Beeswax has been used as a polish for centuries but it’s just as useful in skincare products as a natural protector and soother. In fact, it’s a real ‘miracle worker’ from nature’s arsenal of natural ingredients. Studies indicate that beeswax is as successful a skin barrier, as mineral-based ingredients such as petroleum jelly, making it the ideal natural alternative, and one that has been used safely on animals and humans for thousands of years.
If you’ve ever wondered how bees produce beeswax you’ll find it no surprise that like everything in the hive, it is a carefully managed, team operation. To stimulate the production of the wax the bees indulge in eating a lot of honey or sugar syrup and huddle together to raise the temperature of the cluster. Honeybees use beeswax to build the cells in which their young are raised and protected as well as to store supplies of honey and pollen for use later in the winter. To produce one pound of beeswax comb requires the bees to consume about ten pounds of honey. That’s quite some lunch!
Acting as a surfactant in skincare (allowing oil and water to blend), beeswax creates a barrier on the surface of the skin, protecting against bacteria and acting as a natural skin strengthener.
The use of beeswax use can be traced back to the first published recipe for cosmetic cream, created by Greek physician, Galen, in 150AD, although it’s highly likely to have been used thousands of years before that. In Galen’s recipe, the cream consisted of beeswax and olive oil blended with water (or rose water). As well as moisturising and softening the skin, it also had a cooling effect, hence the name: ‘cold cream’.
Today, beeswax is perfect when incorporated in products designed to protect against harsh weather such as lip treatments and hand creams and when used as an emollient and humectant (drawing moisture to the skin and locking it in) it will help to soften dry and parched skins when used in cleansers and moisturisers. Rich in vitamin A it can support cell rejuvenation and re-hydration.
We use British beeswax in many of our products such as our lip balms and hand creams to protect, strengthen and nourish. Providing your skin with a beautiful, healthy ‘gleam’!
