Healing Salve?

Healing salves are balms rich in medicinal plants. Besides being deeply conditioning, they can treat skin problems like scrapes, bruises, rashes, or burns. They can also help reduce the symptoms of eczema, psoriasis, or go as far as treating ischemia or muscle aches.

This requires some knowledge on plants medicinal properties, how they can treat each skin condition and how effective they are with oil infusion. Not all plant compounds are soluble in oils and you also need to have an idea of how much of an active substance treat each disease.

herbal balms

These Balms Are Not Medicins

Before we move on, I’d like to state that this DOES NOT mean you can replace prescribed medicins with these salves. I am not a health specialist and could never advise about medicins or provide recipes for homemade medicins. What I am giving with these recipes are natural, simple products that may help you effectively with very simple skin issues. Or provide clues to alternatives when off-the-shelf products are not working.

I strongly advise to ALWAYS seek advice from your doctor to know if a certain salve or balm with their ingredients and active substances is good for you and your skin, especially if you have a skin problem. Also, if you start using any of these balms or salves and you get rashes, red skin, itches, or any other kind of skin irritation, stop immediately using them and seek your doctor’s advice.

Having said that, find below some links to sources to know more about medicinal plants:

Botanical Skin Care Course Leaderboard1

If you’re willing to use a healing balm for small skin issues here are some points to have in mind:

  • Homemade healing balms are good for healing dry to very dry skin and nails, tiny cuts and scrapes, itchy skin without any particular cause, and softening rough patches and calluses.
  • The balm recipes presented below are on the softer side, so that the balm rubs rather easily and nicely over skin. After a few minutes, your fingers won’t feel greasy, but soft and conditioned.
  • You should always speak with a physician if you have any concerns, especially if you are allergic to some plants or any other ingredients.
  • Avoid applying the salve on deep cuts or wounds, instead smooth the healing salve around the injured areas.

What Is The Difference Between A Salve And A Balm?

Salves are just like balms, using similar ingredients and being made in a similar way. They are just a bit softer: balms usually use close to 1:1 ratio of wax to oil, while salves may use a ratio of wax (1:4 wax to oil). This means that, by using more oil and less wax, they are easier to melt and spread. Actually, there is no accurate definition, just like with essential oils and fragrance oils. And this is just one definition, as good as any other, which I’ve found in this article.

For simplicity, I will reffer to all these oil-based products as “balms“. The reason is simple: most people recognize a balm for its name but salve is a bit trickier, less known in general. I will give the wax to oil ratio in all my recipes, presented below. But I do tend to like the balms as bit more to the softer side. 

balms

How Long Do Homemade Salves Last?

Salves or balms last as much as the “best by” date of its ingredients and its storage conditions. They can last 1-2 years if oils are fresh and have long shelf lives, and if the balm is kept from light and high temperatures.

Oils shelf life do depend on the oil itself and manufacturer. But you can check out Natural Oils For Your Skin to have an idea. Waxes usually have longer shelf life than oils, therefore the oils are usually the “shelf-life bottleneck”: their best by date is your balm best by date. You can and should use an anti-oxidant to help extend the oil quality, as it helps prevent rancidity.

But make sure you check all ingredients shelf life, including the anti-oxidant. That would be how long your balm will last in good conditions. They usually last for 1 year, but being natural products with no artificial preservatives, they can be a bit unpredictable. Dispose of the product if you find differences in color, looks or its scent.

How Do You Make Homemade Balm?

Time to learn how to make a balm!

Make your balm with your choice of vegetable oil, wax and other ingredients, and then it’s a matter of melting the wax, mixing all the ingredients, and pouring it into your balm container. It is truly simple, but let’s go slower and start by listing the equipment needed.

pour balm in containers

Equipment

Here is the list of the equipment you will require:

  • Pan with water (to heat)
  • Small pan or heat resistant mug (to fit inside the pan with water)
  • Spoon
  • Digital scale
  • Balm container with lid (preferably dark) – reuse a glass jar or tin can

To make balms you won’t need anything you can’t find in your kitchen. I do have a small double boiler pan, but I do a lot of stuff in there, like emulsions, shampoo bars, and even candles. You don’t really need to purchase it if you want to make balms.

