Healing Lip Balm

I have been a huge fan of lip balm for as long as I can remember.  You could say I have a *slight* addiction.  I favored the same name brand lip balm for more than 15 years.  Nothing else I found worked quite as well to heal and soothe split, chapped lips.  Some of their ingredients were good - beeswax and lanolin, while others were not so good - like paraffin and cetyl esters (synthetic wax).  I wanted something natural.

I've made a few different lip balms over the years, most focusing on preventing damage than on healing.  They've included ingredients like beeswax, coconut oil, almond oil, olive oil, lanolin, and shea butter.  Before I went all natural, I even tried some petroleum-based recipes with terrible results.  Getting the ratios just right is always the hard part.  Too much coconut oil and it dries my lips out.  Not enough beeswax and the final product is too soft.  And shea butter can have a bit of a grainy texture.  Plus, not all essential oils should be used on the lips, and I don't like a lot of tastes/smells in my lip balm anyway.

The weather here in middle Tennessee has been extremely cold and extremely dry lately, and my lips needed a little something more than what I had been using - a combo of beeswax, and olive, almond, and coconut oils.  I decided to keep the same basic ingredients and add in some shea butter and lanolin.  My first impression was that this was the lip balm of all lip balms, so I made a full container of it!  Unfortunately, after using it obsessively for 24 hours, I noticed my lips were starting to peel, even while the cracking seemed to be improving.  Well, back to the kitchen again.

This time, I left out the almond and coconut oils (all of it!) and tried again with a much smaller batch.  It took a couple tries to get the ratios just right, but I finally found a combo I liked. I've used it daily for 11 days, now, and I still like it!  Unscented, it smells like shea butter - not my favorite, especially for something going right under my nose!  So I added some peppermint essential oils to give it a very mild scent and maybe a bit of a cooling sensation. 

The results:

This one is a definite keeper.  It goes on smooth, with just a touch of sheen, and repaired my peeling lips (literally) overnight.  Although I rarely use lipstick, I tried this under some and thought it made a nice base for the color.  I didn't notice the color drying my lips out like it does when using color alone.  All in all, I think this might be my new favorite product to use! You can purchase it here.

My kids love it, too.  This is the first lip balm my toddlers will actually let me put on them without rubbing it off and my 8 and 10 year olds have requested a gloss next, so be on the lookout for that!

Are you addicted like me? Tell me why you're obsessed with lip balm in the comments!

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