After the rather surprising success of my Quick Guide to Beeswax & Liquid Oil Ratios post, it seemed like a good idea to do more of them, with different ingredients. So, today I’m venturing into vegan wax territory. Candelilla wax is a plant based wax, derived from the candelilla shrub. It has a melting point of about 70°C, compared to beeswax’s ~63°C melting point. It’s used as a food additive as well as in cosmetics, and I’ve decided it’s time for the two of us to become better friends.
I used the same method for this experiment as for the last wax and liquid oils guide. Working with 1g increments, I tested ratios of 1:1 through 1:8, increasing the amount of oil (I used olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) again), and always using 1 gram of candelilla wax. So, 1:1 was 1 gram of each, while 1:8 was 1 gram of wax and 8 grams of olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada).
I labelled each little tin, melted them one by one in a water bath, and then let them set up for four full days as most sources agree that it takes candelilla wax up to three days to reach its full hardness after being melted. At any rate, anything you make with it is likely to last longer than four days, so it seemed prudent to wait.
When it came time for my observations, I used the same criteria as I did with the beeswax experiment:
- How hard was it? I tested this by pressing on the surface of the mixture with my fingertip (as you would to apply a salve or lip balm), and then scraping with a fingernail.
- How quickly did it melt? This was pretty easy to observe by simply handling bits of each mixture.
- How sticky was it? I rubbed the mixtures into my arm and tested to see how tacky they were.
- How was the slip? I tested this by rubbing bits of the mixture on my lips as they are more sensitive than my arm, and also very familiar with lip balm.
And, as before, I did everything in my house, with an average ambient temperature of about 20°C. So, if you live somewhere drastically warmer than I do, you will likely find these observations a little on the harder side.
My first observation on day 1 was that the blends were all very shiny—so glossy that they looked like they had a layer of oil floating on top. Interesting.
Observation #2—candelilla wax is not a very appropriate direct swap for beeswax it’s very smooth and harder than beeswax, but seems to melt much faster than beeswax when it does start to melt. To draw a comparison, candelilla wax is to beeswax as grapeseed oil is to unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada). Candelilla wax is thin and smooth, producing products that spread thinly and absorb quickly. Beeswax is thicker and softer, and it’s sticky—this can make for skiddy products at higher concentrations, but makes for thicker, slower-absorbing products at lower concentrations.
1:1—This equal parts mixture was extremely hard and smooth. Before I started attacking it with my fingers it was very glossy. It felt very smooth, but would be useless for body product applications. I did manage to eventually crack it with a lot or pressure, but it shattered into shards that wouldn’t be overly useful.
1:2—Still very hard, I cannot dent it with pressure from a finger (and I nearly hurt myself trying). This one might be useful for a super hard salve as I found rubbing my finger on top of it for an extended period of time yielded a small amount of product. Smooth and shiny.
1:3—Cracks and shatters abruptly under pressure from a finger, breaking into smaller shards that can be snapped into smaller pieces. It does melt a bit after extended handling. Still very smooth and hard.
1:4—Now we’re getting somewhere useful. This one gives relatively easy, though it does fall into pieces and chunks rather than denting like something made with beeswax would. Pieces melt easily and quickly, and the melted substance is thin and smooth—not at all sticky. This could be useful for lip balm or a harder salve.
1:5—This one gives easily to pressure from the thumb, and is about the texture of a softer salve. The melted substance is thin and smooth, and absorbs quickly.
1:6—At this point the mixture gives easily. Smooth, melts quickly, and is quite thin. Useful for a very soft salve.
1:7—This one actually dents instead of breaking into chunks. Squishy and soft, it melts very quickly. The melted substance is still thin and smooth, and absorbs into the skin quickly.
1:8—Very soft and creamy. The mixture itself isn’t totally homogeneous, but it melts quickly and is smooth on the skin. Fast absorption, thin liquid.
Some lessons learned:
- Candelilla wax is very smooth at all concentrations.
- At high concentrations it makes concoctions glossy.
- It’s not very sticky, so balms made with it won’t get any staying power from it—it would need to be paired with beeswax or something like unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada).
- The mixtures didn’t want to stay blended or mix together easily. Some pots had hard waxy skins on top and oily gels underneath. Others were soft on one side of the container, and rock hard on the other.
