I started making my own DIY lip balm years ago after my favorite healthy brand of chapstick added soy and canola oil. Yuck! This natural lip balm recipe is easy to make with just a few ingredients. Plus it’s moisturizing to help fight dry lips all year long.
DIY Lip Balm Recipe
Making your own lip balm at home is simple and a lot less than buying organic brands at the store. These also make a great gift item, stocking stuffer, or safe play makeup for kids. I keep a lot on hand when doula-ing to give to laboring moms as hospital air can really dry out skin and lips.
And lip balm uses all-natural ingredients that can also be used to make dozens of other natural skin and body care recipes. You can find coconut oil, beeswax, and cocoa butter in my other DIY projects like lotion and body butter.
Buying Organic Lip Balm
Too short on time or don’t feel like making your own? Here’s where to get healthy, natural lip balm!
How to Make Lip Balm
Since lip products are applied right next to the mouth and nose, it’s important to me that they have safe, natural ingredients. Especially if my kids are using them! While I used coconut oil, there are a lot of different carrier oil options. Coconut oil is solid at cooler temperatures so it creates a firmer lip balm. It also has some mild SPF properties.
If you want something a little softer you can use less beeswax, or sub up to half of the coconut oil with another liquid oil. Using just liquid oil will make for a softer lip balm though. Here are a few lip nourishing options:
Castor oil leaves a nice shine on the lips and is a popular ingredient in homemade lip gloss recipes. It won’t replace the coconut oil 1 to 1 in this recipe. But you can replace about 1 teaspoon of the coconut oil for a shinier look and smooth feel.
Essential Oils for Lip Balm
Aromatherapy is big these days, but not all of the products on store shelves use real essential oils. While kids (and some adults) may love the smell, strawberry bubble gum-scented lip balm isn’t exactly natural. But not every essential oil is safe to use on the lips either.
Certain oils, like cinnamon bark and lemongrass, can be really irritating. Especially on more sensitive areas like the lips. Many essential oils can be safe on the lips up to 5% dilution, which is about 60 drops here. However, I prefer to use much less than that.
Here are a few lip safe options:
- Peppermint essential oil
- Sweet orange
- Grapefruit
- Eucalyptus
- Tangerine
- Lemon (1% or 13 drops maximum)
There are a few that smell really yummy that didn’t make the list. Lime, bergamot and a few other oils can cause photosensitivity if too much is used before sun exposure. Translation: think swelling, redness, and lip damage.
Something like lemon is safe to use at a 1% dilution max, but going over safe levels can cause sun damage. You may still not want to use lemon lip balm and then go sunbathing for an hour though.
For the most part, though, you can mix and match any lip-safe essential oil to your preference.
Choosing a Container
I usually use these lip balm tubes for easy application but repurposed little jars or tins work really well too. I had a bunch of tiny sample-size jam jars that were in our room at a hotel one time and they are perfect for this as well.
A Note on Wax
I typically use beeswax pastilles when making lip balm. It helps harden the lip balm and provides a protective coating on the lips. For various reasons, some people prefer to make a vegan lip balm and candelilla wax works as a sub. It’s harder than beeswax though so less is needed.
If you haven’t made your own beauty products before, I’d encourage you to try it! The basic recipe is below, but have fun experimenting with the oils and flavors to get the scent and flavor you like. Mint is my favorite, especially in the winter!
Homemade Lip Balm Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP beeswax pellets
- 2 TBSP cocoa butter (Shea butter or mango butter will also work)
- 2 TBSP coconut oil
- 20 drops essential oil of choice (adjust amount to preference)
- 13 drops vitamin E oil (optional)
Instructions
- Add about an inch of water to the bottom of a small pan and heat over medium heat.
- Place a small heat-safe jar (pint size or smaller) in the water, being careful not to get any water inside the jar. You can also use a double boiler or a glass bowl perched on top of a small pot of water if preferred.
- Add the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and tablespoon of beeswax to the jar and slowly melt, stirring occasionally. Make sure not to get any water in the jar.
- When all the ingredients are melted, stir well and turn off the heat, but leave jar in the water to keep warm.
- Stir in the essential oils.
- Use a glass dropper to quickly fill the lip balm containers, like tubes or lip balm tins.
- The mixture will settle slightly as it cools, so I top off the containers after about 2 minutes as they start to harden.
- Let sit without touching for several hours or until completely hardened.
Notes
- Shelf life and storage: Keep in a cool, dry place for up to a year. The optional vitamin E oil helps extend the shelf life even further.
- This will make a medium firm lip balm. If you prefer a firmer version, you can add more beeswax, up to double the recommended amount. If you prefer a smoother and more oily lip chap, you can reduce the amount of beeswax.
