You don’t need to apply lip gloss or lipstick in the hottest new color, the glossiest finish, or the one that promises to change the size or surface of your lips. Today I’m going to share one of my favorite recipes—DIY coconut oil lip balm—for naturally sexy lips.
The Benefits of Using Coconut Oil on Your Lips
The first and most obvious reason to use coconut oil on your lips? You can eat coconut oil, so it won’t be a big deal if you ingest some of your lip balm. Go right ahead—it’ll taste great! The second reason’s pretty obvious, too. Coconut oil is one of the best natural moisturizers for your skin, and that includes your sexy lips. This lip balm won’t just coat your lips to create a barrier that makes them feel soft and moisturized until it wears off. It will actually improve your lips.
Have you ever purchased a lip balm and found yourself desperately needing it because your lips felt drier and drier over time? You probably felt like you were turning into quite the chapstick or lip balm addict! It probably wasn’t your fault, though. Some balms ingredients that can dry out and/or irritate your lips (and others that are just not healthy to use), like menthol, salicylic acid, camphor, phenol, and silicone oils. Then there are other not-so-good additions, like fragrance, parabens, and artificial flavor to top it off.
A DIY coconut oil lip balm will do the job, smell good, and taste good without drying out your lips. It can actually help heal your chapped lips and cold sores, thanks to the antiviral properties of the lauric acid found in coconut oil.
Hybrid Rasta Mama has a few other tips for getting rid of cold sores in addition to coconut oil.
Make Your Own Coconut Oil Lip Balm
You could just use coconut oil straight out of the jar, but where’s the fun in that? (Plus it could get a little messy when you’re on the go.)
What you’ll need:
- 1.5 Tbsp unrefined extra virgin coconut oil
- ½ Tbsp raw shea butter
- 3/4 Tbsp grated beeswax (you can also use candelilla wax), loosely packed
- 1 tsp jojoba oil (you can substitute sweet almond, olive, or avocado oil)
- 1/8 tsp organic vanilla extract
- Powdered dehydrated beets or strawberries (you can also try hibiscus powder or beetroot powder if you don’t have a food dehydrator), or cacao powder for color (optional, and amount depends on tint desired)
- Small sanitized container (not plastic)
- A double-boiler (or if you have a small pot you can set inside of a larger one, that will work too, but be careful!)
- Liquid measuring cup (optional)
Directions:
- In a double boiler (or two pots working as one with the ingredients in the small pot and boiling water in the larger one underneath), melt the coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax. Stir frequently.
- Once everything is melted together, add in the jojoba or other liquid oil you’ve decided to use, plus the vanilla and any coloring ingredients you’ve chosen. Stir those in. Go slowly with the color. It’s easy to add more, but if you dump too much in at first, you may get more of a tint than you wanted. Also, if there are some stray flakes of the wax that just refuse to melt down, don’t worry about those. They’ll be less noticeable once the mixture hardens.
- Stir everything together one last time and pour into your container of choice. You may wish to pour the mixture into a liquid measuring cup with a spout first, so it’s easier to pour into the smaller container.
- Let it set overnight on the counter, or you can speed things up by sticking it in the refrigerator. Be careful, though! An oil spill in the fridge would be no fun to clean up!
- Use your fingertips or a lip brush to apply your new balm! For best results, exfoliate your lips with a wet toothbrush (no toothpaste!) before applying.
*Note: If you really like the scent of chocolate, you can replace part of the shea butter with raw cocoa butter. We don’t recommend replacing all of it because the scent could be too strong and bothersome when worn right below your nose!
For an even quicker alternative, you can combine a little bit of your favorite lipstick with one part coconut oil to two parts wax. Melt it down as listed above, pour into your container, and let it cool and harden. Your lips will be smooth, soft, and tinted with a gorgeous color you already love.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment with Natural Beauty Products
Never be afraid to experiment with your natural beauty products. This recipe, for example, can be tweaked to fit your needs and wants. Why settle for a lip balm—or any beauty product, really—when you can use all natural, organic ingredients to whip some of your own up in your kitchen? It’s fun, the results are customizable, and you may even save money in the long run. Enjoy yourself!
I love making natural cosmetics myself! It’s a great way to avoid chemicals or inadvertently supporting companies that test on animals.
I wanted to point out, that if you’re using candelilla wax, that you usually only need HALF the amount you would use with beeswax.
I avoid beeswax as it is usually a product of commercial beekeeping. In commercial beekeeping, bees are exploited and, to most people’s surprise, bees ARE actually harmed in the process. It was a surprise to me when I first researched this subject!
I learned that bees do have the ability to suffer. That they can get inadvertently caught and crushed in the honey extraction process. That they fly for freaking miles to gather the nectar, fan it like mad to dry the nectar/bee-puke into honey, only to get it taken away and replaced by sugar water (um, all that hard work for sugar water??!!). I learned that the Queens’ wings get clipped to prevent them from swarming (starting new colonies), their movement restricted, trapped. They are artificially inseminated which sometimes kills them. Here’s a link that expands further on the reasons not to consume bee products: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/honey-factory-farmed-bees/
I am very excited to try this, but y shouldn’t the mixture go into plastic? As a Tupperware consultant & self medicating plastic junkie…this saddens me.i have the perfect size containers in mind!
Ooo can’t wait to have a go at this one! I have become a little obsessed with Coconut Oil and all the amazing products out there, it really is a miracle ingredient :)