- In many of the mixtures you can still see wee bits of wax floating in the oil—they don’t seem to have melted together.
- It’s not actually that different from beeswax in terms of hardening power. I’d say 1:3.5 beeswax: olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) is roughly equivalent to 1: 4.5 for candelilla wax: olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada).
- The texture differences are big. Beeswax helps create salves and balms that will stick around on the skin, whereas candelilla wax is very smooth and sinks right in.
- I’d say 1:4–4.5 is about the lowest ratio you’d ever want to use
| Hard? | Solid? | Melt speed | Sticky? | Slip | |
| 1:1 | Very | Yes | None | No | Poor |
| 1:2 | Very | Yes | Slow | No | OK |
| 1:3 | Yes | Yes | Average | No | OK |
| 1:4 | No | Yes | Fast | No | Good |
| 1:5 | No | Yes | Fast | No | Good |
| 1:6 | No | No | Fast | No | Good |
| 1:7 | No | No | Very fast | No | Good |
| 1:8 | No | No | Very fast | No | Good |
Hi, I read and enjoy your posts all the time and have even made some of them. But I have to ask a couple questions-1) some of the ingrediant I’ve never heard of so were do you get them? 2) how do you measure in grams? Especially liquids?
Use a kitchen scale.
For liquids: place a bowl on a kitchen scale and slowly pour the liquid until the display shows the desired weight.
Most kitchen scales will measure in 1 gram amounts up to 3-5 kg. If you need to weigh amounts smaller than 1 gram, you should buy a specific scale. They usually measure 0.1 g amounts and they go up to 500 g. They are much more accurate for small quantities.
I use both. The normal kitchen scale for cooking and measuring oils for my soap, directly in the pan, so I don’t need to weigh down every specific oil separately. I use the small one for cosmetics.
Thanks, Mrs G!
I used the 1:8 ratio and in this mixture I heated and mixed up fractionated coconut oil, apricot oil, organic aloe vera butter and organic macadamia butter. Conclusion: smooth and TOTALLY homogeneous. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Woo! Enjoy 🙂
Hi Sherri! I link to my suppliers in the big box above the comments section, you should be able to find everything through them 🙂 You generally do have to order online for most of these ingredients, though—especially if you want your new hobby to be affordable!
Grams are a weight measurement, so you will need a scale. Since everything has mass, you can measure everything this way, which is very useful. Get yourself a digital scale that measures in both ounces and grams, and measures in 1g increments. You can then place a bowl on the scale and use the “tare” button to reset the value on the scale to 0g. Then you just add your liquid to the bowl until you have added enough. Easy as pie 🙂 Easier, even!
Im confused i thought you always need half a size of candelilla. All along my understanding was if you used 1:7 beeswax to oil/butter for candelilla you will need 0.5 to 7. Even if you google itll tell you you always use half amount for candelilla as you would beeswax
Do your own experiments and see what you think, then 😉
Excellent as always. Maybe this would be good for a lotion of some sort.
Thanks, Linda! I’m not sure if candelilla wax has any emulsifying properties for a lotion, but with its light nature and strong thickening powers you could add it to lotions with emulsifying wax in small amounts to thicken it up really nicely without making it heavy. I should try it 🙂
Exellent! and very useful…you know I prefer the wax better than petroleum jelly or other hazardous chemicals on my skin!!.The wax is the most innocent and the most useful of all the materials for cosmetics..very nice post….Athanasia.
Absolutely! Natural waxes are wonderful ingredients 🙂 I love them—especially honey-scented beeswax. Mmmm! Thanks for reading 🙂
Looks like I am a little late to the game but this was still very helpful an I appreciate the time you spent to do this.
I’ve been using this wax along with olive wax in some lotions not using any other emulsifier and everything mixes up just fine with no separation. I was told it would not work but I find that it does and is better for my skin have you tried the two waxes in a lotion? It does seem to get harder after a few days but I just make adjustments for that. It sinks in my skin where beeswax creates a barrier that doesn’t let anything past. Thanks for the helpful post!
Genius!
Thanks, Jan!
