Lip balm is a real staple in the wintertime when everything conspires to dry our lips. Cold air outside. Heavy, dry heat inside. Is it any wonder out lips get so dry?

One option is to buy lip balm, but it’s much less expensive to make your own. Also I would encourage you to check out the ingredients in commercial lip balm. They often contain:

• Artificial scents and coloring that can irritate lips
• Alcohol that dries lips
• Menthol, camphor, or phenol which cool and numb lips and can dry them
• Salicylic acid  which exfoliates (but avoid if you’re allergic to aspirin)
• Aloe butter  which moisturizes but can irritate lips
• Vitamin E  which is an antioxidant but can also  irritate lips

The other option is to make your own lip balm. Colleen of the Five Little Homesteaders website has developed an all-natural tinted lip balm. The recipe uses coconut oil, vanilla and two other ingredients. It makes 5 small containers of lip balm. Colleen also  includes some terrific photographs and tips.

Click on the Homemade Tinted Lip Balm link below to see Colleen’s complete recipe.