Beeswax

Beeswax Pellets

Last week I posted about Honey to kick-off September's National Honey Month.  To keep up the celebration, I wanted to talk about another beauty recipe ingredient that is also made by those awesome little honeybees.  I am, of course, going to talk briefly about the benefits of beeswax!

Obviously beeswax comes from bees.  They excrete it from a gland, chew that secretion a little, and then form it into the six-sided honeycomb shape most of us are familiar with.  They produce this wax to line the inside of the hive.  These honeycomb cells are used by bees to store little baby bees (which sounds so much better than larvae) and to store honey.  

Beeswax has a light, natural fragrance and one reason it is added to beauty products is for its light honey-ish fragrance.  Beeswax, like honey, has many other qualities that make it a great addition to your beauty products.  It can be used as a thickening agent.  It will not only thicken your creams, but help those creams glide more easily over the skin.  It locks in moisture and even attracts moisture to the skin.  Additionally beeswax is an:

• Anti-inflammatory- reducing redness and blotchiness to even out skin tone and to help heal wounds;
• Anti-bacterial- inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungus making it an effective treatment for bacterial infections including diaper rash;
• Anti-Allergenic- making it good for all skin types; and
• Antioxidant- reducing environmental damage from the sun, pollution, or air and inhibiting free radical damage.   

Beeswax was used by the Romans to help soften skin and heal wounds.  It protects the skin and provides a protective coating that will not clog your pores.  It is a perfect addition to lip balms and will help heal chapped lips and prevent them from reoccurring.  

I personally get my beeswax in small, pellet form so that it is much easier to melt.  I hope you will give this ingredient a try in your recipes.  I think you will be pleased with the results.