# A couple Lip Balm Questions



## DisneyMom (Feb 5, 2019)

Hi everyone! *waves*

My daughter and I have the worst winter chapped lips right now (owww!), so we decided lip balm would be our newest project.  My daughter is also going to give some out to her friends for Valentine's Day, so we decided to do a few different "flavors." We purchased and received our Lip Balm Base from Brambleberry and our Flavor Oils (forgot the name of the place). We gave it a go and...eh. Didn't turn out the best. Not only do I think we didn't add enough flavor oil, but mainly it was the process that gave us a difficult time. We want to give it another go round, and I thought I'd ask for some advice this time.

I bought 4 0z of the Lip Balm Base, and we wanted to make four different "flavor" batches. I separated out the balm base equally into four little glass bowls I have. Then working with one batch at a time, we melted the base in the microwave. I waited for the base to cool to a safe point to add the flavor oils, but by then, because it was such a small amount of base, it was already hardening up. I melted it again and just added in the flavor oils faster this time, but I do feel like some of the scent burnt off. After mixing in the flavor oil, we began to pip it into the lipstick tubes, but again, it had hardened up enough that it was too thick to get out of the pipette. So back to the microwave. I basically had to microwave each batch like five times before I was able to get the tubes filled up. Now, we can hardly smell any of the scent!

I guess my question is, has anyone made lip balm in really small batches? What do you do when you just want to make a few for friends, or you're trying out new flavor oils? Is there some brilliant way of making small batches that keep the mixture melted through the process? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated! 
Thank you!
-Stacie


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## IrishLass (Feb 5, 2019)

Hi Stacie! I make very small batches of lip balm all the time (sometimes as little as 1 balm at a time), and I have a method which works great for me. I've spelled out what I do in this post here:

*https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/lip-balm-process.61820/#post-622779*


IrishLass


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## SideDoorSoaps (Feb 5, 2019)

I melt mine in a Pyrex and it hold the heat pretty well so that I can pour my tubes. I don’t usually pour more than 10 tubes at a time and if things harden up too fast, I’ll blast my mix with my heat gun to get things melty again.


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## MGM (Feb 5, 2019)

I melt mine in a water bath in a jam jar and use a pipette to transfer from jar to tube. I've never used a lip balm base, just make my own from butters and oils, and I have to say that for chapped lips, you could also be  dealing with a sensitivity. I've found very few lip balms I can use (ok, there are exactly 2) which is why I make my own, avoiding coconut oil. I also am sensitive to pretty much all lip flavour oils. I put peppermint EO in almost all my balms and find it very soothing. Just a few minutes ago, I picked up a mystery tube (I have made over 300 lip balms and the ones I keep for myself I don't always label, so I have a LOT of mystery balms) and it was a coriander one! Nice surprise! If you would like recipes or suggestions, let me know. I have many variations of oils and butters, as well as EOs. One of my faves is Lemon Gin


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## DisneyMom (Feb 5, 2019)

These are such great suggestions! Thanks to you both!

IrishLass, I just bought those poaching things and can’t wait to try them out using the steps you outline in your other post. What awesome, detailed instructions! I’ll let you know how it goes for me.  IL, may I ask what micro scale you have? Mine only goes to .1 gram, and it drives me nuts. We make things in small batches since we are just hobbyists, so a smaller scale would be fab! 

SideDoorSoaps, that’s quite a brilliant idea to gently reheat with my heat gun verses having to use the microwave! I’m going to make sure I have my heat gun handy when I give this a go again after we get our new poaching dishes. 

Thank you, both!


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## SideDoorSoaps (Feb 5, 2019)

MGM said:


> Just a few minutes ago, I picked up a mystery tube (I have made over 300 lip balms and the ones I keep for myself I don't always label, so I have a LOT of mystery balms) and it was a coriander one! Nice surprise!


Lol I do the same thing! I have so many mystery balms in my purses and aprons that I love to see which one I keep where!


