Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating natural lip balm

  • natural lip balm

    Posted by cossci21 on February 23, 2015 at 3:09 am

    Hello
    I have made a natural lip balm that includes castor oil and beeswax and peppermint oil. Nice and simple.
    Have found that with heat it melts to a very liquidy mess. Is there anything to use to give it a higher heat stability? other waxes?
    Have also found that it melts and doesnt re solidify as well as originally would the peppermint oil be playing a role in this.
    Thanks

    bortopa replied 8 years, 11 months ago 9 Members · 18 Replies
  • 18 Replies
  • galina

    Member
    February 23, 2015 at 3:29 am

    You may need to include wax with higher melting point. May be Candelilla or Carnauba. Also inclusion of butters like Cocoa, Shea, Mango and the like may help with consistency. Good luck!

  • cossci21

    Member
    February 23, 2015 at 11:27 pm

    Thanks Galina

  • oldperry

    Member
    February 24, 2015 at 1:27 am

    I agree with @galina.  You need a higher melting point wax to get better heat stability.  You could also reduce the level of peppermint oil.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    February 24, 2015 at 6:53 pm

    Try Koster Keunen for waxes, they have a good selection

  • cossci21

    Member
    April 9, 2015 at 2:51 am

    Thanks perry and bobzchemist. Have used candelilla wax so far and it has helped however now  the customer thinks it is too shiny. Never ending fun!

  • oldperry

    Member
    April 9, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    Ha!  The life of a formulator.

  • chemist77

    Member
    April 9, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    If I remember our old lipstick formulas we used to incorporate carnuaba to give a little matte effect to the so shiny look of the stick and it worked. You can try that by using an optimized mixture of these waxes. 

  • heraklit

    Member
    April 9, 2015 at 5:05 pm

    Speaking about natural lip balms, my sister informed me that after she used my balm (olive oil, beeswax, chamomile extract, tocopherol) her lips swelled. She had suffered this also before with a balm from a large company. I searched google and found that this is something well known. It’s from beeswax - maybe the propolis, or ingredients from flowers like linalool?. But EU regulation don’t list beeswax as an allergen: http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consumer_safety/docs/sccs_o_102.pdf

  • MichelleReece

    Member
    April 10, 2015 at 4:35 am

    Yes, @heraklit, propolis is a potential allergen. Estimations of contact sensitivity based on studies range from 1.2 to 6.6%. Chamomile and its derivatives can also cause allergies, though it’s usually the whole extract, as there are numerous chemicals within those extracts.

  • heraklit

    Member
    April 10, 2015 at 7:30 am

    Chamomile ess. oil doesn’t have any known allergen. I used a CO2 extract at very low amount. I haven’t see anything so far about allergies from chamomile extracts.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    April 10, 2015 at 11:15 am

    @heraklit, aside from water, EVERYTHING is a known allergen, to someone somewhere.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    April 10, 2015 at 11:25 am

    This is precisely why they make us list every ingredient on our ingredient labels, not just the ones that might be allergens - they all might be. We try to avoid the ones really large sections of the population are commonly allergic to, but that’s the best we can do and still be able to make products.

  • heraklit

    Member
    April 10, 2015 at 12:53 pm

    Now my sister (age 49) learned that she is sensitive to beeswax or propolis!
    Thats why EU authorities thinking to add about 200 more substances as allergens, that must be listed on our labels!

  • oldperry

    Member
    April 10, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    Actually @Bobzchemist, even water can be an allergen.  Or at least cause a skin reaction.

  • bortopa

    Member
    April 11, 2015 at 1:16 am

    So far my lips swell with beeswax and candelilla wax, never tried carnauba wax, so I tried to order sunflower wax from koster keunen waxes but they won’t sell in smaller batches, hard to find products??

  • MichelleReece

    Member
    April 12, 2015 at 7:58 am

    @Bobzchemist, @Perry, @ heraklit

    Even worse, there might be impurities in the product, such as metals, that cause irritant or allergic reactions.

    @bortopa

    It’s a good idea to get patch-tested by a dermatologist or allergist, just in case. It’s definitely possible you’ll be allergic to or cross-react with carnuaba wax. Plant-based products tend to do that.

    Microcrystalline and okozerite waxes are good substitutes, and they’re technically “natural” (well, they are minerals),

  • beautynerd

    Member
    April 12, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    @bortopa If it’s just for testing purposes and you can stand the markup… The Herbarie has a good selection of waxes in small quantities including Sunflower Wax.

  • bortopa

    Member
    April 13, 2015 at 1:07 am

    Thanks MichelleReece & EliseCortes

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