The 3 Best Uses for Beeswax You Need To Know

Beeswax (just like honey) is made by bees. The uses for both of them are many, but as far as the bees go, they mostly use them for food and protection (honey as food and beeswax to protect their larva).

Uses for beeswax are many and, in this article, we are going to talk about just a couple of them.

Keep reading this article to learn about the best uses for beeswax!

What Is Beeswax?

Beeswax is a natural wax that is made by (you’ve probably guessed it), bees. Beeswax has many uses (inside and outside of the beehive). 

Bees use natural beeswax to protect their larva or to store honey inside of the hive.

As far as the chemical composition of beeswax goes, it mostly consists of esters of fatty acids and long-chain alcohols [1]. 

People used beeswax for various things, throughout the course of history. Candles made of beeswax were extremely popular, as they burned brighter than the more regular ones made from wax (usually made from Paraffin) [2].

You can use beeswax to make your own soap.

How To Use Beeswax?

There are different ways to use beeswax in your daily life. From making DIY beauty products, shoe polish or even art to the production of soap bars and making your own moisturizing lotion. 

Do you want to polish your furniture? You’ve got it, cause beeswax can help you do just that! 

You are not satisfied with the lip balms that you can get on the market? Don’t worry, just use beeswax to create your own, homemade (and natural) balm. You can even make your own food wraps with beeswax and some jojoba oil (the ratio is usually 4:1).

Beeswax food wraps are 100% non-toxic (as opposed to regular plastic wrap). 

You can also make your own body butter, which will help you if you have problems with dry skin. Beeswax is amazing, and can be used to create many magnificent things!

This article will provide you with a couple of interesting ways in which you can use natural beeswax. 

DIY 

Here we are finally! I will now explain to you (in greater detail) how you can use beeswax in your own home and create wonderful homemade products.

If you want to make sure all of your beauty products are 100% natural, this is the way to go! 

You can use beeswax to make your own, natural cosmetics, candles and more.

Every single one of these recipes is not difficult and does not require a significant time investment. So, let’s get started!

1. Lip Balm

Lip balms that you can get on the market are not always free from chemicals and other unwanted compounds. 

If you “bee” certain that the products you use are 100% organic, then prepare yourself for some DIY! 

Making your own lip balm using beeswax, is not only easy but can also be lots of fun!  Ingredients are easy to come by, and the actual process of making it will last, at most, around 20 minutes (i.e. this recipe is not difficult at all!).

First, get yourself half a cup of beeswax pellets. The next thing that you should do is to get some shea butter (around 1 tablespoon of this butter will suffice) and coconut oil. 

These three are the main ingredients that you need to make your own balm. The next part is completely optional and includes adding essential oils to your mix [3]. 

The oil you’d use completely depends on your preference (you can go with lavender, chamomile, grapefruit, “essentially” it’s completely up to you). But, if you choose to add essential oils, make sure you don’t use more than 50 drops (which is around two teaspoons).

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl (that is heat-safe) and heat it until the mixture has completely melted (it shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes). You should go with low-to-medium heat, just to make sure you don’t burn the ingredients.

Now it’s time for the optional step. After you’ve removed the bowl away from the heat, you can add essential oil that best suits your own, personal preference. Mix it in with the rest of the ingredients (remember no more than 50 drops). 

Pour the mixture into a measuring cup and you’re almost done. The only thing left to do is to carefully pour the mix from the cup into the empty balm container (tube). 

Just leave the whole thing to cool down (for about half an hour). 

Afterwards, just add the cap and you are ready to face the troubles of life “armed” with a wonderful 100% organic balm made of beeswax! 

2. Moisturizers 

The second recipe is all about how you can make an amazing moisturizer for your skin. It’s easy, and just like the previous one, does not include any hard-to-find and expensive ingredients.

If you want to make beeswax moisturizer at the comfort of your own home, here are all of the things that you’ll need to do just that: beeswax, coconut and some olive oil (yeah, it’s that easy). 

Melt the beeswax in a heat-safe bowl, together with olive and coconut oil. Remove the mix from heat and leave it to cool down (10-15 minutes should do the trick). 

Now, you can add the mineral oil of your choosing (you don’t have to, but if you want to, you can). Mix the whole thing well, and put it in a jar. And, that’s it! All that’s left is to rub this wonderful lotion on your skin and enjoy the benefits. 

Also, remember to seal the jar properly (that’s always important!)!

3. Beeswax Candles

Using beeswax to make candles is a much better alternative to using regular wax (usually made from paraffin). Beeswax burns brighter and leaves much less soot to deal with. Now, to the recipe and a detailed guide on how to make beeswax candles in your own home.

First, get yourself half a kilo of beeswax. Get half a cup of coconut oil, and prepare a jar (or in this case jars) where you want to store your candle. 

If you want to add a little bit of a nice smell to your candles you can use a number of different essential oils. What sort is completely up to you!

And finally wicks. All you need are some good wicks. 

Keep in mind that beeswax burns slower, so don’t cheap out on wicks if you want to get the best possible results.

Put the wick with the (don’t forget to attach the wick sticker to the wick tab) in the jar. Use a double boiler to melt the beeswax with the rest of the above-mentioned ingredients.

Afterwards, pour the mix into the jars. Leave the jars in a warm area so the wax hardens. If the wax hardens too fast it might break, so keep that in mind!

Benefits of Beeswax

Beeswax (just like honey) has found its use in many different areas and comes with a lot of different health benefits. 

When used as medicine, beeswax can lower cholesterol and bring about some pain relief [4]. 

In food, beeswax is most commonly used as a stiffening agent. 

Some research was done on beeswax in terms of dealing with fungal infections. The research is at this point inconclusive, but the initial results are promising.

FAQ

How Long Does Beeswax Last?

Beeswax can last indefinitely. There are numerous examples of “still usable” beeswax being found in ancient tombs.

The only thing that you should keep in mind is that it can develop bloom (powdery substance). Apart from that, there is literally nothing to worry about when considering beeswax and its expiration date (it doesn’t have one).

The Bottom Line

All good things come to an end, and so does this article. I hope you’ve enjoyed talking about some of the things that you can do with beeswax. 

Apart from polishing furniture (made of wood, of course), you can use beeswax to make lotion, food wraps, hair pomade and much more.

Make sure you buy beeswax and/or honey from local farmers because that’s the best way to ensure you’ll get 100% natural product.

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