Dry lips are something I think about more in the winter, but they happen in the summer too. Especially when you live in a really hot climate or sweat a lot (like I do). This lip balm recipe features healthy tallow for a natural way to pamper your lips!
What is Tallow?
Some of the latest health trends have featured vegan and plant-based ingredients. And while there are some really good plant-based skincare ingredients, animal based ones can be a nutritional powerhouse. If those ingredients come from pasture-raised, free-range, and otherwise healthy animals that is.
Tallow is making a comeback and getting it’s time in the limelight. This ancient, animal based fat comes from cows, but you can also render fat from pigs (lard), and other animals. Sheep tallow is also supposed to be really good, but I used beef tallow in this lip balm.
Tallow is naturally high in the fatty acids palmitate, stearate, and oleate. Our skin’s top layers are largely composed of lipids (fats), and this barrier needs to be protected to avoid skin damage. Since tallow is an animal fat it has the unique ability to interact with our skin’s lipids. A meta-analysis also found that tallow may increase the fatty acid composition in our skin, plus it hydrates and moisturizes.
Altogether this makes tallow a great option for protecting and moisturizing our lips. You can read more about tallow’s benefits here.
Other Lip Nourishing Ingredients
Tallow on it’s own will work just fine, but it is temperature sensitive. It also doesn’t travel too well in a lip balm container. I’ve added beeswax to this recipe to add some more firmness and provide even more of a protective barrier on skin. You can make this with half tallow and half beeswax, but I also wanted to add a liquid carrier oil.
I used apricot oil, but any liquid carrier oil will work. Olive oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, macadamia nut oil, and sweet almond oil are all good options.
And lastly, I used some essential oils to give it a nice scent. Be sure to use ones that are safe for lips to avoid any irritation or photosensitivity. The last thing you want is to slather on some lime flavored lip balm before a day at the beach and get a nasty lip sunburn! Here’s a list of some essential oils that are safe to use on the lips (as long as they’re diluted).
- Sweet orange
- Lavender
- Rose
- Frankincense
- Grapefruit
- Patchouli
- Peppermint
- Geranium
- Tangerine
You can also mix and match to create your own scent! The recommended maximum dilution ratio for lips is often (but not always) 4 to 5 percent. This recipes uses the essential oils at 2%, but you can change the amount (or omit) if desired. You can find high quality essential oils here.
Moisturizing Tallow Lip Balm
This lip balm glides on smooth to nourish and hydrate lips. Customize the scent with your favorite essential oils!
Yield: 1.5 ounces
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Add the beeswax, tallow, and liquid oil into a small glass bowl or the top of a double boiler.
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Fill the bottom pot with several inches of water and place the bowl or other pot on top.
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Bring the water to a low boil over medium heat. Stir the ingredients as they melt.
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Once melted add the essential oil.
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Immediately pour the mixture into the lip balm containers and let cool until room temperature.
If your tallow is very soft at room temperature, you may need to add more beeswax to get a firmer consistency.
How Many Lip Balms Does This Make?
Typical lip balm tubes hold just a little less than 1 teaspoon. This recipe will fill about 10 lip balm tubes, but you can increase or decrease the amount as desired. I used metal lip slide tins and this recipe yielded 5 of those.
More Lip Recipes
If you’re on a roll and feel like making more DIY lip recipes, here are a few of my favorites.
Are you a lip balm fan? What are some of your favorite flavors or scents to use? Leave a comment and let us know!