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## atiz (Feb 5, 2019)

DisneyMom said:


> IL, may I ask what micro scale you have? Mine only goes to .1 gram, and it drives me nuts. We make things in small batches since we are just hobbyists, so a smaller scale would be fab!



I have only made lip balm once so far, but one reason I really liked it is that you can just play around with it: melt the oils/butters, let it harden, if you don't like the consistency, remelt, add some more butter....
In other words, this might be a very unscientific approach, but I would not worry extremely much about measuring things in .01 grams. I think in case of lip balm, even volume works (that's how I measured it; 1 tsp of beeswax, etc....). There is no safety risk here as with lye; in the worst case, you get a too soft lip balm that you can fix.


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## IrishLass (Feb 6, 2019)

DisneyMom said:


> IL, may I ask what micro scale you have? Mine only goes to .1 gram, and it drives me nuts. We make things in small batches since we are just hobbyists, so a smaller scale would be fab!



I have the *Jennings JSR-200*, which weighs as low as .01 grams/.001 oz. and as high as 200g/7 oz. I really love it!


IrishLass


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## SoaperForLife (Feb 6, 2019)

DisneyMom said:


> Is there some brilliant way of making small batches that keep the mixture melted through the process?


If you have a fondue pot and a couple of glass pyrex measuring cups.... add water to the fondue pot and set your pyrex cups in it with the amount of base you want to use.  Turn the fondue pot on and you'll soon be in business.


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## DisneyMom (Feb 6, 2019)

Thank you to everyone who has offered up advice! I really appreciate it, and it's been so helpful. I'll let you know how much next batch goes! *crossing fingers*


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## MGM (Feb 6, 2019)

And here's a pro tip from me.... I only recently learned that you had to temper shea butter (and cocoa maybe? who knows?) lest it go grainy, so I have a number of grainy lip balms....no I don't! Those are *lip scrubs*---that you don't have to wash off! Exfoliating and moisturizing all in one step!


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## earlene (Feb 7, 2019)

I don't quite understand why someone would want to exfoliate their lips.  I know people do buy lip scrubs, but my lips have got along fine without lip scrubs for nigh on to 70 years and I just don't get why I would ever want to invite chapping to the tender skin of my lips.


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## shunt2011 (Feb 7, 2019)

I make, sell and use lip scrub. My lips get really dry and peel sometimes.  The scrub gently exfoliates the dead skin and because it’s in a nice base it soothes and moistens the skin as well.  I’m a mouth breather because of nasal issues.  In the winter they get cracked.  Keeping balm on them and gently scrubbing with sugar makes them so much better.  The older I get the drier everything seems to get.  

I actually got a lovely lip scrub in a swap here a couple years ago. That’s when I started working on my own.


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## dixiedragon (Feb 7, 2019)

I also recommend a glass measuring cup. It will help hold the heat. Also it has a handle. The cup can be too hot, so sometimes I wear an oven glove to pour. 

Get a lip balm filling tray. If you can't find one, rubberband 4-5 tubes together so they will stand up. (but the tray is miles easier.)

Put the tray on a sheet of wax paper. That way when (not if lol), you spill, it's not all over the counter. You can just scrape up your drops and re-melt. 

Add flavor. Stir. I prefer a bamboo skewer so I can throw it away. Or use a butter knife (easier to wipe off the wax than a spoon.)


JUST saw this on Hobby Lobby's website! So excited for a small tray!
https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-H...GERYxgILmvMK6yi-GthVQhHXOEWsGBnhoCW3IQAvD_BwE


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## MGM (Feb 7, 2019)

earlene said:


> I don't quite understand why someone would want to exfoliate their lips.  I know people do buy lip scrubs, but my lips have got along fine without lip scrubs for nigh on to 70 years and I just don't get why I would ever want to invite chapping to the tender skin of my lips.


I hear you, @earlene . But then, I also don't understand the appeal of a Brazilian wax....