You will need one sauce pan and a another pan, or even a mug (metal or ceramic one) that fits inside the sauce pan. Even a cup you use for your tea is good enough. Just improvise with what you have.

The oil and wax will be heated in bagne-marie, meaning that you will pour your oil(s) and wax into a small recipient, the small pan or mug, and then insert it in the other pan with water, and heat the set in the stove, with LOW HEAT.

20200621 164858
This is how I’ve started making balms: ceramic mug and sauce pan with water.

A pipette or anything to count drops will be handy, but most essential oils bring a dropper, therefore, it’s not essential.

How To Make A Balm – Tutorial Video

How to Make a Balm Step-By-Step

  1. If you wish to use infused oils, make them in advance, following the tutorial How to Make Infused Oil With Dried Herbs
  2. Gather your ingredients and equipment. Make sure your equipment is clean, dry and disinfected (disinfect it with a water and bleach solution)
  3. Measure your oils and wax into the small pan, mug or cup
  4. Fill your sauce/larger pan with water and place it under LOW HEAT in a stove
  5. Place your small pan/mug/cup inside the pan with water and let it heat, until the wax melts. Do not use high heat, it might destroy the oil properties.
  6. Once the wax is liquid, remove the small pan/mug/cup from the pan with water and let it cool down for one or two minutes.
  7. Add the antioxidant (vitamin E oil) and the essential oil or lip balm flavour oil. Mix well with a spoon.
  8. Pour your balm into your balm container
  9. Let the balm solidify without covering the balm container, to avoid any water/moisture to be retained. It will take 3-4 hours to fully solidify.
  10. If you’re making a lip balm using a lip balm tube, I find a good practice to leave it inside the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, it will harden better
lip balms

Tips And Tricks

Your lip balm sometimes can sweat (water or oil). It happened once to someone that tried the olive oil lip balm recipe. In this article, it is stated that sometimes it just happens, it’s out of anyone’s control. Honestly, I don’t have much experience with this as it really never happened to me.

Just take common sense precautions: be careful with water content, making sure all your equipment and lip balm containers are completely dry. If the atmosphere where you are making the lip balm is humid, you might want to leave it in the fridge to solidify. To salvage your “sweaty” lip balm, simply clean the water/oil excess with a paper towel or tissue, and you can use it afterwards. It shouldn’t affect the lip balm quality.

Regarding ingredients and equipment, I would advise you to use what you have, instead of purchasing anything just for these balm recipes. Ok, maybe you need to purchase the essential oil, but do it only if you are going to use them for other things: aromatherapy, other skincare products…

You can use sunflower oil or sweet almond oil instead of olive oil as liquid oil. Same as cocoa butter, you can replace it with coconut oil, for example.

Ready to make a balm? Find below 5 fantastic balms and lip balm recipes to learn how to make a balm at home! Hope you enjoy your natural balms as much as I do!

Healing balm in a glass jar with lid

Healing Balm Recipe

As the first recipe, I present a healing balm recipe, made with infused oils and medicinal plants to treat your skin for small issues like very dry skin, cuts, burns, or rashes. You will need to prepare two oil infusions: sunflower oil infused with calendula petals; sweet almond oil infused with plantain. 

This healing balm recipe also uses beeswax, due to its wonderful barrier and antisseptic properties. I am also adding coconut oil to this recipe since it possesses some good anti-inflammatory properties, is a good skin barrier against elements and boosts collagen production due to its lauric acid content.

With these ingredients, you will have a healing balm potent enough to notice some healing regeneration on your skin when you use it. It is also very soothing and calming to the skin. Use only dry plants to make oil infusions and fresh oils, to get a salve with best quality.

The wax:oil ratio is 1:9, meaning this balm should be soft. However, coconut oil helps with hardness since it is a solid oil at room temperature, and you have the feeling of a real balm. Just heat it a little bit with your fingers and you will see it spreading more easily.

