Beeswax hand salve
We’ve been carefully saving all the wax from our hives, melting it in the solar wax melter and storing it in Kimberley’s office. We ended up with a stack ofcreamy white and light yellow wax discs to use in cosmetics. Last year we made lip balm, so this year we decided to be kind to our skin and make hand salve just in time for the holiday gift-giving season.
Supplies
Large double boiler (We
used a large bowl over a big saucepan of water.)
Scale
Ladle
Measuring cup
Salve containers (we used
2 oz. metal tins from Mountain Rose Herbs)
Basic recipe
We measured all
ingredients by weight, not volume. We had plenty of beeswax; all the other oils came from Mountain Rose Herbs.
30% Coconut oil
25% Cocoa butter
20% Beeswax
25% Avocado oil and Vitamin
E oil (we measured these together to make up 25% total)
We suggest you make a small batch first and adjust the recipe to your liking. More beeswax and cocoa butter will make a stiffer salve. Less will make a more easily spread salve that some in our office described as greasy.
Directions
1. We filled the saucepan about one third full of water and placed the large bowl on top. The bowl doesn’t need to be directly in the water. We brought the water to a boil while we measured the ingredients.
2. We weighed the measuring cup and used that weight to zero out the scale, and measured all our ingredients.
3. We reduced the boiling water to a simmer and began adding the ingredients. Since the beeswax has the highest melting temperature and so takes the longest to melt, we put that in first. (If we had broken it into smaller pieces it would have melted faster). While the wax was melting, we set out the tins for filling.
4. With a ladle we filled a glass measuring cup with the melted wax and oil mixture.
5. We poured the mixture into the tins, and waited for it to cool and harden before putting on the lids.
It took about an hour to measure the wax and oils, melt everything together, and pour the wax. In our warm test kitchen, it took another half hour for the salve to cool and solidify completely.
Make and apply labels, if you choose, and you’re done!
As requested, a photo of our finished (and cooled) product.
People are allergic to lots of things. We chose not to use sweet almond oil because some of us are allergic to nuts and nut products. Vitamin E oil seemed like the next best choice, and research indicated that it helps prevent the oils from going rancid.
A lot of people are flamingly allergic to vitamin E oil. There was some deodorant on the market for awhile with Vitamin E in it that had to be recalled.
I got my tins from Mountain Rose Herbs yesterday and made a small batch. Did not have avacado oil or vitamin e oil, so I used Olive Oil plus Sweet Almond Oil (for a total of 25%) instead, plus a drop of fragrance. It came out great! Thanks for your good directions.
I am impressed with the amazing things that we could do with honey itself before i came across this website i merely thought honey is just for food but this site prove me wrong.
Looks fabulous! You’ve inspired me to try and make some. Thanks.
That looks amazing! Oh I wish I could get my hands on some of that.
Thanks, Jengod!
We think it’s beautiful, and quite useful, too.
You’ll notice a slight spotting in the cooled product. Our guess is that it cooled unevenly. Any other guesses?
BEAUTIFUL! You have the most amazing graphic designers. (P.S. What does it look like when it cools down?)