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## SoaperForLife (Feb 8, 2019)

earlene said:


> I don't quite understand why someone would want to exfoliate their lips. I know people do buy lip scrubs, but my lips have got along fine without lip scrubs for nigh on to 70 years and I just don't get why I would ever want to invite chapping to the tender skin of my lips.


Ya just gotta try it.... it will actually make your lips feel really nice Earlene.  I use my lip balm base with sugar and a flavor oil and it works great.


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## Clarice (Feb 8, 2019)

I just found this re tempering Cocoa Butter - do you follow a similar method for shea @MGM?  

Cocoa butter has a wonderful tendency to melt at just about skin temperature, which makes it a great addition to lotion bars. Its high content of stearic acid keeps it very solid at room temperature and allows recipes in which it is an ingredient to be firmer and more heat resistant. 

Because the stearic acid content of the cocoa butter is high, products made using cocoa butter can develop cocoa butter “beads” if the cocoa butter isn’t tempered to break up excessive crystallization. Tempering is simple to do: heat the cocoa butter slowly in the top of a double boiler, or in a Pyrex container sitting in a pot of water. (Do not use a microwave, as this will not be an effective method of breaking up the crystallization.) As the cocoa butter continues to melt, raise the temperature slowly, over the course of about 45 minutes, until the butter is fully melted. Then immediately stir the cocoa butter up very thoroughly (to break up the crystallization) and cool the cocoa butter as quickly as possible to prevent crystals from re-forming. 

It might be helpful to pour the cocoa butter into the cavities of ice cube trays which you then place in the refrigerator for rapid cooling. Once they are hardened, you can pop them out of the ice cube tray and just store them in plastic bags until you are ready to use them. Please just take care to store them in a cool, dark place, so that they don’t melt and recrystallize. If they do melt and recrystallize (which you can easily identify if they lose their ice cube shape!), please just repeat the tempering process to break up the crystallization.


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## Susie (Feb 8, 2019)

earlene said:


> I don't quite understand why someone would want to exfoliate their lips.  I know people do buy lip scrubs, but my lips have got along fine without lip scrubs for nigh on to 70 years and I just don't get why I would ever want to invite chapping to the tender skin of my lips.



I get layers of dead skin on my lips.  I don't remember if this was why I started using lip balm all those years ago, or if it is a result of using lip balm all those years.  Nevertheless, I use only a dry finger to rub them, usually once a day, to remove all that dead skin.


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## Clarice (Feb 8, 2019)

Susie said:


> Nevertheless, I use only a dry finger to rub them, usually once a day, to remove all that dead skin.



MeToo!  And sometimes my toothbrush when I am done brushing my teeth!  The idea of buying a lip scrub cracks me up 

AND I must admit that I am notoriously cheap about somethings and crazily extravagent on others!


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## SaltedFig (Feb 8, 2019)

Clarice said:


> I just found this re tempering Cocoa Butter - do you follow a similar method for shea @MGM?
> 
> Cocoa butter has a wonderful tendency to melt at just about skin temperature, which makes it a great addition to lotion bars. Its high content of stearic acid keeps it very solid at room temperature and allows recipes in which it is an ingredient to be firmer and more heat resistant.
> 
> ...



I read that recently too - it's in a Camden-Grey facebook cocoa-butter post from 2014, but the text has appeared somewhere else recently - where are you quoting it from @Clarice?

The grains from cocoa butter aren't exfoliating, in my experience (they just melt again in use ) - my favourite balm spends some of it's time in molten form in Summer here - @MGM if you put your balm in the refrigerator when it's molten, that can cool it quick enough that it doesn't get time to form the grainy texture .


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## Clarice (Feb 8, 2019)

That is where I found it - i am not on FB, but was able to see that when i googled "temper CB" - sorry - will remember to put citations in future!  note to self!


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## DisneyMom (Feb 8, 2019)

SO many awesome tips here! Thanks so much, everyone, for chiming it. 

