lip balm question

[mlewis48]

We got a kit to try out and followed directions adn made a few tins. Everything went well and the balm is good. My question is, what can I do to make the lip balm a little softer? After it set up in the tins it is hard which makes it hard to get out and use. Any advice would be great.
Thanks,
Marc

[RayMarler]

I've never made lip balm myself, but I've read it takes coconut oil or other oil as an ingredient, I bet if you increased the amount of oil it would come out softer, but maybe someone with experience can guide you more.

[Cyndi]

Ray is right, add more oil next time and/or decrease beeswax. I use almond oil in my lip balm. Coconut is thicker than almond oil and IMO, works best with lip balm using beeswax. It's easier to adjust. It also depends upon the weather. In summer months I use more beeswax and visa versa for winter. I found these 2 recipes floating around beesource...I personally use Chef's recipe with a couple of slight alterations to make it "my" authentic recipe.

Here is what i make - (not sure who posted this one, but it was a beesource member)

1 Cup of oil it can be about any kind I have used Almond and olive

1oz of beeswax

1 Vitamin E tablet

Melt on low heat and add flavor if you want. We use a syringe to fill the tubes or tins. It came out nice and creamy and people love the stuff. This will make about 50 tubes


Here is Chef’s recipe:

1 oz. pure, Filtered Beeswax
1/2 cup Sweet Almond Oil (sometimes I will use salad oil if I do not have enough almond oil)
1/2 teaspoon Vitamin E Oil
1/4 teaspoon Aloe Vera Oil
1 tsp teaspoon Peppermint Essential Oil

[HVH]

I think you can get a rough feel for how to adjust your recipe by noticing what the texture of all the ingredients are individually. We use several oils and fats along with beeswax where the addition of the hardest oils/fats/wax (saturated) will firm up the product while the most liquid (unsaturated) oils will make the product soft. So any recipe can be modified by observing the individual textures/melting points of each constituent. Adding less wax, though, is a good place to start if you want a more malleable product.

[berkshire bee]

I posted a small batch recipe in this forum that will make around 6-7 tubes if that helps

[rickh]

Where is the best place to get tins and tubes?

[berkshire bee]

if you are making small quantities,like a few dozen, check out your regular bee equipment supplier. They usually carry them.

[Cyndi]

Brushy Mountain is a nice supplier for lip balm tubes...not sure about the containers. I find that most people would rather have the tubes. They always mention to me that they don't like to put their fingers in the containers.....I suppose they think they are contaminating it or something...oh well.

[LusciousHoney]

I usually buy mine here...
http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com...Name=Lip+Tubes
Last time I bought them, they had them in their surplus section and I was able to buy them for about 7 cents a piece.
Petra

[Bee Man]

We carry a great variety of tubes and cap colors:
http://www.ebeehoney.com/lip_balm_tubes.html

Glenn

[GaSteve]

I too have found that customers much prefer the tubes to the tins. They're less messy and people are more familiar with them.

I can vouch for the tubes at ebeehoney.com. They have a great selection of colors and you can mix and match tube and cap colors. They had the best price for the quantity I needed. Shipment was very quick too.

If you make any quantities at all, you need to get one of these. It saves a ton of time filling tubes.

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com...p?number=424FT

[Jeff McGuire]

I use SKS Bottle for my tubes and they sell a Tray setup for making 50 tubes at a time http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin77c.html well worth it only $15.50