All right, it is way past my bedtime and I've been searching the archives (and all sorts of internet sites recommended there) for hours and I cannot for the life of me find a recipe that I swore was in there. It's a hand lotion recipe, the ingredients being beeswax, mineral oil, distilled water and borax. I need to know the proportions and mixing instructions. I would try to just muddle through, but I don't have a great deal of beeswax to muddle with! :)

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), March 09, 2002

Answers

There is a book call Super Formuals that you can by at Lapps Bee Suppy phone 800-321-1960 Good Luck

-- Butch (beefarm@scrtc.com), March 09, 2002.

Found one recipe using google, let me know if it is any good:

6 oz. mineral oil (also called liquid paraffin), 2 oz. beeswax, 8 oz distilled water, 2 TSP borax (I don't know if that's teaspoon or tablespoon)

In a double boiler, heat oil and wax to 160 F. At the same time in a sauce pan, heat the water to 160 F. When both reach this temperature, add the borax to the water, stir briefly until it's dissolved. Maintaining the temperature, pour the borax-water solution into the beeswax-oil solution while stirring briskly. Turn heat off and continue stirring for at least 5 minutes. When the mixture has cooled to 140 F, pour into containers and let cool.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 09, 2002.

Here's the recipe I use:

1/4 cup water 1/8 teaspoon borax (or the washing soda out of the yellow box) 3 tablespoons grated beeswax 1/2 cup vegetable oil fragrance or essential oil

I make the cream in the same container I keep it in, so I don't have more stuff to clean up. I use a small, round plastic container with a lid -- a Tupperware wannabe. I put the oil in it, and put it in a small saucepan with just enough water so that it barely floats. Think imitation double boiler. Turn up the heat only enough to keep the water below simmering: bubbles rarely leave the sides of the pan and break the surface of the water. Add the beeswax to the oil, and stir occasionally to help melting. Heat the water (in the same measuring cup you used for the oil) and add the borax; stir to dissolve. When the beeswax is all melted, remove from the heat and add the water mixture in a slow stream, stirring constantly. Add fragrance/essential oil, if desired (I use about 20 drops of fragrance oil.)

We keep this in the bathroom and apply to wet skin after showering. Do not towel creamed areas!

Notes: I vastly prefer vegetable oil to mineral, having tried both. Olive oil makes a softer product. I keep a mini grater that I use only for the beeswax; it's very hard to clean off a regular grater.

-- Marcia in MT (marciabundi@myexcel.com), March 11, 2002.