February Food Group: DIY Natural Lip Balm

Have you heard that factoid about how women consume

an average of 6 lbs. of lipstick
over their lifetimes?

Yeah, me too.

It's more than a bit unsettling to think about that bright grease ending up in our stomachs (and livers? and wherever else?). Granted, considering I wear lipstick all of about 2.3 days a year, I'm pretty sure my lifetime dietary intake will be substantially lower that the average.

But my intake of lip balm is probably quite another story.

I met my best friend over a tube of chapstick. You know, that sparkly, smelly, shiny LipSmackers stuff that Jr. High girls loved in the early 90s? My tastes refined over time, oh yes. I went through a Carmex phase, then an Aveda phase after that... But when I learned how to make my own with trusted ingredients, a few simple supplies, and about 20 minutes of time, my new favorite became a medicine cabinet and purse pocket staple.

I've been making lip balm since college, when my kind friend, Jay, introduced me to the recipe and products available from his employer, GloryBee Foods (a local Pacific Northwest company based out of Eugene, Oregon).

Dubbed "Better Than Burt's," it's stacked with benefits:

Fine ingredients.

Simple containers.

Zero pricey brand name labels.

And even if you ate 6 lbs of it tomorrow,
you'd probably be none the worse for wear...

Did I mention? It's oh-so-easy to make.

In honor of Valentine's Day and kissable lips (or maybe because we simply crave more wintertime kitchen projects during the cold and dreary "Hunger Moon") ~ February's Food Group will be a hands-on learning session with instruction and supplies for creating your own Homemade Lip Balm.

Food Group: Join us the first Wednesday night of the month for ideas, resources, and camaraderie on the food front. As always, feel free to bring a friend, bring something to eat, bring a story about your food-life, or just bring yourself and enjoy the good company and conversation...

{A Sampling of Lip Balm Supplies}

During our DIY night, the group will be given opportunity to customize essential oil blends and make batches of pure beeswax/sweet almond oil/aloe vera/vitamin E oil lip balm.

You Are Welcome~

Wednesday, February 2nd, 7:00-8:30pm
Bethany's Home
92nd & NE Burnside, Portland, Oregon
Please RSVP for Directions & To Reserve Your Spot
*This Event is Now Full*

All supplies and ingredients will be provided.
A donation of $8 per person is asked to help to cover the bulk materials costs,
and you'll be free to take home a dozen tubes of lip balm at the end of the night.
Maybe pair them with chocolates for the perfect Valentine? ;)

Food For Thought

According to an October 5, 2010 article, Amazon.com sells 3,963 lip balm products!
(ChapStick, Vaseline, Alba Botanica, Burt's Bees, C.O. Bigelow, Neutrogena, Labellow, and Soft Lips, to name a few popular brands).

A tinkering gentleman in the 1880s invented the original ChapStick by creating something like a wickless candle wrapped in tinfoil...though I'm guessing that the modern recipe* may have a few additions to his original formula. (*arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, D&C red no. 6 barium lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 aluminum lake, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, oleyl alcohol, parrafin, phenyl trimethicone, proplyparaben, titanium dioxide, white wax)

"Natural" modern alternatives are commercially available, including Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm.* Interesting to note, however, that in 2007, Burt's Bees was purchased by the Clorox Company. (*beeswax, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, tocopherol, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil)

The GloryBee recipe* we'll be using contains five ingredients (*pure, filtered beeswax; sweet almond oil; vitamin E oil, aloe vera concentrate, essential oil)

A fun article from the New York Times highlights education, learning the contents of typical cosmetics, and favoring DIY over mystery ingredients: Experimenting With Makeup: What Puts the 'Ick' in Lipstick?

What Do You Put on Your Lips?

What is worth making at home vs. purchasing out of convenience?

More Importantly...What Comes Across Our Lips?
"Kind words are like honey; sweet to the taste and good for your health."
{Proverbs 16:24}

Hope to see you on the 2nd!
~Bethany