No one is more smug than a beekeepers looking at the price of beeswax. But there’s a reason it’s so expensive. Rare, versatile, and unlike any other natural substance, you can use beeswax to make everything from candles to furniture polish to soap. Whether you harvest your own or buy pellets in a bag, here’s how to use up every last bit.
Beeswax Candles
This beeswax candle tutorial uses 100% beeswax, which produces a beautifully hard and clean burning candle. Beeswax candles were historically highly prized and saved for special occasions. But you can make your own with a few specialty tools, without spending a fortune! The natural golden beeswax color paired with the natural sweet beeswax scent make this pear candle appear almost good enough to eat!
Homemade Hand Cream
A rich, moisturizing hand cream for those drying winter days. Â Whips up in just a few minutes! This hand cream recipe is a simple blend of whipped oils and butter that’s perfect for dry, rough skin. It’s more like a body butter in consistency.
Homemade Body Cream
This rich and nourishing beeswax and shea butter body cream is perfect for dry or sensitive skin and easier to make than you think. It’s softer and lighter but still thick and nourishing thanks to the added beeswax.
Beeswax Furniture Polish
This furniture polish is simply beeswax and olive oil blended to create a polish that shines and protects your wooden surfaces. It’s all-natural and easy to make. You just mix it and buff it with a clean cloth! Since beeswax is a great water repellent, it does a great job sealing and protecting your furniture from everyday damage.
Homemade Soap
This beeswax and honey cold process soap recipe uses a beekeeper’s bounty to make a beautiful bar of soap. If you are looking to add natural and local ingredients to your soap, beeswax and honey are perfect. This DIY recipe yields a sweetly scented bar that makes a charming gift… or something special for yourself.
Gentle Homemade Baby Soap
This recipe uses nourishing oils and shea butter. You can use essential oils for fragrance and customize it in other ways. (Lavender helps relax little ones after a long day!)
Beeswax Food Wraps
These homemade beeswax food wraps couldn’t be easier. They are cute, make sweet gifts, and are a great way to use up extra fabric. They will also save you money and reduce your waste over time, as they replace plastic wrap in your food storage.
Lotion Bars
We’ve already learned that body cream and hand cream can be enriched with just a little beeswax. But if you want to add a lot, you can make lotion bars, which stay completely solid and are rubbed onto the skin. If you’ve never used a lotion bar, you’ll love how portable they are and how effective they are for very dry skin.
Cast Iron Conditioning Oil
Just like how beeswax shines and protects wood, it does the same with cast iron. And you only need the smallest amount to mix with olive oil and make the best conditioning balm ever. It’s easy to make, easy to use, and super practical.
Hair And Beard Pomade
This is a real money saver because these boutique-style pomades are expensive. But they are so affordable and simple to make at home.
It helps you to tame crazy hair and even condition beards! If you use a blow dryer regularly it can help protect your hair, and if you have flyaways it’s great at smoothing things out.
Homemade Lip Balm
Here’s a use for beeswax where it shines! Lip balm is one of the best ways to use beeswax because it helps the balm keep its shape beautifully, even at room temperature. If you want to try the world of DIY beauty products but feel a little intimidated by soaps and lotions, lip balm is a great choice.
What Makes Beeswax So Special?
Beeswax is produced by the wax glands of worker honey bees. When bees store honey, they “cap” each cell with fresh wax, building the familiar honeycomb structure we all recognize.
What makes beeswax ideal for so many DIY projects comes down to a few key properties. It’s naturally hard, which helps balms and lotions hold their shape at room temperature. It burns cleanly and slowly, making it perfect for candles. And it’s an excellent water repellent, which is why it works so well for protecting wood and conditioning cast iron.
The tricky part? That same hardness makes it a bit challenging to work with. Melted beeswax can be stubborn to remove from surfaces, so protect your workspace and use dedicated tools when possible. And because it’s flammable, always melt it gently using a double boiler rather than direct heat.
Buying Beeswax: Pellets vs. Bars
For most of these projects, beeswax pellets are your best bet. They’re easy to measure precisely and melt quickly without any chopping required.
If you’re making candles or anything else that calls for larger quantities, bars are more economical. You’ll just need to break or shave off what you need.
One more thing to consider: beeswax comes in both golden yellow (natural) and white (filtered). The white version is popular for skincare products where you want a cleaner look, while the golden adds a warm, honey-toned color to candles.
The best part? Most of these projects use just a few tablespoons. One bag of pellets, endless experiments.
What a pleasant read and now i am looking forward to trying some if not all of your recommend recipes
from Western Australia, the land down under.