Do you love beeswax candles? If you do, do you have leftover beeswax candle scraps that you don’t know what to do with so you end up just throwing them away? Well, don't! Those beeswax scraps can be repurposed and made into various things right from your very own home. That’s right. You can use those beeswax scraps to create lip balms, salves, lotions, crayons, ornaments, polish, and more! So, save every bit of that precious beeswax that our tiny friends of nature work so hard to make and create something new that you can use. We have a great and easy diy lip palm recipe below. Before you begin though, the old beeswax must be prepped and cleaned for use!
*If you have no interest in repurposing your old beeswax scraps, then we hope you will consider recycling and donating it to any —beeswax company— near you. They will happily take it, clean it, and reuse it.
Cleaning Your Beeswax Candle Scraps For Use
This will probably be the most time consuming part to get started on creating your chosen DIY, but it will be oh so very satisfying when you have created something new with your own two hands! It is definitely an interesting process. This process is similar to how we prepare the beeswax that we harvest from our very own hives.
To prep your beeswax for use you will need the following:
- Microwave (the easiest way) OR if you have a lot of scraps we recommend using a double broiler (you can make your own by putting a small pot inside a bigger pot)
- Strainer, mesh bag, or cloth
- Container
What you need to do first is melt the beeswax scraps. If you don't have much accumulated then you can use a microwave to melt the wax. Be careful though! You need to warm it up in 30 second intervals or else the beeswax might explode and leave a huge mess! If you have a sizable collection of beeswax scraps, however, then you can melt the wax using a double broiler. You can make one by using 2 different sized pots: one big, one small. You fill the big pot with water and you put the smaller pot inside the big pot. You then put the beeswax scraps inside the small pot and melt it on medium heat, with no lid/cover. It may take up to an hour to melt completely.
After your beeswax is melted, you need to strain it to get rid of any debris in your beeswax. You can use a simple strainer, the smaller the holes the better, or more ideally a mesh bag. This needs to be done as soon as you take the pot out of the heat or else the beeswax will harden again. The process can be done multiple times (you can reheat the beeswax if it hardens) until you are satisfied that most of the debris has been filtered
When you have cleaned the beeswax, you can put it in a container to store or use it right away for your chosen DIY. Fortunately, beeswax is one of the few natural substances that won't expire so you can store it for later use (it may get a white coating over time but that is normal).
DIY Lip Balm Using Beeswax Candle Scraps
Creating your own lip balm can be done in a few easy steps.
What you will need are equal parts:
- Beeswax
- Shea butter
- Coconut oil
- *Essential oil for scent/flavor (*optional)
- Container to melt the ingredients in
- Container for the lip balm itself (we suggest repurposing an old lip balm container or if you don't have any lying around, you can use a small round tin container like the ones we use for our Rose Salve)
After you gather all your ingredients, the first step is to melt the beeswax, shea butter, and coconut oil together in a container. You can do this using a microwave, however it must be done in 30 second intervals or your ingredients may explode and make a huge mess. This process may take up to 10 minutes. You can also use the double broiler method we mentioned above. After the ingredients have melted, you can mix in the essential oil of your choice. You can test the mixture on your lips to gouge how much oil to put in but be careful not to burn yourself ( and don't take too long or the mixture will harden as it cools). When you have finished mixing in your essential oil, the next step is to pour your balm mixture into the container of your choice and voila! Your done! All you have to do is wait for it to harden. Was it easier than you thought? We hope so!