Marie,
Another excellent post! I was actually experimenting with candelilla wax this week for lip balms! I ended blending both beeswax and candelilla wax together to help blend in the oils because I found the oils not blending with the wax. Even when I whipped them, separation occured several hours later. I used meadowfoam seed and sunflower oils with the candelilla wax, so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. With the addition of a wee-bit of beeswax, the lip balm held together and it’s nice and hard. Doesn’t melt as easily while in my pocket. 😀
Also wanted to share that I used your Chamomile-Honey-Lemon Hair Rinse. I think it’s going to become my “shampoo” for now on. 😀 Thank you again!
Cathryn
Thanks, Cathryn! I did notice something similar—it seemed like the wax seemed to float to the top as it hardened, resulting in a hard top and a soft bottom. I feel like these experiments are a good starting point, but I’ll definitely need to do more experimenting when it comes to formulations. I recently tried pairing it with bayberry wax for a vegan thickener that wasn’t quite as glossy—it’s still hardening (darn that 3 day time frame!), but I’m interested to see how it works out 🙂
I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying the hair rinse! Let me know if you see any lightening over the long term—I find I rarely try things for a long enough period of time to notice things like that 😛
Hi Marie,
Thanks for sharing this, I love how systematic your experiment was!
Some of your other recipes use a trace technique that you mentioned helps avoid graininess in products containing plant butters such as Shea.
Would you know if it’s also possible to bring a formula containing both Candelilla wax and a graininess-prone butter like Shea to trace before pouring?
I’ve been experimenting with balm-type recipes (like you said, Candelilla wax imparts such a lovely light texture), but no luck so far as it was impossible to get to trace before parts of the mixture solidified so much as to become unwieldy.
If you had any insights to share, they would be very much appreciated!
Thanks for the creative inspiration as always
Thank you so much, I’m glad you found it helpful 🙂 I honestly haven’t tried tracing high-wax-content products; as you’ve observed they thicken so dang fast! You could try adding the shea butter post-heating to see if that helps. I know LisaLise has done a ton of work with shea butter as well (she wrote a whole book on it!) so she might be a good resource for this sort of thing 🙂 Happy making!
Thank you so much for your wax experiments they are always so useful to me . I especially appreciated the beeswax usage one I now make much better salves and balms . Keep up all your great work and wonderful recipes.
Thanks, Blanca! I’m so happy my experiments have been so useful for you 🙂 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
Good morning (now it’s early morning here in Greecce)…and you’re welcome Marie…oh yeah? that’s my favorite scent too!! hohohohoho! i like the honey scented perfumes!…yumm,yumm!…one of my favorite scents…it’s very sweet and spring perfume….amazing…Athanasia.
One of my favourite things to buy when I’m travelling is honey—I love trying honeys from all over the world. They are all so different and so wonderful! I think I have 16 different kinds now, haha.
Thanks so much for your posts, Marie. I love experimenting, too, and all the work you’ve done really helps me make more lovely products for self care, and delicious food! You do a great job with your photos also, so it’s easy to follow the process and see what each step looks like. Thank you!
Thanks Beth! I’m so glad you’re finding my posts useful 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experiments with us. I love learning about how various ingredients compare. Makes recipe ideas easy!
Thanks, Connie!
Hi Marie,
Thanks so much for this guide reference, it is so useful and your website is such a big inspiration! I have a quick question on candelilla wax; when I use it in my lipbalms, some of it tends to form cracks on the top. Do you know the reason for this and how I can avoid it?
Thank you!
Hi Lyn! From my experience this is really just a characteristic of the wax, and seems to be somewhat unavoidable at higher concentrations (mine stopped cracking around 1:6). I haven’t done a lot of experimenting here, but one of the first things you can play with after your formulation is your cooling time. Have you tried popping your lip balms in the fridge to cool them quickly and see what happens?
Just a quick question please. I am looking for a vegan alternative for beeswax for a moisturiser. I have been looking at a few options but am struggling to find something. Any suggestions please would be much appreciated
Thank you so much
What kind of moisturizer are you thinking, Linda? I use straight argan oil on my face, and that’s both lovely and vegan. Most emulsifying waxes are also vegan, giving you vegan lotion very easily.
God bless you! I saved time. I am going to make an ointment for my baby.
Happy to help!
Hi Marie! I just found your blog while looking to replace beeswax with candelilla wax on my recipes. A friend and I started a small company a few years ago offering skincare workshops here in St. John’s, NL. Now the company is all mine! I am busy restructuring the workshops and feeling super excited about what the future entails. I am so happy to have found a fellow Canadian with the same passion! Thanks!
