Make your own luscious lip balms

Making lip balms, or any kind of balm or salve, is often the first step towards making your own skin care products. In my study of herbal medicine, I know I started with making herb-infused oils and then salves. Lip balm is basically the same thing, though you can choose whether or not you want to start with a homemade herb-infused oil or just a neutral oil such as olive oil. Adding essential oils such as peppermint or sweet orange provide a nice scent and in the case of peppermint, a minty tingle. Lavender essential oil is a wonderful addition, as the heavenly fragrance floats from your lips right into your nose! I generally use beeswax in my lip balms, but a vegan alternative is carnuba wax, with which I’ve had good success, though you may need to add a tiny bit more wax. I recently created a vegan lip balm scented with orange and basil – herbacious goodness!

Basic Lip Balm Version 1:
2 tsps neutral oil (jojoba, olive, sunflower, safflower, sweet almond, apricot kernel, etc)
1/2 tsp beeswax beads (or grated beeswax)

Basic Lip Balm Version 2: (if you want a richer balm)
1 tsp neutral oil
1 tsp coconut oil (saturated)
1/2 tsp beeswax beads (or grated beeswax)

Step 1: Use a double boiler to very gently heat ingredients stovetop. Becuase of the small amounts, the wax should melt very quickly.
Step 2: Remove immediately from the heat when melted.

Variations & Additions:
a. a few drops of essential oil (lavender, sweet orange, peppermint, spearmint). Don’t add too much! Try 5 drops.
b. If desired, add a few drops of skin ‘superfood’ such as blueberry seed oil or carrot seed oil.
c. a few drops of Vitamin E oil to protect the balm from rancidity. This is not necessary but suggested, if possible.
d. if you love vanilla, you could add 1/8 tsp vanilla extract for a vanilla taste. As an alcohol extract, however, it may not blend perfectly with the oils.
e. to stain your lips a berry color, try adding 1/8 – 1 tsp beet-root powder to your desired strength. It may not mix perfectly when stirring it in to the melted oils, but it will emulsfiy when cooled.

Step 3: pour into a clean, dry container, such as a 1 oz balm tin. You can buy balm tins individually from packaging suppliers. You could also recycle old lipstick tubes or even film canisters (if you still have any around!) When your container is empty, wash it out, dry completely, and make your balm recipe again. Balms usually last quite a while.

If you are looking to make your balm with an herb-infused oil, check out my process for making infused oils in a post for Herb Companion. Some herbs that would be great in a lip balm are as follows:
calendula (healing)
chamomile (anti-inflammatory & aromatic)
lavender (aromatic, anodyne)
plantain leaf (healing)
comfrey leaf or root (healing)
yarrow (healing)
thyme (anti-septic)
violet (soothing; emollient)
marshmallow root (emollient)
rose (aromatic & tonifying)

Share your favorite lip balm combination!
Some of mine are my Lavender & Green Tea Lip Salve and my Mint & Lemon Balm Lip Salve, which has a menthol-induced tingle. I love that 🙂

Musings for Change

Facial Cleansing Grains

Hello my dear readers. Oh, I wish I could blog more often. The intensity of my full-time day job combined with a busy craft season (actually, every season feels really busy) makes it tough. I am so looking forward to what amounts to an “herbal retreat” for me this June, the Medicines of the Earth Herb Symposium , Black Mountain, North Carolina. Check out the cool PDF brochure if you’re interested. Not only can immerse myself in the world of herbs for a nice, long weekend, but I also get to learn from some of the greatest herbal teachers of our time.

When I begin to shift into a new paradigm or even have some ideas for changes to be implemented, it seems that it takes me a very long time to migrate into a new place. I muse about changes for what seems like months, even years, before I make a move.  A true taurus! I confess. This slow drifting towards change can extend from new curtains to new Lilith’s Apothecary products, to new life practices. Why is this? I’m not sure, but I’ve come to accept that it is just my process. On the flip side, I’m also impressionable. When I read about great ideas, hear convincing arguments about ideas, growing practices, food, and so forth, I can internalize them with a passion. But I don’t flit from one thing to another; rather, I deeply internalize things that make sense to me until they become part of my own personal tapestry. And I’m finding that unlike Athena, who sprang from Zeus’s head fully formed in all her philosophical, conceptual, and ideological glory, it’s taken me 34 years to get me to where I am now. Maybe that’s just how it is for we mortals. Given my nature, I fully anticipate changes ahead to be a gradual, growing process. This is why I fully believe in the power of the third phase of life, the Crone’s stage, as one’s potential arrival at wisdom. Before that, it’s not really possible (as I see it anyway), though we try. We do.

I have some goals for the future of Lilith’s Apothecary. I will begin to slowly move towards the accomplishment of these goals over the next year, following my last craft shows of the Spring, The Art Star Craft Bazaar and the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival.  Last summer was a time of rest. This summer will be a time of careful implementation of new practices in my business.

1. I am going to move away from the use of Plastic. Yes, the plastics I use are all recyclable, but it just doesn’t make sense. I will probably keep certain components, such as pumps, caps, or mister tops, because at the moment, I don’t really see a way around it.

2. I am going to be focusing my product line much more exclusively on Facial Care. This is my area of expertise, and in an effort to keep my customers happily contented, I have often created products that are not really in this sphere. As they are lovely products, too, it’s hard to part with them! I have far too much diversity in my offerings, however, and I am spread too thin in production, which means that people often need to wait for staples such as facial creams and serums. What I may do is offer certain body creams, lotions, etc on a limited basis from time to time, but they may not be as regularly available. An exception to this is my Chamomile & Calendula lotion, as far too many people depend on this lotion to treat various dry skin conditions.

3. I’m going to have to eliminate my Tea line, which I have been pairing down for the last few years. I am still available as an herbal consultant to make specialized blends for pregnancy, post-partum, breast feeding, insomnia, anxiety, etc, however. Feel free to contact me directly, but realize that custom orders can sometimes take up to 4 weeks.

4. By paring down my offerings, I will be able to put more time into the development of new products that fit into my Facial Care line, such as creams that address skin discoloration (in development), products specific to acne issues, and others that have been bouncing around in my head for months!

5. I’m going to invest the necessary time in the development of my website, www.lilithsapothecary.com which was started over 2 and a half years ago, but for which I have rarely felt the ability to devote the necessary attention and time.

So, there are exciting changes ahead! And as I progress along my learning curve as a business owner and developer of natural bath and body products, I hope all my learning shows!

The main thing is that I love my business and I want to continue working on it in a way that is sustainable for myself, for my customers, and for the earth itself. I always welcome a dialogue with my readers and customers and would love to hear about your own personal experiences as well as favorite products. Thank you, as ever!