Beeswax is amazing! It looks beautiful, smells great, and works wonders! Bees wax is a very versatile substance. In the form of a candle it will bring a warm glow to any room. It can also be used as a skin application (Hipbees products), finishing wood, lubricating, sewing, protecting leather and fabric, cleaning up oil spills, and I could go on and on.
Bees wax is great, and it smells divine, but what the heck is it? Bees make it in the hive with their magic wax producing glands, then those sweet little bees gather it up and make honey combs. The wax essentially makes up the structure of a bee hive. In those gorgeous hollow hexagonal cells made of wax, the bees raise their young and store their honey. Bees wax starts out almost white, but when pollen and propolis gets involved it turns more yellow and brown (that stuff is a whole other story!).
Bee farmers raise bees in a box, this is a man made hive. In the box there are frames that look like window panes. The bees make their fancy wax structures onto these frames. The wax literally sticks to these frames in the form of thousands of tiny wax cells full of honey. In order to get the honey out of the frames, it must first come out of the little hexagonal cells made of wax. SO, the bee farmer has a machine that shaves the wax off the top of the cells. That wax is then separated from the honey and sent to special melting box. Also, the honey is spun around at high speed to separate any wax that might still be in it- that wax too is sent to the melting box. When all the wax is collected in the big melter box, it is kept at a constant warm temperature awaiting its big chance to be poured into molds. Bees wax must not get too hot! Very important to know, because when bees wax gets to a certain temperature it will ignite and start on fire. Yikes. Finally, the wax is poured in to molds and formed into big bricks of beautiful yellow awesomeness. The bees wax then goes on to become all sorts of marvelous things.
So why do we use bees wax in cosmetics and skin care products? Most simply put, it is because beeswax is waterproof, yet it locks water in its waxy structure, making it a wonderful moisturizer for skin, nails, and hair. Further, within its structure, bees wax traps honey, pollen, and propolis. This means that wax is FULL of beta-carotene, which is converted by the body into vitamin A- excellent for the eyes and skin, and for regenerating body cells. Is that all? Nope, beeswax is also great for skin care products for the following very important reasons:
Bees wax is a great healer; it offers anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral benefits.
Bees wax is a great barrier; it offers a protection against environmental irritants while still allowing the skin to breathe.
Bees wax blends well with other materials, such as oils and nut butters. That's right, bees wax plays nice with others.
Bees wax softens and rehydrates the skin because it is an emollient and humectant. What the heck does that mean? That is the part I mentioned earlier about beeswax sealing moisture in, and converting beta carotenes into cell rejuvenating Vitamin A. Way to go bees wax!
There are a LOT of resources on the internet about the wonders of bees and at the wax they make. I encourage you to read about bees, not only is the information interesting- it is entertaining! Please contact us here at Hipbees if you have any questions or would like to know more about the bees wax we use.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog post!
Here is a picture of Clayton chopping up a block of bees wax in 2013 :)