Hi Paula! Congrats on the newly-yours company 🙂 Have fun and thanks for saying hi!
Marie, I found this article a few weeks ago. I used your results to theorize a solid perfume recipe from your ratios. Yesterday, I made my first batch of solid perfumes using candelilla wax. The first try was spot on! I can’t thank you enough for the time you took to painstakingly reach your conclusions, especially in light of my learning how patient I needed to be to melt just one batch. I had to come back to say how grateful I am for the time and money you saved me. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Lilly 🙂 I’m so glad my experiments were able to help you!
Hi
Great post!
I have been making my own body butters for my kids eczema and diaper rash for over a year now. I feel like there is so much to learn still. I usually use shea, cocoa and olive oil as a base but started to experiment with adding candelia wax to create a smotther consistancy. But i am finding these new batches grainer then before. What am i doing wrong? Also most of the reciepies using cup measurments but if i wanna use a scale how do i convert volume ounces to weight grams? Thank you
Hi Leticia! Check out this page for more info on grainy concoctions, and this page for info on converting volume measurements to weight measurements 🙂
Do you know if candelilla wax is safe to use on hair? I’m not sure if it would build up or not? Thanks in advance!
I’d stick to small amounts for hair, but as part of a recipe for hair balm or something similar I imagine you’d have a hard time getting too much wax in your hair—your hair would look like an oil slick well before that happened 🙂
I’m used to using baby oil gel in my hair like moose or styling gel but was wondering if this wax would work better if melted and mixed properly
I’m afraid I have no familiarity with “baby oil gel” so I can’t comment on that. Typically wax isn’t a great hair hold ingredient as once you use enough of it to get good hold it’s quite hard to get out of your hair; it’s more common in things like mustache waxes as mustaches are typically more coarse, but my experiences with putting lots of wax in head hair have been quite messy haha.
I am trying to find something that I can use to style my hair and have it not be greasy or have the stuff run into my eyes in extreme heat
I’m afraid I haven’t really done any work with high hold hair styling products. I know most gels are made with carbomers and polymers to get a non-greasy hold, so wax is likely not the direction you want to go in if you want non-greasy.
What an excellent testing post. I happened upon your site as I was researching candelilla wax as a furniture wax. I had recently made a mixture with a 4:1 ratio of tung oil to candelilla. It hardened beautifully into a salve texture, and creates a smooth, soft sheen on my kitchen woodwork.
I did not know that it takes 4 days for the wax to reach optimal hardness. I am wondering how that will translate into my woodworking use, especially paired with tung oil, since it is polymeric. In any case, I will continue my testing with beeswax and tung oil as well. 🙂
Thank you, again!
Thanks, Yvonne! Happy to help 🙂
Hi Marie,
Love how you break this down for us. I am still trying to make a lip balm that is vegan and have that tackiness and hold to the skin. I know beeswax will be the best to use but I want to stick to my vegan roots. Can you suggest how I can achieve this same tackiness and hold using the c-waxes?
Check this out 🙂
Thanks you for this little experiment (and the resulting mess you had to contend with).
I have been working on deodorants and have yet to come up with a formula I actually like. The best so far has been a roll-on thickened with a little gum to keep from dripping.
I find that the beeswax bases are too sticky feeling for my liking (in my very hot AZ climate) and I started thinking about Candelilla wax but have no experience with it.
Based on your information I think I will try a batch with a 1:4 ratio and go from there to see if I can come up with a formula that binds the other ingredients, has good slip but little sticky residue.
Thank you!
You’re very welcome! Enjoy your experimenting 🙂
How did your deoderant come out at 1:4? I am wanting to make stick deoderant
Hi and thank you! This posting and so many others are just life savers for me. I really appreciate your work! I too am making deodorants and want to stay vegan, even though I find beeswax to be the best I’ve used yet. I got some soy wax and it is rather soft, not creating the consistency I want for my stick version. Would a 1:5 ratio with candelilla wax seem appropriate to you?
And could you also guide me to any info on the use of stearic acid and emulsifying wax please? I learned the hard way that neither replace a true wax, but I feel like they night still add a slip property that I’d like for both my stick and creme versions. Thanks a million if you have any thoughts for me!
Hi Katy! 1:5 would be a good place to start, but keep in mind your other ingredients will also effect the final texture 🙂 You should also experiment with a soy/candelilla blend—who knows, you might love the results.
