Chamomile is one of my favorite herbs to use in do-it-yourself beauty products. The use of chamomile in skincare has been traced all the way back to Ancient times, including ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Today, chamomile is still ingested and applied to the skin for its anti-inflammatory properties. To add the skin-loving properties to this balm, coconut oil is infused for several hours with chamomile herb.
Olive oil is combined with the coconut oil for a bit of softness, while yellow beeswax helps keep it solid in hotter temperatures. If you live in an extremely hot temperature, you can add more beeswax to increase the melting point. If you like a softer balm, decrease the amount of yellow beeswax. A great trick for testing the consistency of balms is the frozen spoon trick. It allows you to feel the balm when cooled, prior to pouring it into containers. In our tests, we found this balm begins to melt around 100 ° F.
What You’ll Need:
3 Candle Tins
12 oz. Coconut Oil (10 oz. infused coconut oil)
0.5 oz. Chamomile Herb
2 oz. Olive Oil
1 oz. Yellow Beeswax
ONE: First, infuse the coconut oil with chamomile. In a heat safe container, add 12 ounces of the coconut oil and place in the microwave and heat until about 150 ° F. You only need 10 total ounces of infused coconut oil for this recipe, but as you strain the chamomile out of the oil later, some will be lost. Be careful when removing the container from the microwave, as it will be very hot. Add the chamomile herb and allow the chamomile to infuse the coconut oil for about 2 hours, up to overnight. Feel free to infuse the chamomile in the oils for as long as you’d like, but I would recommend at least 2 hours.
Because coconut oil turns solid when it cools, it may need to be placed back into the microwave to reheat and maintain a hot temperature. You can also use a crock pot to infuse the oils, learn more about that process here.
TWO: Once the coconut oil is infused, strain the oil through a fine meshed sifter lined with a paper towel to remove chamomile herb. You may need to do this process more than once to remove all the small chamomile pieces. Weigh how much oil is leftover; some of the coconut oil will be lost in the straining process, which is why more coconut oil was infused than needed. For this recipe, you need 10 ounces of coconut oil. If you have less than 10 ounces, add more un-infused coconut oil to the infused oil until you have 10 ounces.
THREE: Add the beeswax and olive oil to the coconut oil. Place the container back in the microwave and heat using 30-60 bursts until the beeswax is melted. Beeswax has a very high melting point, so be careful when removing the container from the microwave as it will be very hot. Because of this, don’t use a glass container with too much head space. The container can actually explode if it gets too hot! Once melted, remove from the microwave carefully, as the mixture will be very hot.
FOUR: Stir all the ingredients together, and pour into the candle tins. Allow them to fully cool and harden. This will take several hours. To use, rub your fingers on the balm to warm and slightly melt, and apply balm where needed.
