Most balms are petroleum jelly based, which is a toxin and shouldn’t be ingested. However, how many of you lick your lips after applying it? The other issue with petroleum jelly is that it is well known to dry out skin and not actually soften it. It creates an impenetrable layer on the skin, meaning the pores of the skin cannot breath as they should. The jelly makes your lips and skin feel soft, but soon enough you’ll find you need to use more and more of it. And then you need to keep using it again and again to make your lips feel soft. If you are at this stage, it’s likely that the jelly has already done it’s job and caught you up in the balm – jelly circle.
So how do you avoid this? Easy! Make you own non-petroleum jelly/non-toxic balms! Or if that seems like too much work, you can also buy natural non petroleum versions from health food stores (and Amazon), but where’s the fun in that? =)
I love the recipe below because once you know how to make it, you can add various different combinations of oils to create balms for just about everything.
I have added some of the combinations I know that work, at the bottom of this blog post.
I particularly like the one for colds, as it’s a great and much healthier alternative to vapour rub. My Mum tells me the cold sore one is the best cold sore remedy she has ever tried and helps to clear a cold sore up within days rather than a week (and sometimes it prevents them from breaking out at all).
Ingredients:
One balm jar or tin
Stage one:
14g of beeswax
40g olive oil
18g jojoba oil
21g calendula oil
6g shea butter
Stage Two:
12 drops of vitamin E oil
20 drops of essential oils of your choice
- Sterilise the jars
- Weigh out all the ingredients
- Using a saucepan on a double boiler, heat all the stage one ingredients to melting point.
- Remove the saucepan from heat and whisk the mixture until it cools but is still runny.
- Add stage two ingredients and mix well.
- Pour into jars and cover.
- Apply lids when cool.
Once you know how to make the basic balm you can add any of the following essential oils to make a balm for a certain purpose:
Deep Heat – lavender, ginger, eucalyptus & clove
Insect Bite Balm – lavender and chamomile
For Lips – lemon balm and tea-tree
Cold sores – melissa, lavender and camomile
Vapour rub for cold and cough symptoms – clove, eucalyptus, peppermint & camomile
Here’s some other balm recipes you might enjoy:
Indestructibles, Easy Homemade Coconut Balm, click here.
Annie’s Remedies, Homemade Herbal Balms and Salves, click here.
Wellness Mama, Homemade Natural Lip Chap, click here.
Brit + Co, 13 Deliciously Simple DIY Lip Balms, click here.
For more healthy hints, tips and recipes…
Get my newest book, Loving Yourself Inside & Out here.
My second book, Cleanse – The Holistic Detox Program for Mind, Body and Soul here.
Or my first book Living a Life Less Toxic here.