I’m afraid I haven’t done any extensive experiments with stearic acid or e-wax beyond this.
I have a question. Can this be used as a shoe shiner?
Well, this isn’t really a recipe for anything in particular. You might like this instead 🙂
Hey Marie,
Such an interesting post that was..!! Thanks a tonne for sharing. I am experimenting with Candelilla wax to make my all new vegan lip balm. What proportion should I use Candelilla Wax : Sweet Almond Oil : Castor Oil ( weather is humid here like in Florida) to get the perfect shiny moisturizing lip balm?
Thanks in advance..
Hi Sree! I’m not going to develop your recipe for you, I’ve got my hands pretty full with a tonne of my own! 😉 Check this out for some tips, though 🙂
Can I add Shea / cocoa butters to my lip balm? If so, at what proportion?
You definitely can 🙂 Check out this recipe for some ideas.
I am wanting to make cayenne salve for my mom’s arthritic hip. It seems the fast absorption of candelilla would be a major positive for that usage. Any thoughts on that?
Hi Kris! I’d tend to agree—check out this recipe I published a couple weeks ago 🙂
this was extremely helpful! 🙂 just wanted to thank you!
You’re very welcome!
I bought a facial scrub from a Korean brand that I am daring to replicate as a hand scrub, at least in terms of consistency. It’s done wonders for my skin (really bad eczema in winter!), in conjunction with other moisturisers.
So this post has been very helpful as not to (hopefully) waste any! Do you think 1:6 would have the best texture for a hand/foot scrub?
Honestly, having no experience with the product you’re trying to re-create, that’s a pretty impossible question for me to answer 😛 Try it and find out! The ingredients are inexpensive, just work in small amounts so if you don’t like it you haven’t lost much 🙂 Take notes, and don’t be afraid to fail a bit before you succeed. Seriously, if you had any idea how much stuff I’ve chucked over the years… 😛
Hey!
I am thinking to make vegan lip balm using candelilla wax. Could you please help me out by suggesting ratios and it’s shelf life. And I stay in India so what all things I should consider while making it according to weather.
Fran shared a recipe for a candelilla lip balm she made in the comments on this post 🙂 Learn more about shelf life here. And I’m afraid I really can’t give specific advice about what you’ll need in India vs. Canada; I assume more wax, but that’s about all!
Looove your post, it helps me A LOT! Do you know if I can use candelilla wax instead of stearic acid to make whipped (or cream) soap? And how do I use candelilla wax to make soap: I blend it with the oils and lye or blend it after the soap is ready, like I do with essencials oils, for exemple?
Hey Clarissa! I wouldn’t recommend using any wax in place of stearic acid as they are much waxier and tend to feel quite different and not wash off terribly well. They’re also quite a lot stronger than stearic acid in terms of thickening power, so the entire recipe would need to be reworked (and I’m not sure you’d like the end result if you did).
If you’re not a fairly experienced soaper I wouldn’t recommend including wax in your soaps. Because wax has a relatively high melting point you have to soap at quite high temperatures to keep it from setting up, which makes wax soaps more challenging than soaps without wax. Here’s an overview on how it’s done 🙂
Thanks, Marie! I make bar and liquid soaps using the hot process for a while. But now I want to make whipped soaps and I have 2kg of candelilla wax. I thought it could be added, but ok, you convenced me! Maybe I’ll use the wax to make solid perfume, something like this. Thanks a LOT for your help!! 😉
That 2kg should keep you in wax for ages! Other than candles, I’ve yet to find any projects that really use up lots of wax. Good thing it has a long shelf life!
I just wanted to thank you for doing this and all the other things that you do. I formulate, make and sell my own body & skin care products and I’ve referenced this particular post many times while deciding how to formulate a few different products. I was not at all familiar with Candelilla Wax so this is invaluable to me. I also belong to a FB group of formulators who generally do not like bloggers because many of them promote terrible, sometimes dangerous “recipes”…but you are very well liked and respected. So again, THANK YOU for all that you do and for sharing your results and your experiments in such professional detail!
