
Protect Your Lips Naturally: DIY Beach Ready Lip Balm
Heading to the beach is always a treat, but it can be harsh on your skin, especially your lips. Unlike the rest of our skin, the lips lack oil glands and have a thinner protective layer, making them more vulnerable to the sun, wind, and salty air. This is why protecting your lips is crucial, and a natural, homemade lip balm with essential oils can be your best beach companion.
The skin on our lips is uniquely delicate. It has three to five cellular layers compared to up to 16 layers on the rest of our body. This thinner barrier means the lips lose moisture quickly and are more prone to drying out and chapping. Without oil glands, they can't produce their own moisture, so they rely entirely on external hydration and protection.
Using natural ingredients in your lip balm ensures you’re nourishing your lips with the best care. Shea butter and cocoa butter are rich in vitamins and fatty acids, providing deep hydration and forming a protective barrier against environmental damage. Jojoba oil mimics the skin’s natural sebum, making it an excellent moisturizer, while argan oil, packed with antioxidants, helps repair and protect your lips from sun damage.
Commercial lip balms often contain synthetic ingredients that can irritate the skin or lead to you having to use it over and over again without feeling any improvement. By opting for a homemade balm with natural ingredients, you're avoiding these pitfalls and giving your lips the gentle, effective care they deserve. Let’s make a DIY organic lip balm recipe to keep your lips soft, supple, and beach-ready all summer long.
Here is a simple DIY Lip Balm Using Essential Oils, so you can make your own lip balm
Here is what’s you’ll need for your essential oil lip balm
balm tray with .15 oz lip balm tubes that snap into place. Like this: Lip Balm Tray.
● Heat source, like an electric hotplate or your kitchen stove top - you need this to help slowly melt all the ingredients together.
● A shallow saucepan filled with about 1 inch of water
● A double boiler insert to melt all the ingredients and to use to pour into the molds, something like this is perfect.
● Mixing tools, like a stainless steel spoon, or disposable wooden sticks, like popsicle sticks.
● Various small glass bowls, measuring cups and spoons to place your ingredients in.
● A digital scale that can measure amounts to .00, and has a “tare” feature and can easily switch between grams and ounces.
● Paper Towel
● Oven Mit
● Parchment Paper
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make a 100 grams (3.3 ounces):

● 15 grams of Beeswax Wax
● 17 grams of Shea Butter
● 25 grams of Cocoa Butter
● 21 grams of Jojoba Oil
● 20 grams of Argan Oil
● 1 grams (20 drops) of Vitamin E Oil
● 1/2 gram (10 drops) of Sweet Orange Essential Oil
● ½ gram (10 drops) of Lavender Essential Oil
Here is how to make lip balm with Jojoba and Argan Oil:
- Thoroughly clean and disinfect a counter or table top in your kitchen, and line a 18 inch area with parchment paper
- Snap in 22 lip balm tubes into your lip balm tray and set them on top of the parchment paper.
- Using your digital scale, measure out the Candelilla in a beaker or measuring cup and set aside
- Next, measure out the Cocoa and Shea Butters in a beaker or measuring cup and set aside.
- Measure out the Jojoba Oil and Argan Oil in a separate measuring cup or beaker and set aside.
- Set your saucepan filled with about 1 inch of water on your heat source and warm until it starts to steam.
- Place the double boiler insert into your saucepan, and add the measured Beeswax Wax into the double boiler insert and let it melt thoroughly.
- Once it is melted, add the shea and cocoa butters and the jojoba oil and stir thoroughly over the heat until everything is melted and well incorporated.
- Turn off heat, and using your oven mit, lift the double boiler insert out of the pan and wipe off the sides and bottom of the double boiler insert of any excess water, so that no water is left dripping.
- Add your 20 drops of Sweet Orange Essential Oil and the 20 drops of Vitamin E Oil to the melted mixture and stir well.
- Carefully pour the mixture into each lip balm tube in the tray.
- Cover the tray with a loose sheet of parchment paper and set into the refrigerator for at least 8 hours to set.
- Once the Lip Balms have set, pop them out of the molds and they are ready to use!
What are the therapeutic properties of the ingredients we are using in the recipe?
Cocoa Butter: Cocoa Butter is the fatty oil that is expeller pressed from the dried and naturally fermented Cacao Seeds (or beans) that make chocolate. The fatty oil floats to the top and hardens and is used for both culinary purposes and skin care. The butter is loaded with deeply nourishing and protective properties that have been shown to repair and restore damaged skin, soothe away dryness and promotes the skin’s resilience and elasticity. Expeller pressed virgin Cocoa Butter also has the rich and intoxicating aroma of chocolate, which make it a delicious choice to use for a lip balm.
Shea Butter: Shea Butter is the fatty oil that is expeller pressed from the nuts (seeds) of the Shea Tree. The nuts are often gathered by hand after they have fallen from the tree, and then boiled to soften the outer shell and smashed. The fatty butter-like oil floats to the top and is then skimmed off and processed. Shea Butter has a notable array of skin benefits, from soothing dry and damaged skin, to reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It is loaded with nutrients that make our skin feel deeply nourished and resilient.
Jojoba Oil: Jojoba Oil is expeller pressed from the seed of the Jojoba plant. The oil mimics our own skin’s natural oils, and can provide similar soothing benefits to the skin. Rich in essential fatty acids and sterols, Jojoba has been shown to repair dry damaged skin and offer protection against environmental stressors.
Argan Oil: Argan Oil is expeller pressed from the nut of the argan tree. The oil is rich with a wide assortment of beneficial essential fatty acids that deeply nourish and repair sun damaged skin. It has been shown to offer protection against environmental stressors.
Vitamin E Oil: Our choice to use Vitamin E is mostly to help stabilize the scrub and ensure its shelf life. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that can slow down the aging process of our Argan and Tamanu Oils.
Sweet Orange Essential Oil: Sweet Orange Essential Oils is bright, uplifting and cleansing when applied to the lips. Plus its unique set of molecules has been shown to be antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiseptic - perfect aromatherapeutic properties for use in a lip balm.
Lavender Essential Oil: Steam distilled from the flowering tops of the Lavender plant, the essential oil is loaded with molecules that have proven benefits for soothing and calming sore damaged skin.