My Own Experience

This balm lasted for a year, but I am to blame as I am lazy to use skincare regularly. It is absolutely great for winter, when you feel your feet and legs very dry, and you just want to moisturize them with something strong. Or after your depilation, when your skin is sensitive and itchy.

I have used this healing balm in a small burn on my finger, and it helped calming the pain. In the coming days, I kept using it, and I’ve got only very dry skin on my burn. As I don’t believe in over-the-counter ointments, as they seem to do very little, I think this balm is enough to replace them for simple skin problems.

Ok, let’s assume that I am biased and I had a “placebo effect” sort of experience with my balm with this burn. You can make the test yourself and use a oitment bought at a pharmacy, and then this balm. I believe both just help marginally with the pain. This balm is probably less than half of the cost of a store-bought ointment. So, in the end, you can make your own choice 🙂

As a side note, if you want to treat serious burns, a silver nitrate ointment (not homemade :D) is the best medicin. But you should, obviously, see a doctor if you have a serious burn.

Healing balm in a glass jar with lid

Healing Balm Recipe

Recipe for a healing balm for hands and feet and namely other body parts with the need for some care. Helps treat dryness, burns, scrapes, rashes and other skin conditions. Made with herb-infused oils and beeswax, very natural and skin-friendly.
Prep Time: 30 days
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 days 10 minutes
Method: Oil-based Product
Cosmetic: Balm
Servings: 1 jar of 50 ml
Author: Sofia Matias
Cost: $0,70

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparations

  • Disinfect all your equipment and containers before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or containers)
    Disinfect-equipment
  • Begin making the two infused oils needed for this recipe in advance. If you're using the cold method you will need to do it a few weeks prior. Make enough oil to have 40g of oil – use at least 60g of oil, as some of the oil will be lost with the plant material. Learn how to do cold-infused oils in How To Make Infused Oil With Dried Herbs.
    oils infusions
  • Gather all equipment and ingredients before making the recipe. Organize your workspace. Wear gloves as the balm is hot and you may burn yourself.
    ingredients and equipment to make lip balm

Make the Healing Balm

  • Fill your pan with water and place it over heat until it starts boiling
    pan with water for bagne-marie
  • Measure first the oils and beeswax.
    measure ingredients
  • Pour the oils and beeswax in the double boiler and place it inside the pan with water under low heat. 
    place double boiler in bagne marie
  • Let the wax melt completely (it melts at around 60ºC). Mix well to integrate the wax in the oils.
    melted oils
  • Take off the double boiler from heat, and place it in a heat proof surface (a wooden board for example). Let it cool a bit for one minute or two and then pour the essential oil and vitamin E. Mix well.
    add EO and VitE
  • Pour the mixture into the sterilized containers. It is best to use small containers than large ones: more even oil hardening, reduction in contaminants over time on the salve, ease of use. It is also better to offer your family and friends.
    pour balm in containers
  • Let the mixture harden for 4 hours inside the containers, without covering them (to avoid condensation inside the container). Put the lids in the containers when they are completely cooled.
    cooling down
  • Make sure you clean up the wax from the utensils while it's in liquid form, with a kitchen paper towel. If needed, reheat the utensils. Removing the wax in solid form is really difficult.
    cleaning-equipment-from-wax
  • Your balm is ready for use!! As for shelf-life, it is given by the closest best-by date of your ingredients, roughly up to one year.
    Healing balm in a glass jar with lid

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

Palm Oil Balm Recipe

Palm oil is really nice for natural skincare: makes for rather complete soap bars, and it’s conditioning while being solid at room temperature, pretty much like coconut oil. It is also a truly misunderstood ingredient. Learn all about the environmental issues it causes and my thoughts about it in this Palm Oil Soap Recipe.

In line with the palm oil soap, I wanted to make available a palm oil balm recipe. Many people with very restricited economical conditions only have access to palm oil. And they can make pretty good natural soap and cosmetics with it, and avoid over-the-counter products, especially if they have skin issues with said products. So, there you have it.

