Beeswax is a byproduct of honey production. It makes wonderful lip balms, hand lotions, hand creams, moisturizers, in cosmetics, wood finishes, waxes, leather polishes; waterproofing products, and dental molds.
It is impervious to water and unaffected by mildew. It has a melting point of 143 to 148 degrees F. and should only be heated using a double boiler as it is flammable when subjected to fire and flames. It is pliable at 100 degrees F.
Beeswax is produced by the (female) worker honeybees. The wax is secreted from wax glands on the underside of the bee’s abdomen and is molded into six-sided cells which are filled with honey, then capped with more wax. When honey is harvested, the top layer of wax that covers the cells, the cappings, must be removed from each hexagon-shaped cell.
Bees use propolis ( derived from resins and essential oils from local plants and pine trees ) to “glue” together the wooden frames in their hive, and that must be scraped off so the frames can be separated. The beeswax, which contains some honey, bee parts, and other impurities, must be melted and filtered or strained.
Most beeswax is gold or yellow but can also be in shades of orange, brown, etc. The color of the wax is in most part determined by the type of plants the bees collect nectar from. Beeswax has a delightful, light fragrance of honey, flower nectar and pollen.
Beeswax makes superior, slow burning candles. Beeswax burns more beautifully than any other wax. It exudes a faint, natural fragrance of honey and pollen. When candles are made with the proper size of wicking, they are smokeless, drip-less, and burn with a bright flame.
If you wonder why beeswax is so expensive, consider this: It has been estimated that bees must fly 150,000 miles to produce one pound of wax. Bees must eat about six pounds of honey to secrete a pound of wax. For every 100 pounds of honey a beekeeper harvests, only one to two pounds of beeswax are produced.
Beeswax hand/body cream
4 oz olive oil
2 oz coconut oil
2 oz beeswax
20 drops (approximately) essential oil (optional)
Combine olive oil, coconut oil and beeswax into a pint sized canning jar. Put this jar into a saucepan and fill the saucepan with water until it comes 3/4 of the way up the canning jar, being careful not to get water into the oil mixture. Put on the stove over medium/low heat. Heat and stir occasionally until melted. Let cool to room temperature either by leaving out. During the cooling process, stir vigorously every 15 minutes or so. Once at room temperature, add in the essential oil.
One can also add a bit of Shea butter & Cocoa butter and replace the olive oil/coconut oil with almond oil or Natural oil of your choice. Also note using Shea/Cocoa butter will required whipping more air into it to keep it soft.
Moisturizing Vitamin E Cream
4 oz. sweet almond oil
1 oz. beeswax
2 oz. water
10 drops Vitamin E oil
10 drops lavender essential oil
Melt the oil and the wax in a double boiler, Remove from heat, add water, and stir thoroughly.
Add your Vitamin E, essential oil and stir continuously until cool. This cream is very moisturizing and emollient.
It is nice for rough, dry, or chapped complexions and should help promote healthy looking skin.
After you have added the essential oil and the cream is still warm enough to pour, carefully pour it into Salve Jars or Metal Tins.
Herbal Salve
Make different Herbal Salves simply by changing/mixing different essential oils!
Ingredients:
2 ounces Beeswax
3 ounces Sweet Almond Oil
1 ounce Jojoba Oil
1/2 oz. Canola oil
40 drops total essential oil of your preference
(Makes enough to fill 4 each 1 ounce salve jars or 1 ounce metal tins)
Simply heat the Sweet Almond, Canola oil and Jojoba oil in a saucepan and add Beeswax. If you want a thin consistency (such as a cream or Vaseline ) add only a little bit of Beeswax. Want it thicker like wax? Just add more Beeswax.
Allow the base to cool down to see what the consistency is like. If it’s too thick, add more Sweet Almond oil and reheat, too thin?, add more Beeswax.
Coconut Butter Body Moisturizer ( Good for wind and sunburned skin )
Ingredients
2 tablespoons beeswax
2 teaspoons distilled water
4 oz. cocoa butter
4 tablespoons sweet almond
2 tablespoons coconut oil
Melt the beeswax over low heat with the water. Spoon in cocoa butter and blend. Gradually blend in oils. Pour into glass jar.
