How to make lip balm - easily and cheaply

Our family of five goes through a lot of lip balm in the winter. We heat our house with a wood stove, which makes for cozy and warm, but very dry living quarters. Add to that hours of playing in the cold and snow outside, which chaps lips even more, and you got some dried out skin!

Since I don't feel like buying lip balm at $3 a pop, I make my own for a few pennies per stick of balm.

Here is a nice recipe I like to use. It makes 20 sticks, so if you don't want that much at a time, cut the recipe in half. But, hey, these handmade lip balm sticks make nice presents, and they keep for a long time in a cool place, so why not make a whole batch?

You need a mixture of oils and solids that will be spreadable but not liquid. If you like your lip balm firmer, use more beeswax, and if you like it softer, use less.

Directions:

Put the following ingredients into a pyrex mixing bowl with a spout, or into any container that's heat proof.

• 4 tablespoons organic coconut oil 
• 4 tablespoons organic olive oil (or use shea butter instead to make it more moisturizing)
• 4 tablespoon grated beeswax
• 5 drops lemon essential oil and 5 drops lime essential oil (or use any other essential oils you like)
• 20 lip balm containers

Set this bowl into a pan (larger than your bowl) filled with a few inches of water to make a double boiler. Make sure no water gets into the bowl with the oils, beeswax and essential oils.

Now heat the water in the double boiler on medium-high and watch the ingredients melt slowly. Stir them often to help melt everything evenly.

When everything is melted and blended completely, pour the mixture into containers. You can use a bigger container and just scoop the goop out with your fingers, or you can divide it into smaller lip balm containers, which you can order online or buy from craft supply stores.

When you pour it into little containers, it's nice to have a container with a spout and a steady hand. I carefully pour and stop just before it spills over, then top off the rest with a eye dropper.

Let everything cool, then use liberally and be ready for moisturized, soft, beautiful lips (and a happy pocket book, because you just saved a bunch of money)!

A word of caution: clean up the pyrex bowl right away, otherwise the beeswax will harden and be impossible to clean up. Or reserve this bowl for lip balm making only, and then it doesn't matter.

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