I did add a bit of spearmint infused olive oil to turn this into a insect repellent balm – another experiment of mine – , but you can make this recipe with 100% palm oil. Just replace the olive oil quantity with palm oil. I have used lemon eucalyptus and lemongrass essential oils to try my insect repellent. And I must say, it surprised me, the scent is truly pleasant in a balm. But you can skip the essential oil entirely or use another. In fact, you just really need the beeswax and palm oil to make a very good homemade – and cheap – balm.

Finally, the wax:oil ratio is 1:9, similar to the healing balm recipe. I was counting that palm oil was solid at room temperature, nd would add hardness to the balm. But to be honest, I usually keep it in my fridge and I am not so used to work with palm oil at room temperature. I found out that palm oil is really buttery at room temperature, and this balm is soft enough to be marked if you press a finger. It’s also easily spreadable, a plus in my opinion.

My Own Experience

As a nourishing, moisturizing balm, it’s as good as the healing balm recipe presented before. It does condition deeply your skin, especially when your hands are dry from detergent overuse. Palm oil made for a lovely balm, pretty much as coconut oil or olive oil would.

The essential oils in this balm are more noticeable, as palm oil is odorless. The scent of lemon eucalyptus (eucalyptus citriodora) and lemongrass is absolutely fantastic!

1660691210731 scaled

Palm Oil Balm

Another balm recipe, this time with palm oil, as I really wanted to see how good a balm with palm oil would result. Why a palm oil balm? To give option to people in areas where palm oil is the most affordable if not only available vegetable fat.
Palm oil seems to have a lower melting point than coconut oil and it really cannot be treated as a hard oil, even if it's usually solid at room temperature. Therefore, this balm is on the softer side due to its low wax:oil ratio (~1:9). But this is the way I like it.
I've used lemongrass and lemon eucalyptus essential oils and it was a pleasant surprise: the balm smells delicious!
Difficulty: Easy
Weight: 40g
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Method: Oil-based Product
Cosmetic: Balm
Servings: 1 container of 40ml
Author: Sofia Matias

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparations

  • Disinfect all your equipment and containers before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or containers)
    Disinfect-equipment
  • Gather all ingredients and equipment first. Organize your workspace before starting the recipe.
    ingredients and equipment to make lip balm

Making the Balm

  • Measure the oils and beeswax into the double boiler.
    measure ingredients
  • Put the double boiler pan over a pan with water under low heat. Let it heat until the beeswax melts completely, which should happen around temperature60 °C.
    place double boiler in bagne marie
  • When the beeswax is fully melted, add the vitamin E and eucalyptus essentail oil. You can measure both with a pipette directly into the double boiler. Mix well.
    add EO and VitE
  • Pour the mixture into a soap mold with individual molds of around 20ml. In alternative, use a 50 ml/1.6 fl. oz tin can or glass jar.
    pour balm in containers
  • Let the mixture harden completely for a couple of hours.
    cooling down
  • Make sure you clean up the wax from the utensils while it's in liquid form, with a kitchen paper towel. If needed, reheat the utensils.
    cleaning-equipment-from-wax
  • Your palm oil balm is ready to use!
    1660691210746

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

Olive Oil Lip Balm Recipe

The first recipe of a lip balm, made with olive oil, beeswax, eucalyptus essential oil and vitamin E oil as the antioxidant. This was the first balm I’ve ever made, before the healing balm. It’s really simple.

The major difference between this lip balm and the balm recipes shown before is the wax:oil ratio, much bigger in this lip balm: 2:3 or 1:1.5. This is because the lip balm needs to have enough hardness to be a stick, while the other balms, to be used inside a container, can pretty much be like pudding without any issue. And we are using only liquid oil.

My Own Experience

Did you ever had that experience, when making something new, that the first one was the best ever and the others coming afterwards were not quite so good? I suppose this is emotional memory playing, as practice always make us better. But fact is that this lip balm, the very first balm I’ve made, was and still is my favorite.