MGM, may I ask how you temper? I love me some lip scrub, but...not in my lip balm. lol

DixieDragon--I made a HUGE mess pouring my tubes the other day. Why I didn't think to put wax paper underneath is beyond me, but this is brilliant. THANK YOU!

And, I have another question for you all. This one is about combining Flavor Oils. When I want to combine two different flavor oils, and I'm looking at the usage rates for each (let's say the low usage rate for each is 1%), do I add 1% of each, or do I add .5 of each to total a flavor oil total usage rate of 1%? Does that make sense what I'm asking?


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## dixiedragon (Feb 8, 2019)

Also, if you are having irritated lips, I'd leave out the flavor in one batch. If you use prime pressed cocoa butter and yellow beeswax (sweet smelling), you will have a very nice mild chocolate scent.

Where are you getting your flavors? 

When determining usage rate, I usually shoot for between medium and high, because I like to smell the things!

Here's an example:
From WSP, Vanilla has a 1-2% usage rate. Cherry has 8%. So the MOST I would use would be 2% vanilla and 6% cherry. There are components in flavors (and fragrances) that are rated only skin safe at certain percentages. We don't know what those components are. So we can't say, Oh, I can only use 1 gram of Chemical X per 100 grams of balm, and then calculate the total amount of Chemical X in Vanilla and Cherry to be sure we are under the safe Chemical X rules. 

I would probably start out at something like 1% vanilla and 4% cherry, and see how I like it, then bump up as needed.


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## IrishLass (Feb 8, 2019)

DisneyMom said:


> And, I have another question for you all. This one is about combining Flavor Oils. When I want to combine two different flavor oils, and I'm looking at the usage rates for each (let's say the low usage rate for each is 1%), do I add 1% of each, or do I add .5 of each to total a flavor oil total usage rate of 1%? Does that make sense what I'm asking?



I'm notorious for combining flavor oils (it's fun to come up with different flavors). Yes- if the usage rate for each of the 2 flavors you want to combine is 1%, use .5% of each....or .25% of one and .75% of the other....whatever ratio you wish to use that will equal up to 1%.


IrishLass


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## MGM (Feb 8, 2019)

I haven't made any lip balm since I learned about it. I may have just gotten lucky tho, as I don't have more than a couple tubes where I notice grains, and have never noticed them in my lotion bars .


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## Jeannie Hinyard (Feb 9, 2019)

Clarice said:


> I just found this re tempering Cocoa Butter - do you follow a similar method for shea @MGM?
> 
> Cocoa butter has a wonderful tendency to melt at just about skin temperature, which makes it a great addition to lotion bars. Its high content of stearic acid keeps it very solid at room temperature and allows recipes in which it is an ingredient to be firmer and more heat resistant.
> 
> ...


You temper shea butter in much the same way, but it requires holding at a higher temperature.  The information I have is from Brambleberry.com.  They recommend heating mango and cocoa slowly to 100 degrees and holding at this temperature for 45-60 minutes.  Shea butter should be heated to about 180 degrees F and held for 45-60 minutes.  Keep a constant, even temperature, which may require turning heat source on and off.  Crock pots work well.  Pour into an airtight container and place in the fridge or freezer.  It gives the butter a very smooth consistency and makes it very easy to scoop.


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## Clarice (Feb 10, 2019)

Thank you very much!


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## Ginger Aneshansel (Feb 16, 2019)

MGM said:


> And here's a pro tip from me.... I only recently learned that you had to temper shea butter (and cocoa maybe? who knows?) lest it go grainy, so I have a number of grainy lip balms....no I don't! Those are *lip scrubs*---that you don't have to wash off! Exfoliating and moisturizing all in one step!


Thank you for sharing this "lip scrubs" I also have some balms that got grainy and quit using shea butter because of it. I never knew to temper it.


