By Joleen Morehead

            I went on a night hog hunt a few months back. It was lots of fun (no hogs though) until I realized about halfway through the hunt that my face and lips were completely chapped. I didn’t have anything with me that could have prevented or improved my situation. Even if I had had my chap stick with me I don’t think that it would have helped my skin. The peppermint probably would have aggravated the situation.

 If you’ve ever had the change to handle some bear fat, you know that everyone comments how smooth their skin is. So how about customizable chap stick?  Chap stick that can soothe chapped skin, maintain the moisture on skin and lips, or could just be used for bug bite relief? Chap stick that a husband would proudly carry in his pocket because it has BEAR GREASE from his bear. I won’t go into a deep of a dive with how over the counter chap sticks can be more harmful than helpful.  A quick internet search will give you plenty of content to peruse on the matter.  I have found a solution to the problem and have made a chap stick that I can control what goes into it! It’s a win/ win all around. Natural, Healthy, and sustainable! I like that a lot!

 You won’t want to pass on this chapstick recipe. Bug bites in the summer? Make this recipe, but drop in essential oils that help you find relief. Wind-chapped cheeks and lips? Add some essential oils that you love in this versatile chapstick.

 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup of rendered bear grease
• 3 tablespoons of stearic acid (Amazon)
• ¼ cup of beeswax (Hobby Lobby)
• ¼ cup of shea butter (I found mine on Amazon)
• Essential oils (Optional)
• Vitamin E oil (Optional)

 

Tools Needed:

• Wisk
• Spoon
• Measuring cups
• Mason jars
• 1-2 Rags
• Pot (big enough to hold three mason jars)
• Chapstick tins or containers - I found plastic chapstick tubes from Hobby Lobby and I also bought the chapstick tube holder and it helped hold those tubes so I could pour (see note below).

Instructions:

1. Take a pot and place a rag on the bottom of the pot. Fill halfway with water and place your mason jars in the pot for a double boil.
2. In the mason jars, measure out one for bear grease, one for stearic acid, and one for the beeswax. The shea butter is soft, so I just placed it in the microwave for 60 seconds, checking every 30 seconds.
3. Turn on the stove and set it to medium heat. I put the three mason jars in my pot, and I added an extra rag to keep the mason jars from tipping over in the water.
4. Bring to a low and slow rolling boil. The bear grease and stearic acid were the first ones to melt and the beeswax took way longer. You can just keep it all in the pot until the beeswax melts completely.
5. While you are waiting for everything to melt, set up your containers for the chapstick.
6. Once everything is melted, get a whisk, and first mix the bear grease and stearic acid together. Then slowly add the beeswax, shea butter, and essential oils.  If the mixture turns out to be a little chunky, don’t worry! I used an immersion blender on low and it fixed the problem (be careful when using the immersion blender; the liquid is hot and you won’t want it splashing on you).
7. Take a spoon and check the consistency of the mixture. As it cools on your spoon, you can see if you need to add more ingredients. I thought my batch was the perfect consistency for what I want to use it for, but I did add a few more drops of essential oils.
8. When all ingredients are blended, pour into your chapstick containers or molds. Let them set until completely cooled down and hardened. You can put them into the freezer for a faster cooling down, but they cool down quickly on their own.
9. Store in a cool, dark place or in the refrigerator.

Notes:

I only had about a dozen tubes for this recipe, and I ended up with enough left over that they could easily fill a dozen more.