I love the eucalyptus flavour in it and how the lip balm spreads easily over your lips. The last batch I’ve made, probably due to the manufacturers of the ingredients being different, is not so easy at spreading and it’s a little bit harder, something I really don’t like in lip balms.

Still, it doesn’t compare to store-bought lip balms that, no matter what, they are just too hard to apply on your lips. Especially when they are chapped already and you need to spread them to apply the lip balm, making everything worse… This olive oil lip balm is great, very nourishing and moisturizing.

simple olive oil lip balm tubes

Olive Oil Lip Balm Recipe

Recipe about how to make lip balm at home: a very simple, nourishing and natural olive oil lip balm with beeswax and vitamin E.
Difficulty: can't be easier
Weight: ~10 g
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Method: Oil-based Product
Cosmetic: Lip Balm
Servings: 2 tubes of 5 ml
Author: Sofia Matias
Cost: $0,10 / 0,10€ (per lip balm without the tube)

Instructions

Preparations

  • Disinfect all your equipment and lip balm tubes before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or the lotion containers)
    Disinfect-equipment
  • Assemble the ingredients and equipment first
    ingredients and equipment to make lip balm

Making the Lip Balm

  • Measure the olive oil and the beeswax to the double boiler
    melting oils and beeswax
  • Fill the pan with water to use as a double boiler. Turn the heat on and place the double boiler inside the pan with water (you can use a metal jug instead of double boiler).
    melting oils and beeswax in bagne marie
  • Let the beeswax melt completely (beeswax melts at ~60ºC)
    melted beeswax
  • Turn off the heat and remove the double boiler from the water. Wait a few minutes to let it cool down. Add the essential oil and the vitamin E and mix well
    add EO and VitE
  • Pour the mixture in the lip tubes or containers. If the misture hardens before you can pour everything, you can reheat it again.
    empty lip balm tubes
  • Wait 5 minutes for the mixture to solidify, then place it for 15-30 minutes in the fridge to solidify completely
    pouring lip balm into tubes
  • Make sure you clean up the wax from the utensils while it's in liquid form, with a kitchen paper towel. If needed, reheat the utensils.
    cleaning-equipment-from-wax

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

Cocoa And Peppermint Lip Balm Recipe

Do you like mint chocolate? How about… a homemade lip balm with cocoa butter and peppermint essential oil? This lip balm recipe is made with olive oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, peppermint essential oil and vitamin E oil. While the cocoa butter scent and flavour fades a bit in this lip balm, the peppermint one is almost a shock! Your lips will be tingly and cold for a while. Minty fresh!

Yes, peppermint essential il does tingle in your lips, due to its menthol content. If you don’t want that, consider using spearmint essential oil or a peppermint lip balm flavour oil. If you’re brave enough to try this recipe with peppermint, make sure you are strick with the quantity and do not put an additional drop. The more you add, the more irritating the lip balm will become, so be careful.

With a wax:oil ratio of ~1:5, this lip balm uses the cocoa butter for hardness and structure instead of relying only on wax, like the previous recipe.

My Own Experience

The cocoa butter was a bit of a dissapointment. When you open the cocoa butter container, a strong smell of cocoa comes out of it. I was hoping that its scent would remain in this lip balm, but it dissapeared once the lip balm was ready. I was also hoping for a creamier texture, but it was more on the granular side. Next time, I would like to experiment with shea butter, to see the difference.

