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!
excuse me,Katie,er, could you post a lip balm recipe without beeswax,please?
You should be able to substitute carnauba wax for the beeswax. Carnauba wax is also known as Brazil wax or palm wax. It is literally palm leaf wax that is harvested by drying the palm leaves and beating the wax off of them. It is often used in beauty products, especially vegan beauty products. It’s a good wax substitute if you are allergic to beeswax.
Does you have a good recipe for face cream? I have been using Nivea for years, but after reading “The Dirty Dozen” on chemicals in our cosmetics, I am trying to go “natural”.
1. Is there a preference between the white or yellow Beeswax?
2. Do you have a specific process to clean used containers?
3. With the above recipe, how many containers will that fill?
Thank you in advance:) I love your site and I’m always on trying to find new DIY material.
I tried making the Lip Balm yesterday-and it works well,but it´s kind of grainy?I used more beeswax than the recipe says-to make it more firm,but besides from that i followed it :-/ I´ll give it another try in a couple of days:-)
Thanks for all the great recipes 🙂
I know this is an older post but some shea butters are grainy, research your brand and read reviews.
Yes, I agree with Vanessa. I read somewhere that Shea might have particles in it and you might have to melt it and strain it to keep your final product from being grainy. They recommended using a muslin cloth.
Do you have a recipe to make your own mango butter for the lip chap? Maybe like Mango and Unsalted Butter?
Mango butter is nothing like regular butter. As far as I understand, it’s extracted from the mango seed, and you can’t really make your own. Should be available on Amazon, though.
Do you reuse the containers when you need to make more? Any tips for cleaning them if you do? Also, how do you recommend storing the lip chap? Thanks!
How do you clean your dropper when you are finished with it?
Has anyone else used the Beet Powder to color? I did today and it didn’t totally dissolve so mine is part red and rest original color. Aside from that, I love how it turned out but I’d really like to have a nice red tint next round so if anyone has any advice, please let me know!
I’m late with my reply but if you want, you can infuse the oils with any herb of your choice (either for color or for the properties of the herb in question), strain the herb after a couple of hours in the stove on its lowest setting and you’ll have the color without issues.
How many lip chaps does this recipe make?!?!?
10 tubes, I think
I made it today and I have 9 but I spilled a little because I didn’t have a dropper and I think if I didn’t, it would have filled all 10.
This recipe is AMAZING thank you so much!
For those who may not have or want to use shea or cocoa butter, my shea butter had gone bad and I looked around for a substitute. I had lanolin (pure, not mixed with anything) replaced the Shea Butter with it and it feels simply wonderful! I also added an additional “part” one half of that part vitamin E and the other half split between Almond and Jojoba oil. Best chapstick I have ever had. I used to buy the organic chapstick from Whole Foods but at $2 a piece at the amount I use it was getting ridiculous, SO glad I found your website. I am going to make deodorant and possibly lotion tomorrow!! 😀
P.S. This is also nice for extra dry “spots” if you have eczema patches.
6 months later and I just ran out, and I didn’t do tablespoons as my “parts”, amazing how long this lasts. I came back for the recipe again. Before I forgot to mention I do not use any essential oils, as they irritate my lips.