DIY Burt’s Bees Style Lip Balm Recipe – 8¢ Per Tube

If you know me at all, you know that I don’t leave the house without Burt’s Bees lip balm. In fact, if I had to be sent to a deserted island, I would die happy as long as I had Burt’s. Just the other day I was thinking of some kind of invention that would allow me to easily scrape the inner walls of the tube to get the last remaining lip balm gold without using a bobby pin. A tube of Burt’s has literally been at my side or in my purse for the past…wait for it…18 years.

With that said, I am probably never buying another tube again. Tonight, I learned how to make my own and I fully intend on saving money, one tube at a time, for years to come.

Grab your supplies at here: 

• Chapstick Tubes
• Coconut Oil
• Beeswax Pellets or Beeswax Blocks
• Shea Butter
• Lanolin
• Rosemary Oil
• Peppermint Oil

This recipe made 40 tubes worth of chapstick. Here’s how I did it:

Melt 2 oz. organic beeswax in a pan on low heat.

While that was melting, I measured out 3 oz. coconut oil, 3/4 oz. pure shea butter, and 1/4 oz. pure lanolin.

Important note: I ordered lanolin because that’s what a few other recipes had mentioned. But honestly, I won’t use as much of it next time I make it because it doesn’t smell very pleasant. Start with a little bit and add more if you don’t mind it.

Update: One reader named Aubrey says, “Before you give up on the Lanolin, try the stuff from http://www.lansinoh.com/products/hpa-lanolin, made for breastfeeding moms. Really no smell at all. I’ve used it on a chapped rudolph nose from a cold, and even putting it straight on my nose I didn’t smell it much. (But maybe that was the cold). Anyhow, you win as the one DIY that was easier than expected. It just flew together.” So, give lanolin a shot if you’d like to!

You should have twice as much oil as you do beeswax, so if you decide to try only coconut oil and shea butter and keep out the lanolin, OR if you’d like to experiment with other solid oils, just make sure it’s 4 oz. total.

Drop the coconut oil, etc. in with the beeswax.

Stir on low heat till it’s melted.

Drop in your desired amount of peppermint and rosemary oil. I like my lip balm VERY peppermint-y, so I dropped in probably a good 25 drops, and probably 10-15 drops of rosemary oil. As you can see, I got a little excited with the peppermint oil and dropped it in the wax. Oops.

I also felt like I needed a lot of peppermint and rosemary to cover up the lanolin flavor. Again, when I do this again, I’m definitely trying it without the lanolin.

Once it’s all melted, definitely make sure you try a little bit on your lips (after it has cooled on your finger) before you settle. Now, if you’re just going to drop this in a massive bowl and keep it for yourself, you can solidify it, try it, melt it, and change the recipe up. But because I’m selling these in tubes, I needed to make sure it was right.

If it cools too quickly before you’re done filling your tubes, just pop it in the microwave till it melts again.

I ran out of tubes, so I poured the rest into containers for myself. Note that this picture is pre-solidifying. It’s sitting on my desk and looks just like the real Burt’s Bees. I’ll keep the big container at home and if all goes well, this will last me at least a year. A YEAR.

• 2 oz. Beeswax ($1.06)
• 3 oz.coconut oil ($.86)
•      + 3/4 oz. pure shea butter ($.98)
•      + 1/4 oz. pure lanolin ($.30)
• (OR try just 4 oz. Coconut oil)
• ~25 Drops peppermint oil (minuscule amount)
• ~15 Drops rosemary oil (minuscule amount)
• Total: $3.20. $3.20!?

So, each Burt’s Bees tube is .15 oz. I made approximately 6 oz. of balm. Divided, that makes about 40 lip balms. Ho-ly cow. You guys, minus the cost of tubes that is 8 CENTS PER TUBE! I can’t believe I’ve been paying $3 per tube for 10 years! Wow.

The tubes are about 30 cents each, so I’m factoring that in for my sales, but if you’re just making this for you or your family, you can toss this in any container and forego the cost of the tubes. With the cost of the tubes themselves, 40 of these would be $15.20. Retail, it would cost $120!

Man, my mind is blown right now.

Want a Colored Tint?

Here’s a tip from Carly: She says, “Made this with my daughter last night and we love it. I added a lipstick to tint the balm and started with white beeswax so they came out a lovely nude pink color. Thanks for this post. My three teenage daughters are very happy, and I can save a fortune not buying chapstick!”