On the other hand, peppermint essential oil delivered as expected. With a strong minty taste, the lip balm leaves a funny feeling of “coldness” and tingling due to the menthol content. It’s not unpleasant and it passes after a while. But if you don’t want any effect from your lip balm besides being moisturizing, consider using spearmint essential oil instead, it has a weaker scent, but it was no menthol in it.

cocoa-and-peppermint-lip-balm-tubes

Cocoa And Peppermint Lip Balm

A delicious lip balm recipe, made with cocoa butter and peppermint essential oil, evoking a delicious chocolate mint flavour! Bear in mind that peppermint has a "cold" feeling due to menthol content. Only for the bold ones!
Difficulty: Really easy
Weight: ~10 g
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Method: Oil-based Product
Cosmetic: Lip Balm
Servings: 2 tubes or 1 tin container (15 ml)
Author: Sofia Matias
Cost: $0,36 / 0,30€ per tube (without the tube)

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparations

  • Disinfect all your equipment and lip balm tubes before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or the lotion containers)
    Disinfect-equipment
  • Assemble the ingredients and equipment first
    ingredients and equipment to make lip balm

Make Your Lip Balm

  • Measure the oils and the beeswax to a double boiler (you can also use a heat resistant cup)
    measure ingredients
  • Fill the pan with water to use as a double boiler. Turn the heat on and place the double boiler inside the pan with water.
    place double boiler in bagne marie
  • Let the beeswax melt completely (beeswax melts at ~60ºC)
    melted oils
  • Turn off the heat and remove the double boiler from the water. Wait a few minutes to let it cool down (up to 45ºC – 113ºF)
    melted-oils-cooling-down
  • Add the essential oil and the vitamin E and mix well. CAREFUL with how many drops of peppermint essential oil you add! 2 drops only, you add one more and the lip balm might become very irritating.
    add EO and VitE
  • Pour the mixture in the lip tubes or containers. If the misture hardens before you can pour everything, you can reheat it again.
    pouring lip balm into tubes
  • Wait 5 minutes for the mixture to solidify, then place it for 15-30 minutes in the fridge to solidify completely
    cocoa-and-peppermint-lip-balm-ready-to-use
  • Make sure you clean up the wax from the utensils while it's in liquid form, with a kitchen paper towel. If needed, reheat the utensils.
    cleaning-equipment-from-wax

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

Cocoa And Cinnamon Lip Balm Recipe

Who doesn’t like the cinnamon flavor in sweet rice or cinnamon cookies? Cinnamon is one of my favorite flavors, it only makes sense that it makes part of a lip balm. This lip balm recipe is pretty similar to the previous one, except for the essential oil. This one uses cinnamon bark essential oil. Beware this is a skin irritant.

I do love cinnamon bark essential oil despite being a skin irritant. But I must warn you, you might wish to go for an equivalent cinnamon flavour oil. Cinnamon leaf essential oil is said to be an option, but to me it just smells like burned leaves. If you still want to go for cinnamon bark , make sure you are strick with the 1 drop quantity and do not put an additional drop. The more you add, the more irritating the lip balm will become, so be careful.

As for the rest, this lip balm recipe is similar to the previous one. It also has a wax:oil ratio of ~1:5, using the cocoa butter for hardness and structure.

My Own Experience

The cocoa butter was a bit of a dissapointment, regarding scent and texture. I was hoping for the natural scent to remain, but it faded once I’ve melted the butter. Texture was a bit more granular than creamier. I would like to experiment with shea butter, to see the difference.

Cinnamon bark essential oil had two effects, one expected, one unexpected. The expected one was that it would cause a very mild burning sensation… pretty much as if you are putting a spice over your lips! The unexpected one was that it felt sweet!! I didn’t add any sweetener, but the oil content along with this essential oil felt like sweet cinnamon to the lips.

Find below the recipe.

cocoa-and-cinnamon-lip-balm-homemade

Cocoa And Cinnamon Lip Balm

A delicious lip balm recipe, made with cocoa butter and cinnamon essential oil. Bear in mind that cinnamon might be a skin irritant, so make a skin test before using it. Only for the bold ones!
Difficulty: Really easy
Weight: ~10 g
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Method: Oil-based Product
Cosmetic: Lip Balm
Servings: 2 tubes or 1 tin container (15 ml)
Author: Sofia Matias
Cost: $0,36 / 0,30€ per tube