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## kasilofchrisn (Feb 19, 2019)

I love my silicone lip balm filling trays.
I usually make the full 48 tubes at a time but making less is easy. Just put masking tape over the unused holes.
So far I have just been using peppermint essential oil for scenting/flavoring.
I infused sweet almond oil with rose petals, Fireweed flower petals and, wild Chammomile.
I'm going to do rose hips next as I have lots of dehydrated hips.
I use 1 cup of oil with 2 ounces beeswax and 25-30 drops of the peppermint and 6 or so drops of vitamin E oil.
This gives me 48 tubes plus a 1 oz tin.
I heat my oil and beeswax in a double boiler.
While this heats I fill the filler tray with tubes.
Then I check my temp with a coffee stirrer.
If the stirrer is deformed then it will deform the tubes. If it is fine then I add my EO and put it in my plastic measuring pourer and fill the tubes.
I can usually fill them all on one heat if not I scrape the top and reheat in the double boiler.
Once filled I let them cool then heat just the tops with my heat gun to remove the divot that formed from the screw mechanism.
Then cap and label.
I buy the lip balm label blanks and my buddy designs and prints them for me to my ideas.
I don't sell right now, but these make great gifts and work wonderfully.


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## SoaperForLife (Feb 21, 2019)

Very nice Kasilofchrisn!  I don't use my filling tray anymore as I decided it was one more thing that I needed to clean... now I just rubber band the tubes together and pour into each one.


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## shunt2011 (Feb 21, 2019)

I too quit using the filling tray.  I rubber band them together and use a pipette.  Works a charm, I can partially fill them, put them in the fridge and then top them off.  No divots to worry about.  Leaves a nice round finish as I over fill them just a bit.   I don't make large amounts of one flavor.  I make 12-20 of different flavors.  I carry 12 flavors or more at any given time. They are good sellers for me.


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## kasilofchrisn (Feb 21, 2019)

I always tend to overfill and the filler tray is great for that. I could probably get by without a major spill but I'm sure I'd spill a few drops.
Especially since I add labels to mine.
It would be a major headache for me to have to clean each tube so I could get the labels to stick properly.
It's also makes it easy to scrape off the  excess and remelt.
I just wash my filler tray on the top rack of my dishwasher so it's super easy too.
I have two silicone filler trays so doing a second batch of a different flavor does not require cleaning in between. Though usually it's just so I can have a friend (s) make a batch the same time as me.
I couldn't imagine not using a filler tray.
But to each their own I guess!


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## dixiedragon (Feb 21, 2019)

I am a devotee of the tray! I love to make lip balm, so what I will do is 2-3 batches of fruity flavors (same recipe), and I don't wash the tray or the cup in between. I figure a little cherry flavor in my grape batch isn't going to matter. 

I make mine in 300 gram batches, which is 60 tubes. Sometimes I make 50 tubes, then put a tube in each corner to  hold it steady and pour the other 10 tubes. But sometimes I put all that excess into a cup on the side, and after I make 2-3 batches of, say, Grape, Cherry and Raspberry, I'll combine that leftover 10 tubes worth into a Mixed Fruit batch. 

If I am doing nekked lip balm (no flavor), I'll do a batch of that first, then follow up with a flavored batch. Sometimes I do a Peppermint batch, and follow that with a chocolate mint batch.


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## Lin19687 (Feb 21, 2019)

I just bought a tray.  Years ago I tried the rubber band and I just make too much of a mess


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## Amy78130 (Feb 21, 2019)

I’ve had luck using my heat gun to re melt smaller batches super quick. That or I set it on my griddle to keep the oils and butters warm. I’ve even used my Scentsy warmer!!


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## SoaperForLife (Feb 22, 2019)

shunt2011 said:


> I too quit using the filling tray. I rubber band them together and use a pipette


I could never get the pipette thing to work for me - the lip balm solution always seemed to harden up before I could get it in the tubes.  I pour my solution into warmed pyrex measuring cups with the spout and then pour into the tubes...


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