Thanks so much, Michelle! I’m so happy that these posts are helping out loads of people; I certainly refer back to them all the time as well 😀 And I’m glad to know I’m not embarrassing myself in your Facebook group 😉
Hi : ) I found your page while researching a vegan alternative for beeswax reusable food wraps. I just wondered (as I have zero experience with using wax in any form) in your opinion would Candelilla wax be a good alternative. I’m sorry for such a random question : ) Thanks very much
Jess
Hey Jess! You’d need to use less candeililla, but other than that I think it should work out 🙂
Thank you so much for replying, I’m defintely going to give it a go : )
Hello, I just stumbled across this post while looking for information about making candles from candelilla wax. I’ve never made candles before and I wondered if this is something you know anything about? It appears in this post that you’re focused on balms, but I thought I’d ask, just in case.
I’m hoping to use vegan hemp wick (http://www.veganhempwick.com/), and I’m not sure what size container to use, and whether to add oil to the wax, to work with this wick.
Thanks for this tutorial! I’m sure it will inspire me to experiment with other uses for the wax. 🙂
Hey Marti! I’m afraid I have no experience with candle making, sorry 🙂
Hello, Marti! I made massage candles after reading this post and it was good (sorry for my english, I’m not native american). I used the 1:9 and 1:10 proportion and made the candles with coconut and shea butter and almond oil.
Thanks, Clarissa! (And your English is great!)
I created some vegan-friendly lip balm using candelilla wax. I find that my balms have a bitter after taste and I do not use flavor oil. Is this normal?
That’s odd, and not normal in my experience—any chance you scorched any of the oils? Any chance any of your ingredients have gone rancid?
Hi, Elsa! I made lip balm with candelilla too and don’t have problems with the taste. I used cocoa butter, almond oil and candelilla wax. But I added Menta arvensis essential oil, so the lip balm has smell (very nice, by the way) and became very refreshing.
Elsa, did you ever manage to figure out what caused the taste? I am trying to make a vegan version of my lip balm and am encountering the same issue. Substituting candelilla for beeswax is the only change I have made, and the taste is dramatically different (and unpleasant/bitter).
Hi Angela, I had the problem with bitter taste as well and was testing every ingredience I use to find out what it was, and it is definitelly my candelilla wax. Wondering if it might change with different supplier.
BTW Marie, I have bought Make it up and love it! Great content and like the fact that I don’t need to be on PC all day to learn about things I am passionate about:)
Thanks so much, Mariana! 🙂
Thanks a lot for this detailed post! I made a salve with 1:6 ratio with coconut oil and castor oil for my dad and he loves it. I used 1:6 ratio as I live in a hot country.
Beautiful! Thanks for reading and DIYing with me 🙂
Hello! Fellow Canadian natural craft creator here =D … What ratio would be best for a lotion bar? Maybe I missed it if it was mentioned above… I never tried to make any before! The attempt would be with Candelilla wax, Shea Butter, Cacao Butter and some sort of oil to be determined. (Trying to keep it as vegan as possible)
Given all the hard fats you want to include, this guide will be pretty loosely helpful at best. You’ll need to do your own experiments 😉
Hi,
I stumbled upon your post while I was researching on making natural crayons for children. Such a practical approach and well demostrated article… the best I have found so far. Thank you!
I see beeswax, candellila wax, carnauba wax and
stearic acid as great ingredients for crayons . Would you have some experience on how much of each I can use. At what PH should I add the natural color to give me vibrant colors? What colors do you think would work.
I am getting into testing next week, your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Hey! Honestly, it sounds like you should buy my book—there’s not a huge difference between eyeliner and crayons 🙂 Remember that pH is only a factor if water is involved, and you’ll get the best results with mineral pigments like iron oxides. Happy making!
Hello!
I have a recipe for a cleansing balm that uses Candelila wax but it’s so hard to source out here in Malaysia. The ones I have found are not very good quality.
Is it possible to substitute beeswax for the candelila? You wrote that beeswax would sit on the surface of skin where as candelila would absorb better. Is there a third option? Or can I do anything to help the beeswax absorb better?
Many thanks for any advice 🙂
Stearic acid is a wonderful thickener in cleansing balms—far superior to beeswax and better than candelilla as well. It may not be a 1:1 swap, so you’ll want to experiment, but it does make beautiful cleansing balms!
I LOVE the fact that as my knowledge (and curiosity) grow you’ve already done the experiment that I want to know the result of …. often years ago!
Thanks again Marie – you’ve saved me a lot of time and given me considerable confidence in my new hobby.
