Bees wax added into soap - Is it worth it? Any personal experiences are appreciated :)

[highnoon]

Hello all,

I have been keeping bees and raising queens for nearly a decade. Over these years I have collected premium wax and never found enough things to do with it.

I see bee wax as an ingredient in some soap recipes and wanted to know if people would be willing to share their personal experiences with it. Seeing how little is added to recipes makes me wonder if there is any real benefit of adding it in. Like in chapstick it seems like it is used as a hardener.

Since I have so much high quality beeswax on hand I will likely give it a try.

Please share your experiences if you have used it. How it turned out, and if it was worth it

Thank you all!

 

[shunt2011]

You need to include it in your recipe in a soap calculator. It's generally used as a hardner. Don't use more than 5%. The melt point is much higher than most fats/oils so you'll need to soap a bit warmer. As for any benefits remaining, I don't believe much survives saponification, others believe something does. It's mostly used for label appeal in a lot of cases. Plus a harder bar.

 

[dixiedragon]

I LOVE beeswax in soap at 5%. It makes a hard, sleek bar. 10% is too much, makes a weirdly soft bar that it sort of lotiony feeling.

You may want to try non-petroleum jelly:

This is quoted from Swift Crafty Monkey but her stuff is now behind a pay wall.

As for the second part of the question, there's an interesting balm I found on Voyageur for non-petroleum baby jelly that uses oil and beeswax. 94% castor oil, 5% beeswax, and 1% Vitamin E. I've tried it - I liked it. You could try this with another oil, but it won't work as well as there's an interesting interaction between beeswax and castor oil! Beeswax is partially soluble in castor oil, so you get a thicker and more viscous product when you mix beeswax and castor oil together than you would mixing something like sunflower oil and beeswax.

Looks like you are pretty new here. Welcome! Have you tried lip balm and lotion bars? Lotion bars are very similar to lip balm, but just a bit softer, because your lips are slightly warmer than the rest of your body, so a lip balm that melts on your lips might drag on your legs.

 

[earlene]

It seems to ward off soda ash, which is a pretty nice benefit. It helps harden the bar a bit more than when not added. It adds a bit of translucency to the bar as well.

You do need to soap a bit warmer than you would without it, so CP with Beeswax would be a challenge. I have only ever used it with the HP method. It is kept at a small percentage because when used at a higher percentage it caused drag on the skin, as well as it's high in unsaponifiables.

 

[highnoon]

I LOVE beeswax in soap at 5%. It makes a hard, sleek bar. 10% is too much, makes a weirdly soft bar that it sort of lotiony feeling.

You may want to try non-petroleum jelly:

This is quoted from Swift Crafty Monkey but her stuff is now behind a pay wall.

As for the second part of the question, there's an interesting balm I found on Voyageur for non-petroleum baby jelly that uses oil and beeswax. 94% castor oil, 5% beeswax, and 1% Vitamin E. I've tried it - I liked it. You could try this with another oil, but it won't work as well as there's an interesting interaction between beeswax and castor oil! Beeswax is partially soluble in castor oil, so you get a thicker and more viscous product when you mix beeswax and castor oil together than you would mixing something like sunflower oil and beeswax.

Looks like you are pretty new here. Welcome! Have you tried lip balm and lotion bars? Lotion bars are very similar to lip balm, but just a bit softer, because your lips are slightly warmer than the rest of your body, so a lip balm that melts on your lips might drag on your legs.

Cool and thank you very much for the balm recipe.

Yes I am new here. I have been making a lot of this stuff for many years, but never saw this forum So a lot of my recipes were from online and adjusted based on gut instinct and not personal experience with the ingredients. Put into a calculator based on what they said the ingredients did

I have not tried lotion bars. A bar form of lotion that you can put on sounds really interesting! I will have to look at that because making these products is a lot of fun. And soaps my kids can't help with. The lip balm they can participate in. I just ordered a few flavoring items for lip balms so my son can help make some. I have little ones (2,4 years old).

 

[dixiedragon]

You can put lotion bars in a container, like a roll-up deodorant tube or a giant lip balm-style tube. Or you just pour into some type of mold and pop them out, and rub the bar between your hands. You could use something like these from the Dollar Tree - they are both a mold and a container.

https://www.dollartree.com/sure-fresh-mini-storage-containers-with-lids-10ct-packs/206990

You could also play around with solid perfume:

• 1/8 ounce Beeswax or Floral Wax
• 1/2 ounce Jojoba
• 7 drops Essential Oil

https://www.aromaweb.com/recipes/solid-perfume-recipe.asp

 

[highnoon]

Thank you @dixiedragon - I will definitely try this out!

 

[highnoon]

I think I might grab these:

https://deodorantcontainer.com/inde...t-plastic-twist-up-top-fill-2-2-oz-cylinders/

 

[dixiedragon]

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/2-oz-natural-twist-up-tubetop.aspx

Better pricing, though they don't have a lot of colors. And WSP often has sales, coupons, etc.

SKS Bottle is good for higher quantities:
https://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin8ai.html

 

[Nanette]

Hello all,

I have been keeping bees and raising queens for nearly a decade. Over these years I have collected premium wax and never found enough things to do with it.

I see bee wax as an ingredient in some soap recipes and wanted to know if people would be willing to share their personal experiences with it. Seeing how little is added to recipes makes me wonder if there is any real benefit of adding it in. Like in chapstick it seems like it is used as a hardener.

Since I have so much high quality beeswax on hand I will likely give it a try.

Please share your experiences if you have used it. How it turned out, and if it was worth it

Thank you all!

Ive made beeswax and olive oil soap, beeswax and sea clay and oils...nice hard bar! I like beeswax a lot

Cool and thank you very much for the balm recipe.

Yes I am new here. I have been making a lot of this stuff for many years, but never saw this forum So a lot of my recipes were from online and adjusted based on gut instinct and not personal experience with the ingredients. Put into a calculator based on what they said the ingredients did

I have not tried lotion bars. A bar form of lotion that you can put on sounds really interesting! I will have to look at that because making these products is a lot of fun. And soaps my kids can't help with. The lip balm they can participate in. I just ordered a few flavoring items for lip balms so my son can help make some. I have little ones (2,4 years ol

Cool and thank you very much for the balm recipe.

Yes I am new here. I have been making a lot of this stuff for many years, but never saw this forum So a lot of my recipes were from online and adjusted based on gut instinct and not personal experience with the ingredients. Put into a calculator based on what they said the ingredients did

I have not tried lotion bars. A bar form of lotion that you can put on sounds really interesting! I will have to look at that because making these products is a lot of fun. And soaps my kids can't help with. The lip balm they can participate in. I just ordered a few flavoring items for lip balms so my son can help make some. I have little ones (2,4 years old).

Brambleberry has several lotion bar recipes also...w beeswax!

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome to the forum!

I have a CP soap that I use both beeswax and honey in (3% beeswax ppo, and 5% honey ppo). I wrote all about it in this thread here when I first ever made it. I still make it the same way now as I did then. I give a blow by blow description of how I went about making it in post #16 of the thread.

I also use beeswax in lip balm, liquid lip gloss, and solid perfume.


IrishLass

 

[highnoon]

Thank you @IrishLass !! I will read that now