Questions RE: Lip Balms...

[BerkshireEsscentials]

I am wondering what caused my lip balms to get grainy?

I used a lip balm base and added mango butter and flavor oil. They were fine BEFORE I wrapped them (I shrink-wrapped them after I labeled them). Could the heat from the heat gun have caused it? I have lip balms from the same batch without shrink wrap and they seem to be FINE... Should I avoid shrink wrapping them?

Any thoughts/ideas?

Thanks!

 

[dixiedragon]

I know that shea butter gets grainy if it melts, then cools slowly. I put my lip balms in the fridge so the cool fast. They aren't grainy, but I think if they were to melt and re-solidify, they would become grainy. Try putting them directly in the freezer or fridge after you use the heat gun.

 

[Earthen_Step]

From what I have found. Mango butter, shea butter, carnauba wax can cause graininess. I've had some sit in the sun and heat up over and over lightly, and that caused them to become very grainy it seemed.

 

[IrishLass]

I've had the same problem happen to me, Berkshire. I've been leery of shrink-wrapping my balms with my heat-gun ever since. The balms had set up in the freezer before they were shrink-wrapped, and then I put them in the fridge right after I shrink-wrapped them. My formula that this happened to contained kokum butter and candelilla and carnauba waxes (as well as ButterEZ and various other oils/fats).

My balms of the same batch that were not shrink-wrapped were perfectly fine- no grainies in those. Just the ones that were shrink-wrapped got grainy.

Maybe I'll try the freezer trick on a freshly shrink-wrapped balm next time and see if it helps (instead of putting it in the fridge.). And/or practice fine-tuning my shrink-wrap technique. Maybe I didn't work fast enough or something (although I thought I had worked as fast as I possibly could).

IrishLass

 

[BerkshireEsscentials]

IrishLass, how do you package your lip balms? Do you just label them? Do you have some sort of overwrap or bag in addition to the label? I use a vinyl label with the protective tab, but liked the shrink wrap for additional protection until I noticed this happening... THANKS!

 

[IrishLass]

I label them with a wrap-around sticky label that completely covers the shaft part of the tube, but not the twist-up knob or the any of the cover part. Unless I shrink-wrap them, they are not safety-sealed.

I should mention that I don't sell. I gift my balms and other B&B stuff to family and friends, but I still like to label everything as if I were selling (just in case I ever get a wild hair one day and decide to do so).

At this point, I'm okay with not safety-sealing them since I personally/directly hand my balms off to the chosen recipient(s), but it would still be nice to be able to get the shrink-wrap thing down since I still have a bunch of the wrappers just sitting and taking up space. Plus, I don't like the idea of them besting me, dagnabit! lol


IrishLass

 

[shunt2011]

I quit shrink wrapping my lipbalms as I had the same problem. I now have testers available and just label the tubes.. I've not had a problem with people opening them to sniff them as long as there is one out for them to smell etc....I also keep some toothpicks if they want to take a bit out to try it.

 

[vuladams]

If you use butters at all in your lip balms, and don't temper the butters when making them, graininess can happen. It can also re-occur when the lip balm is exposed to extreme temperature changes. I have had this happen to mine by just leaving it in the car overnight. After a lot of research and experimentation, I try to keep my butters under the 10-15% mark, and that helps a ton! I also let my lip balms cool slowly at room temperature, which helps maintain the texture quality over time.

 

[cmzaha]

I have found that even when I have tempered shea, kokum and especially mango my balms could go grainy after time. I quit using all three and changed to tucuma butter and avocado butter which I love. I label and shrink all my balms since I do sell and they go back and forth to markets.

 

[vuladams]

I have found that even when I have tempered shea, kokum and especially mango my balms could go grainy after time. I quit using all three and changed to tucuma butter and avocado butter which I love. I label and shrink all my balms since I do sell and they go back and forth to markets.

Do you use more than 10% butters in your recipes? I've read that's the max you want to use to avoid graininess...

 

[cmzaha]

I use over 10% with my avocado butter and Tucuma. I do not add in shea or mango. In fact I have no love for mango butter