I’ll save you the suspense. The answer is no, beeswax cannot function as a standalone emulsifier. That’s right. It may come as a shock to some of you. If you are have been using beeswax to bind the oil and water phases together for your products. I’ve seen products which were created using beeswax only to create a form of cream product. These products were sold, with instructions to shake or stir before use. I’m here to tell you that it will not work effectively. When a cream is created, the product should remain emulsified. If separation occurs within the product’s shelf life determined, it means that the product is unstable. These products should not be sold at all and the formula will need to be reformulated.
Beeswax can be used together with a proper emulsifier to create an emulsion. When it is used this way, beeswax is classified as a co-emulsifier. It cannot function as a standalone emulsifier. Beeswax can function as a thickener as well as a texture changing ingredient. It has so many capabilities. It works well in all sorts of balms and emulsion which I’m referring to as creams.
For clarification, the word balm used here is referring to all products formulated using only oils and butters. There is no water based ingredients used in the formulation. These formulations include lip balm, lip masque, body butter, foot butter and hair masque. Just to name a few. There are many more formulation types you can create with beeswax.
As for emulsion that creates creams, the product will contain both oil and water based ingredients. As we know, oil and water don’t mix hence we need an ingredient that can bind these two type of particles together. This ingredient is called emulsifier. When both oil and water based ingredients are bound together, it forms a cream or cream-like texture. It is usually white or off white and opaque looking. The colour can vary as it depends on the colour of the emulsifier used as well as the colour of any extracts used in a formula.
The thickness of the cream will depend on the formula itself, which can be sprayable lotion which has the low viscosity right until a thick cream which has a high viscosity. It can be adjusted using thickeners and it also depends on which emulsifier used. As there are so many types of emulsifiers in the market now, I will share with you various formulations using an array of emulsifiers for you to try. I love playing with emulsifiers and it is one of my favourite type of ingredient to work with.
Beeswax cannot be used in vegan formulations. I’ve always been asked for its alternatives. There is no direct alternative. However there are other waxes such as carnauba wax that can be used for vegan formulation. Carnauba wax is harder than beeswax. The usage amount in a formula must be experimented and tested as it can produce a hard balm comparatively if the percentage used in a formula is the same when using beeswax.
Happy formulating!