The lotion will thicken as it cools.
Pain Relief Salve
1 tablespoon Chickweed powder
1 tablespoon Wormwood Powder
10 drops Tea Tree oil
2 pints Sweet Olive Oil
3 ounces Beeswax
Mix together chickweed, wormwood powder, add the mixed herbs to sweet olive oil and simmer 3 hours. Strain and add beeswax and Tea Tree Oil. Pour into salve containers.
Hand Cream
2 ounces beeswax
1 cup sweet almond oil
1 cup water
10 drops essential oil (if desired, for fragrance)
Heat beeswax and sweet almond oil until the wax melts. In another container, heat water until warm. Both mixtures should be warm, but not so hot as to be uncomfortable to the touch.
Place warm water in a blender. Cover the blender, leaving open the small opening in the cover. With the blender running on high speed, slowly pour in the beeswax-oil mixture in a thin stream. When most of the oil has been added, the mixture should begin to thicken.
At this point, add the essential oil. Continue to add oil and blend until the mixture is sufficiently thickened. Turn off the blender. You should have a thick cream. Spoon into salve jars or metal tins.
Body Lotion
This is a great recipe that does not spoil easily without the aid of refrigeration. It makes about 2 cups of lotion.
1 cup of aloe vera gel
1 teaspoon of lanolin 1 teaspoon of pure vitamin E oil
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/2 ounce of beeswax
3/4 cup of almond oil
Up to 1 and 1/2 teapoons of essential oil of your choice or more to prolong scent
Place aloe vera gel, lanolin and vitamin E oil in a blender or food processor. Place coconut oil and beeswax in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, microwave on high for 30 second and stir. Repeat in ten second blocks until fully melted.
Stir in almond oil, reheating if necessary. Run blender at low to medium speed, then pour in melted oils in a thin stream. As the oils is blended in the cream will turn white and the blender’s motor will begin to grind. As soon as you have a mayonaise-like consistency, stop motor, add essential oils and pulse blend. Do not over-blend Transfer cream to glass jars while still warm because it thickens quickly.
This recipe was found in the Winter 97 issue of Handcraft Illustrated Magazine. The article was written by Amy Jenner
Sweet Lavender Ointment
4 ounces sweet olive oil
3 to 4 ounces beeswax
1 ounce cocoa butter
15 drops vitamin e oil
25 drops lavender oil
Combine the sweet olive oil, beeswax, cocoa butter and heat thoroughly in the top of a double boiler. Remove from the heat. Add the vitamin e, lavender oil and beat well. Pour into salve jars and allow the mixture to cool before covering.
Basic Lotion Bar
Ingredients:
3 ounces beeswax
2 ounces cocoa butter
3 ounces sweet almond oil
Melt and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Mold into desired shape.
Rich Hand Cream
By Rosemary Gladstar in Tasha Tudor’s Heirloom Crafts
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sweet almond oil
1/3 cup coconut oil or cocoa butter
1 Teaspoon lanolin
1/2 ounce grated beeswax
Lip Gloss
2 teaspoons beeswax
2 tablespoons, sweet almond oil or coconut oil
5 drops essential oil (such as orange, lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, coconut or mint)
2 drops vitamin E capsule
(optional: to tint, up to 1/4 teaspoon lipstick)
Melt the oil and beeswax together. Remove from heat. If coloring, stir in the lipstick. When the mixture has cooled to lukewarm, stir in essential oil and the vitamin E. Transfer to a small container.
Stir occasionally while cooling. If a thicker gloss is desired, increase the amount of beeswax. (Experiment with other additions such as baking chocolate, crushed peppermint candy, cocoa butter, vanilla bean, oil of cinnamon, oil of camphor or eucalyptus for soothing chapped lips, wheat germ oil, etc.
Add oil-based ingredients to the oil phase, and water-soluble ingredients to the water phase.) This is a great way to use up leftover or too-dark lipstick.