More DIY Lip Recipes
Want to branch out and try more DIY skincare recipes? Here are some more I’ve created over the years:
- Sugar cookie lip scrub (with vanilla extract)
- Healing lip salve
- Tinted lip balm
- Homemade lipstick
- Shimmer lip balm
- Mint chocolate lip scrub
- Lip balm locket
Do you make any of your own lip balm? What recipes would you like to try? Share below!
Thank you for the great recipes. Do you think that almond oil could be used in place of the coconut oil for the lip chap? I have a mild allergy to coconut, and wondered what would make a good substitution to try your recipes out?
Yes, but you’d only need about half as much since it is a liquid oil…
I want to make a lip balm stick that also has some sun protection to it. What changes to this recipe would you recommend? I would also like to add beetroot powder to it so I can use it as lipstick. Will that work?
When making thing like this or the lotion bars do you melt the coconut oil first or measure it out hardened from the jar?
You don’t have to melt it to measure it. I usually use a spoon to scoop it from the jar and into a measuring cup.
love this stuff. butbut my daughterwanted make it for her classroom,an y idea if a kid with a bee allergy can use beeswax? or should i stick to some other wax?
I”d stick with another just to be safe…
I have a bee allergy and cannot use bee by-product such as beeswax or bee pollen (causes blisters, rash, and swelling in area of use)
Nope. Not safe.
I have a coworker whose lips developed a red ring after using some of my lip balm. She said earlier that a lotion bar had irritated her skin. I said it was an allergic reaction. She replied she had no allergies. I did not know at the time that she is allergic to bees and wasps. Good thing to know for next time.
Can I use Carnauba Wax instead of Beeswax? Hubby is deathly allergic to honey (Which seriously sucks), so I do not want to take any chances
I haven’t tried but the info I”ve seen shoes that it substitutes well…
Excellent, thanks
Does it work
Can you add zinc oxide for sun protection? If so, how much?
Yes, interested in making one with sunscreen too. Would adding essential oils that have a natural sunblock work? Carrotseed has natural spf, correct?
Can I use flavor oil in these to make them fun for my daughter? I haven’t done any research on them so I wasn’t sure if they were safe to use or if you only recommend using essential oils.
there is another recipe that calls for Cool-Aid
i was going to make this recipe and add some flavor oil instead of essential oil, im sure its fine. theres two companys i know of that sell good flavor oils, newdirectionsaromatics.ca and saffireblue.ca. i bought chai flavor oil, and strawberry flavor oil they are both really nice in lip balms and lip glosses 🙂
I have beeswax pellets, cocoa butter disks and solid shea butter from mountain rose. How can I measure the ingredients considering I dont have a scale? Do you recommend grating the cocoa disks?
If I remember correctly, 2 disks makes a tablespoon…
I know this question was asked over 2 years ago, but since I JUST had this exact same question a few days ago, I emailed Mountain Rose Herbs and asked them, since I needed to know for my own recipes. They responded right away (nice customer service!) and here is their answer:
“Each of our cocoa butter wafers contains more or less a teaspoonful of cocoa butter. (So about 3 would make a tablespoonful.) This is not exact because the wafers differ in size slightly; they range between about 1/2” – 3/4” in diameter.”
I cut mine up in an almost shaving form. I make whipped body butter constantly and this method works well for measuring. this is my first attempt at lip chap so wish me luck?
I make my own lip balm – my favourite at the moment (here in the Australian summer!) is beeswax, sweet almond oil, cocoa butter with some grapefruit and lavender essentail oils 🙂
Hi,
can you please give me the recipe for your lip balm?
if you can’t find beeswax, up the cocoa butter: it melts at right around body temperature, which makes it right around perfect for lips in my book. cocoa butter smells better than beeswax, too!
I did once and it smells great. Unfortunatelly it does not stay on your lips as long as beeswax.
Is there something we canput in place of the beeswax? My daughter is allergic to it.
You can always use Candelilla wax, Canuba wax, or Soybean wax 🙂
I love that you call it “lip chap.” That is what i called it growing up but then people began making fun of me saying that it’s chapstick. I forgot I even used to call it that so I’m glad i wasn’t the only one. My in-laws now make fun of me for saying “cupboard” instead of cabinet. Maybe I’m just an easy target?!?! LOL
I grew up with those two terms– “lip chap” and “cupboard”–as well, and was also ridiculed! That’s very funny. 🙂
Awww, I have never heard Lip Chap before, but it makes sense. I mean we say Lip Balm and Chapstick is just a brand really. I think that since it is in a tube it’s like “Lip Chap-Stick form”. 🙂 I use Cupboard though, for me Cupboards are where dishes go or under sinks. And cabinets are like armoires, but I rarely if ever use cabinet. If makes me feel like I am talking about politics. lol.
Wow, the memory of getting made fun of in high school for saying lip chap just hit me out of the foggy past when I read your comment. Glad to be in good company 😛
My friend calls shopping carts “buggys”, now THAT’S weird. It’s gotta be a regional thing or something, so many of those weird little things are.