Lip Balm w/ Castor

[ohsoap]

Does anyone make a lip balm using castor as the liquid oil? Last year my balms all cracked after about a month, so I am hoping to avoid it in this years xmas baskets.

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[SilverMaple]

So do I.

 

[ohsoap]

Does it help to prevent the balm from cracking down the road? or is this all in the amount of hard oils I use?
If I remember correctly (moved and cant find my recipe)
Last year I did equal parts of I think 1.5 oz shea and cocoa butter
1.0 oz beeswax and I don't remember the amount of Almond oil. maybe 1.0 0z.
At first it seems really nice, the cosistency is hard, but had a nice glide for pots... a few months later.... not so much.

I would like to try
Beeswax
Cocoa butter
Caster and Sweet Almond

I notice from other threads that most ppl use CO as well... should I be using this as well?
My sis-in-law also reacted to something in the balm, I'm guessing the shea... any insights?

Sorry for all the questions, but the other threads left me with more ?'s then I had to start with.

 

[dopersoaper]

i used castor in my trial balm and it provided some gloss. My balm is a little over 1 month old and it hasnt craked yet, but i can't say it's due to the castor oil. Do you think maybe you added too many "hard" waxes/butters. Maybe you should slightly up your softer oils (almond, jojoba, castor etc) or slightly decrease your butters a bit. I dont know, just a thought

***I meant to say, I do think it could be because of the amount of hard oils***

 

[ohsoap]

Here is the recipe I used, it's from the MMS website
Ingredients:
.25 ounces Beeswax
.33 ounces Shea Butter, Refined
.33 ounces Regular Cocoa Butter
.40 ounces Sweet Almond Oil
2 mL Vitamin E Acetate
10 drops Peppermint Essential Oil

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[ohsoap]

thanks 4 the link, i'll experiment with some of those recipes. After reading threw... I think my balms we're grainy not dried out! I guess it was the shea I'll have to experiment w/o it and update my results.

I'm also thinking of adding a rose mica for shimmer, will this work?

 

[ohsoap]

So I played around with a new recipe, I didn't end up using castor as I've read it dries out some ppl's lips. I made another cocoa mint, as that's my favorite.
I did:
20% Beeswax
20% Cocoa Butter
20% Coconut Oil (I would like to try mango butter next time)
40% Almond oil

It feels really nice, and I'm hopping it will not get grainy since I left out the shea. I did try putting in some peach mica for shimmer but it doesn't do anything but add a tint of color to the balm, so next time I'm going to leave it out. I only made 2 .25oz pots but it feels good on my lips so I think I will use this recipe for my xmas gift baskets.

 

[hobbiz]

So did your new lip balm get grainy or cracked?

 

[ohsoap]

yup totally got dry in a week! Tried another recipe from gracefruit, and it was not as bad, but still not great.

 

[mariflo]

Sorry if this seems a stupid question but, isn't Castor Oil a strong laxative? Is it safe to use in lip balms?
Wikipedia says:
"Castor oil acts directly on intestinal mucosa or nerve plexus and alters water and electrolyte secretion. It is converted into ricinoleic acid (the active component) in the gut."
Or maybe the quantities used in lip balm are negligible?

 

[dagmar88]

As long as you're not planning on eating your whole lipbalm; you'll be fine.
If you'd take 2 tabelspoons full of pure castor you'd better make sure you have some magazines in the bathroom for the next day...

 

[hobbiz]

Very funny darmar lolz. My castor oil provide good shining and slippery feature for my lip balm. However, it tastes really weird. I think it stinks. I used about 20% of castor oil in my recipe. Do you guys know why my castor oil taste that bad?

 

[dagmar88]

is it fresh?

 

[hobbiz]

The expire date is is 2012. I tried to taste the castor oil in bottle a little but no taste, so it might be because of its smell. I realize that the smell is stronger and rougher (I think) than other oils. I cant smell anything from my grapeseed oil :roll:
Today I tried 1 of my old lip balm batchs that contain castor oil and the smell faded. Maybe later when I put flavor oils in lip balms, the smell will go away?

 

[dagmar88]

Strange, went off to sniff my castor but it really doesn't have a strong smell. Just a light hint of nut, but certainly not enough to come through in that %.
Maybe you could try another brand and see if it's any better?

 

[hobbiz]

Ok. I will try to find another brand. Thx.

 

[Manchy]

i use cold pressed castor oil ,and it has it's own smell. i wouldn't say unpleasant, but not like a perfume for sure. well, i don't like it very much, but it's not that bad.
btw, it's not rancid or anything.

 

[SilverMaple]

I use 3-6% castor. You could try cutting it down a bit and seeing if that suits your recipe better?