P.S. I made your Raspberry marula serum when my Olive Squalane finally arrived … Wow! That stuff is lush 🙂
Yay! I’m glad these experiments continue to be useful for people 🙂 They often aren’t that popular when I first share them but it’s nice to hear they make good “legacy” content! And I’m glad you’re enjoying the serum—it’s still getting regular use in my routine!
A very useful guide. Thank you
You’re welcome—happy making!
Hello Marie,
I have a question about your book and candelilla wax. I want to try out the recipe of Creamy cleansing balm. In this recipe you have listed candelilla wax as one of the ingredients, may I ask why? Is it for its benefits or for waxiness? Can I use beeswax instead?
Love your blog and book by the way. I rarely comment, but I’m here quite often, and I use your book allot. Good job.
Warm regards,
Gazelle
It’s to harden/solidify without the tackiness of beeswax—I find beeswax leaves a sticky coating behind that is very unpleasant, which is why I used candelilla instead 🙂
Thanks so much for reading and buying my book, I really appreciate it! Happy making 🙂
Is candelilla wax something that could be added to an emulsion for a day cream? I keep coming up with “lotion”, and I want more of a cream.
I don’t recommend it—waxes in lotions make them tacky. Check out this recipe 🙂
Hi! My last comment I put the wrong email…
I’m making my own beard balm and my vegan friends won’t use Beeswax so I’m using Candelilla wax and I’m wondering if the 1:4 ratio will be best? Ill be adding Mango butter and possibly Kokum butter, will those too give it a better hold?
Try it yourself and see! This experiment is with liquid oils only, so you will need to do your own experiments to see how the addition of solid butters impact the end product 🙂 Start small, take lots of notes, and have fun!
Thanks for your article and the in depth research. We use candellia wax in our lipbalms and find that it is solid but has a good glide on it. We tried using it in balm but found much like yourself when cooled the wax would form on the outer edge and the in parts would be oil. You would have to stir it continuously to get the oil and gel to form a homogenous mixture.
Thanks for the tip!
Hi! I am wondering if you ave ever eliminated the wee floaty bits of candelilla wax on top of salves/balms etc once the product has hardened? Any tips welcomed….thanks!
You could try bringing the mixture to trace before pouring 🙂
I swear every time I am searching for answers to a question I have, your blog/channel always has the perfect solution! I love your channel and site. You’re amazing!
I’m so thrilled to hear it! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hello! Thanks or your post, it was very helpful. I was wondering how you clean candelilla wax of off bowls and utensils? It is so difficult to get off! I tried bowling water but still end up with a film on the stainless steel bowl.
Any help is appreciated! 🙂
Hey Ioana! First off, give this a read 🙂 What I usually do for especially waxy things is reheat the container in a water bath, wipe it as clean as possible with paper towels (which I then compost), and then hand wash the thing with quite a lot of strong detergent (this stuff is magic, but Dawn works as well). Happy making!
Hello, Wanted your opinion? Could I incorporate candelia wax into a body butter so it doesn’t melt in the summer heat?
You can, but please read this as well 🙂
Hi Humblebeeandme
A quick question, how does one create a solid perfume in bigger batches considering that the wax can harden quite quickly. What if i wanted to gift a wedding party like 30 x 10ml jars of solid perfume, how can i ensure that all the essential oils and waxes mix well without the waxes hardening too quickly. is the only way to do it one by one? is there a better way to make it more time efficient but still have great quality and smell.
Hi Marie, thank you so much for your informative post! I have a balm with beeswax that has been working pretty well and now I’d like to make it vegan but I have been unsuccessful so far. My formulation with beeswax was 7 oz shea butter, 7 oz beeswax and 16 oz herb-infused olive oil (and some essential oils). Then I used 3.5 oz Candelilla wax instead of the 7 oz beeswax (because I read one should use about half) and that means about1:4.5 ratio of oil/wax and about 13% wax ratio to the whole batch. The consistency was too weird – hard on top, oily down. Then I added 3.5 oz more shea butter. Tried to cool it in the fridge. Then in room temperature. After reading some, I stirred the mixture until tracing and poured it after. Left in room temperature. I was really hopeful with this last one, but still no good consistency. Still hard on top, too oily/grainy/soft underneath. What am I doing wrong? What should I change?