This is the buzzy natural ingredient your dry, chapped skin needs ASAP

You may be most familiar with beeswax as an ingredient thanks to Burt’s Bees lip balms. But there are many beauty uses for beeswax beyond lip products. Beeswax is often harvested for beauty products primarily due to the fact that it’s so soothing to dry skin.

“Literally you can use it from head to toe,” says Debbi Burnes, natural skincare expert, esthetician and founder of Sumbody. “Beeswax is a humectant, which means it helps your skin contains its own moisture. It also seals and locks moisture in. I absolutely love beeswax. Used properly it’s an amazing ingredient.” This ingredient can be found in everything from hand lotions to hair products to, yes, lip balms.

“Beeswax has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties which helps to fight conditions such as acne and eczema. It calms the skin without clogging your pores,” says Adriana Martino, esthetician and co-founder of Skinney Medspa. She recommends it for people who have sensitive or dry skin, “especially during the cold, harsh winter months.” It’s also rich in vitamin A, she says, so it can help with fine lines and wrinkles. Her favorite uses for beeswax are to moisturize lips, hands, and cuticles.

While beeswax can generally work for all skin types, Burnes notes that it really depends on the concentration of beeswax in the product. “For example, in a hard bar lotion there can be a high percentage of beeswax and that’s perfect for the body from the neck down or your hair, but you would not want to use that for your face,” she says.

“I think one thing that’s important to be mindful of is how it’s obtained,” Burnes says. “There are people who are raising bees and selling honey, beeswax, and honeycomb ethically and sustainably without destroying the colonies of bees. Bees are imperative to our survival as humans our food chain would be virtually an existing without it, so making sure you’re getting properly sourced products from bees it Is important.”

The best drugstore beauty products (a little) money can buy:

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Welp, I feel the urge to buy all the beauty products with beeswax now. Try the new lipsticks from a cult-favorite lip balm brand. Or if you’re into DIY, this lip balm recipe is super hydrating and tastes like mint chocolate chip. Written by: WellGood