cleaning lip balm tubes

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Ann Marie

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HI!

Okay, after making 50 tubes of lip balm I found out my recipe is grainy and needs to be changed. Does anyone have a simple way of emptying out my tubes and cleaning them or am I doomed to disaster?

Thanks for the advice!
 
Simple? No, but here is my method: You screw the lip balm out as far as possible, and cut it off. Then take a small hard object to scoop as much as possible out of the bases. Remove the little platform thing that moves the product up and down. Then use a good degreaser(I use Sam's kitchen degreaser.) and a baby bottle nipple brush to scrub out the tubes and the little part that moves the product up and down. Gloves are a good idea if you like your skin. Allow to completely air dry(takes a couple of days if you have high humidity), or use a hair dryer set on cool or just barely warm. Then spray with 91% rubbing alcohol, and allow that to completely dry(or use the hair dryer again). It is a pain in the neck to do, but I am a cheapskate.

*Edit* To fix the texture issue of the balm itself, I would then go heat the lip balm to 170F for 30 min if it has shea butter, or 100F for 45 min for cocoa or mango butter.
 
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(I would then go heat the lip balm to 170F for 30 min if it has shea butter, or 100F for 45 min for cocoa or mango butter.)

Susie - are you talking about the balm or the tubes? If it's the balm, is the heat for sterilization purposes or the texture issue? Thanks for the tip on the degreaser, I hadn't thought about that. The degreaser doesn't affect the plastic tube?
 
The balm. Sorry. My brain and fingers don't work at the same speed sometimes. It is to fix the grainy problem. Will go edit the other post.

I found the degreaser when looking for something to clean out lip balm tubes. It is a big jug that should last me years and years. I just pour out some into an old handsoap pump bottle(labelled with what it really is), and store the rest.

I hate throwing anything useful away. So, I would just fix the texture issue of the lip balm, and use it. The tubes will need to be cleaned out, though, as that grainy texture will show up as you use the lip balm if you don't. I know this from personal experience.
 
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If the lipbalm hasn't been used on a person's lips, is it necessary for them to be cleaned this thoroughly? I use rubbing alchohol as a de-greaser on the outside of the tube, so the label will stick to the tube. Is there a reason not to simply break off the lip balm and pour in new lip balm?
 
If she is selling them, they need to be cleaned thoroughly of the grainy product, or it will cling to the side of the tube and the center post, and you will feel the graininess(or I did, anyway). And, in my experience, if you spray alcohol into lip balm already in the tube, then you smell alcohol at every use.

I would dearly adore any suggestions that will reduce the number of steps, because it is a right royal pain in the neck.
 
If they are just grainy, re-melt and cool slowly. That's worked for shea butter mixtures for me. Maybe in a crock-pot?
 

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