Since everyone can't win the goodies (I wish you could I would love to just give you all some!) the next best thing is for me to tell you how to make them right!
Okay let's talk lip balm! First, in order to have the healing power of herbs in your lip balm, you need to infuse the herbs into the oil you will be use to make the lip balm. I really like to use almond oil for lip balm because it is smoother and not as greasy as olive oil or some others would be.
For a long time I used a natural lip balm that was on the market that was wonderful and I gladly paid over 3 bucks a tube for it cause it was such a great lip balm. But sadly, like so many things, the company sold out to a much larger company and now you can get it cheaper but of course the ingredients are also cheaper and it isn't as good of a lip balm as it used to be.
After that I knew if I always wanted guaranteed good ingredient lip balm I was going to have to learn to make my own. So the first thing I did was bought out the health food store of the original formula, I had to buy me some time you know! ;) Then I started trying to figure out how to make my own. So I started searching and I tried a few formulas. The first one I tried to put some honey in it thinking that would be cool. It was pretty was uhhh.....pretty cool I had some tubes that were mostly honey with a little lip balm and some tubes without any honey. I guess I didn't mix the honey in well enough. The kids though it was great though and were happy to take the tubes full of honey off my hands. The next few batches were not quite the right consistency too soft or too greasy. I had bought some herbal infused oil but it was a olive oil base and I didn't think it made for a very good lip balm.
I would give my trials away to friends and family telling them it was a work in progress but I knew I couldn't use up all those lip balms. I mean even a small batch would make up at least a dozen tubes. (See how much money you will save learning to do this!) Anyway I had some pretty good responses from friends and family saying they really like the lip balm and that it was some of the best they had tried. So I at least knew I was on the right track.
Then a while later I noticed that there was a local lip balm, fizzy bath bomb and lotion making class so I signed me and my hubby up and on our date night we went (I have the coolest husband he was happy to go and I promise he was the ONLY guy there! I sure love him!) While there I learned how to infuse herbs into oil and correct proportions for a good consistency lip balm! So now I have what I think is a excellent recipe for lip balm! But this post is to teach you how to infuse the herbs into the oil! It's really not hard and really ups the healing power of your lip balm!
To Make Herbal Infused Oils:
 | First you need to decide what herbs you want infused into the oil. My top two favorites are Comfrey and Calendula, both very healing and soothing to the skin. | |
| Next you need to Choose the oil you want to use to infuse your herbs in. Again Almond is my favorite for lip balm. | |
| Now put the herbs and the oil in a glass jar with a lid. Making sure to completely cover the herbs with the oil, put the lid on and either place in a sunny window, shaking often, for 3 days to a week or set the jar in a crock pot of water on low for 3-6 hours. | |
| Next you will just want to strain off the herbs. A cotton cloth works best for this. I put a strainer over a bowl, put the cheese cloth in the strainer and then pour the infusion in. Then I squeeze the cheese cloth to get all the oil out of the herbs. | |
There you have it now you know how to infuse herbs into oil. This method works for lots of things. Like if you wanted to make an herbal salve in a olive oil base or things like that! But we are now ready to use this oil to make lip balm! So join me tomorrow and I will share my recipe with you!
6 comments:
I have been using infused oils straight for my daughter's eczema and mixing the different kinds together. I infused them in my dehydrator at 105 degrees-- it seemed to work. I'm looking forward to your recipe on lip balm. Thanks!
Amber: I have heard that works good. How long do you keep it in your dehydrator?
I recently made a batch of lipbalm using coconut oil, honey, beeswax and peppermint essential oil. It is decent but next time would like to try a combination of oils. I have an almond allergy and wonder what oil you'd recommend if almond oil isn't a possibility?
Kika
Kika: You could try Apricot Kernel Oil, Avocado Oil, Evening Primrose Seed Oil or Grapeseed Oil. The Apricot Kernel is a lot like an almond so you may have issues with that too. Pretty much any healthy liquid oil will work even olive oil but it will be more greasy like lip gloss the lower fat in almonds makes it not so greasy. You could just try coconut oil to but probably will need a little less beeswax in the final product because coconut oil is hard at room temperature.
Hi Tammie - great post! This is exactly what I've been looking for. Can you tell me the herb to oil ratio you use when heating the infused oil?
Jenn: It just depends on how much oil you want to end up with. When I did mine I just used about 2 Tablespoons of the dried herb and just covered it with the oil. So about 3-4 Tablespoons oil. Again just be sure the herbs are covered.
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