Why do our lips dry out? This has various reasons. When it is colder, we often drink less. This means that your moisture balance gets out of balance. The result can then include; dry, cracked lips, dry eyes and dry skin. So keep drinking well, especially during the colder months. Because our body needs moisture, here is how to make your own lip balm.
In addition, the humidity is really a thing. Certainly in today’s well-insulated homes, this is something you can pay a little more attention to. With us, the humidity is quickly below 25%, while it must be 50% +. You also notice this because you are static quickly. But when you constantly have a dry cough that you cannot bring home. Your eyes feel stingy and dry. Then it is high time to measure your indoor humidity. You can use a hygrometer for this.
Now you can of course hang up those old-fashioned, dull basins on all your radiators or you use one or more humidifiers. Last year we switched to a Philips humidifier and a diffuser to humidify the air. The advantage of the diffuser is that I can also let my house smell nice. Whether my mood can influence positively. But I stray, we were talking about dry lips.
Recipe for lip scrub to exfoliate
Mix a teaspoon of (white or cane) sugar with a teaspoon of oil of your choice, mix this well together and get started. Yes it really is that simple! Of course you can also make a larger quantity and keep it in a small jar so that you always have it to hand, even when you’re on the road.
You can easily apply the scrub with your finger. Make gentle circulating movements over your lips until you feel that all loose sheets have disappeared. Oh by the way don’t eat your scrub in between. It is tempting to do it. But wait until you’re done!
Nurturing DIY lip balm
For this DIY lip balm recipe you need a little more ingredients than the scrub, but “be bold” and purchase these ingredients. You will definitely need them for the other great DIY recipes on this blog!
- (recycled) cream jar 50 ml or 2 jam jars of 30 ml. Or would you rather use a tube, use a few old ones (first clean thoroughly)
- 1 tablespoon of beeswax (use less beeswax if you want softer balm. I will do that next time because I find the balm a little too hard.
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- dot of honey
- 5 drops of vitamin E oil
- (optional) few drops of your favorite essential oil, I chose lavender for its caring properties.
Start sterilizing the jar you are going to use. You can wet glass jars and let them dry in an oven at around 120 degrees for about 15 minutes. Plastic jars can melt so wash them well with a detergent. Rinse well, dry it and rub the jar inside and outside with a cloth dipped in alcohol.
This step is important so that your lip balm stays longer. Vitamin E is also added to extend shelf life, but it doesn’t hurt to work as hygienically as possible (so don’t forget to wash your hands before you start). Remove your jar from the oven (with oven glove) and let it cool. Now we start with the lip balm.
In a bain marie, melt the beeswax in, for example, your Pyrex measuring cup, add the coconut oil and honey when the beeswax has melted by about half. Wait until everything has melted well and then stir in the drops of vitamin E and possibly the essential oil. Pour the liquid mixture into your jar as quickly as possible and let it cool. You will see that this goes very quickly.
Through trial and error….
Use disposable aluminum trays and plastic spoons if you don’t feel like scrubbing your things. You can keep it in a plastic bag to be reused next time with a recipe that uses beeswax.
Typically such a through-damage-and-shame-you-wise tip, because it only occurred to me after I already had it in my Pyrex measuring cup. I was very disappointed because it is really difficult to clean. If you still need to clean your used things, put everything in very warm water with a splash of washing up liquid. Take an old washing-up brush and scrub the beeswax off. You may have to wash it again.
Or heat everything again so that it melts and scraps out as much as possible and finally you get a newspaper through. Beware! The measuring cup is then still very hot. The last alternative is to keep a measuring cup made of glass specially separate for your beeswax recipes. One with a lid is then handy, otherwise you will all get substance in your recipe next time. Not really hygienic and also not really cool.
