After I received my order of beeswax from Mountain Rose, I realized I was going to be able to make a lot with it. A pound of beeswax goes a long way for a small family! Today we made homemade vapor rub, and early this summer we are going to make a big batch of lip balm with Nana to share with all my sisters.
I wanted to make two variations of vapor rub - a strong one with camphor for my husband, and a mild one with lavender for the babies. Camphor is very strong and I don't want to use it for the little ones.
I used 8 ounces of olive oil, about 2 ounces of beeswax. I warmed the oil over a double boiler (actually a cheap pot of water and a small bowl I picked up at the thrift store.) The oil goes in the bowl over the gently bowling water, so the oil doesn't burn. Next time I make this, I want to use oil infused with some kind of mint to add extra strength to it - I know we will have a garden full of mint this summer. I melted the beeswax gently in the oil, and took it off the heat as soon as it was melted.
I poured the wax/oil into two tubs - repurposed from butter tubs. A real herbalist probably wouldn't reuse old plastic butter tubs, but what can I say? They were the right size.
Then I added the oil. I used 15 drops of eucalyptus in each tub. I added 10 drops of lavender to the children's tub and 10 drops of camphor to my husband's tub. Since this is my first try, I have no idea whether those ratios will be strong enough and I encourage anyone who wants to try this to experiment and see what works for you. Especially for kids, less is more.
The finished products smell really good. If they don't turn out to be strong enough, I will remelt them.
I used:
Available from Mountain Rose:
Olive Oil (I bought mine on clearance at the grocery store)
Repurposed:
Butter tubs - metal tins or glass jars would be better
~ Rachel
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