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparations

  • Disinfect all your equipment before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or the lotion containers)
    Disinfect-equipment
  • Assemble the ingredients and equipment first
    ingredients and equipment to make lip balm
  • Measure the oils and the beeswax to a double boiler (you can also use a metal jug)
    measure ingredients
  • Fill the pan with water to use as a double boiler. Turn the heat on and place the double boiler inside the pan with water.
    place double boiler in bagne marie
  • Let the beeswax melt completely (beeswax melts at ~60ºC)
    melted oils
  • Turn off the heat and remove the double boiler from the water. Wait a few minutes to let it cool down (up to 45ºC – 113ºF)
    melted-oils-cooling-down
  • Add the essential oil and the vitamin E and mix well. CAREFUL with cinnamon essential oil it is a skin irritant. Add only 1 drop! If you are afraid, use a cinnamon lip balm flavour oil instead.
    add EO and VitE
  • Pour the mixture in the lip tubes or containers. If the misture hardens before you can pour everything, you can reheat it again.
    pouring lip balm into tubes
  • Wait 5 minutes for the mixture to solidify, then place it for 15-30 minutes in the fridge to solidify completely
    cocoa-and-cinnamon-lip-balm
  • Make sure you clean up the wax from the utensils while it's in liquid form, with a kitchen paper towel. If needed, reheat the utensils.
    cleaning-equipment-from-wax

Video

Tried this recipe?Send a pic to @herbalcochete!

Find Where To Buy Homemade Balms and Lip Balms

I understand that some people aren’t into DIY, but still, they love natural skincare. Willing to purchase some homemade natural balms? Or a handmade lip balm? Find out where in the links below:

6 thoughts on “How To Make a Balm, Plus 5 Great Balm Recipes”

  1. Hello there, thanks a lot for sharing this article on how to make homemade balms. I must say i really did enjoy going through your article as it contains valuable informations one needs to be aware of. I think this a great way to save money as healing balms looks really easy to make. I like the way you broke down the ingredients and the steps, makes everything easier. The ingredients are also very common and can be seen anywhere. I’m definitely going to try this out and come back with feedback. Thank you 

    • Hello Sophie, always nice to know someone with the same name 🙂

      I wish to clarify that this salve doesn’t mean to be a “miracle medicine”. It’s just a very moisturizing product that happens to help healing, or soothing symptoms when you use some additional herbal properties.

      I am happy that the recipe/tutorial is easy to follow 🙂 I always struggle with the balance to keep things simple, but informative.

      I really encourage you to give it a try yourself! It’s definitely a better product that most hand or foot creams out there.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

  2. Wow this is really surprising if you ask me, i am so overwhelmed to know that one can actually be able to make home made healing balm, I do not know about you but i am definitely taking this as a life hack lesson and i am going to pass it forward so others can see, good job.

    • Hello philebur and thanks for your comment.  

      I wish to clarify that this salve doesn’t mean to be a “miracle medicine”. It’s just a very moisturizing product that happens to help healing, or soothing symptoms when you use some additional herbal properties. 

      That is precisely why I like it so much: it’s very simple and unassuming, but at the same time it’s effective. 

      I am never convinced of anything until I see it working. And I’ve made this salve to be mostly moisturizing (when you have your hands really dry with tight skin). Once, I’ve tried when I’ve made a small burn on my finger. I was impressed!! The salve soothed the pain (it did not disappear but it was weaker) and it helped the skin to regenerate (instead of having a small wound, I just had cracked skin).

      Give it a try yourself.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

  3. Wow. This article was really a good one, it was amazing to see that I can make my homemade balm and it will also be effective, thank you so much for sharing this masterpiece of information. I have been using different balms ever since I was a little boy and I have grown to love them that is why this article hit me differently 

    • Hello Collins and thank you for your kind comment. It’s always gratifying when our work reaches someone in a more emotional way. 

      I wish to clarify that this salve doesn’t mean to be a “miracle medicine”. It’s just a very moisturizing product that happens to help healing, or soothing symptoms when you use some additional herbal properties. 

      That is precisely why I like it so much: it’s very simple and unassuming, but at the same time it’s effective.

      Give it a try, and make some at home!

      Cheers,

      Sofia

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