Lip Balm w/ Castor

[madpiano]

20% castor oil seems quite a lot ?

I use the recipe from Gracefruit, but you have forgotten the castor oil in yours ? The recipe you printed here should have castor oil in it. If you don't want to use it, you definitley should reduce the beeswax. I have made that exact recipe several times and it is the only one I use now, as it gives consistent good results.

How did you package your lipbalm ? I find that recipe better for tubes than tins (increased the beeswax by 1%), but either way, the balm shouldn't dry out once you close it ? I make it, fill into the tubes and place in the fridge, 5 mins later take out of the fridge and close with lids. It really is one of the easiest and least fussy b&b product I make.

Castor Oil should not have any kind of smell or taste. If it does, it has gone off or is adulterated and should not be used. (the normal stuff which is sold as laxative in pharmacies - I have never seen cold pressed castor oil here, would be interesting, especially as the Castor Oil plant is so highly toxic)

 

[carebear]

I've gone really high with castor without a problem - cracking is more likely due to more brittle waxes or not enough oil in general, IMO.

my castor is essentially odorless - tho the Turkey Red Castor (sulfonated) can have a pretty distinct odor I recall - tho it's been years, so I could be mistaken about the TRC.

 

[djk17]

I've never tried castor in my lip balm but I do use honey and it so far has been fine (about 1 1/2 years ago was my first batch, still have a couple of tubes left from that batch and it never separated out at all)

about the graininess--could this possibly be due to temperatures used? if you keep the temperature of the shea and cocoa butter down a bit the graininess shouldn't appear, at least in my (limited with lip balm!) experience.