Thursday, April 2, 2020

Thursday, April 2, 2020 - Dave's Magic Manuka Balm

Due to public demand, I have decided to publish the recipe for my highly regarded Dave’s Magic Manuka Balm.
I have tried a plethora of balms, ointments, moisturizers, and oils, and after experimenting with homemade versions, the following concoction is, humbly, the best I have ever used. It is inexpensive, has no preservatives, absorbs into the skin nicely, and clears up any patches of dry contact dermatitis that I still get on occasion. 
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Safflower Oil
1/3 cup Shea Butter
1/4 cup Beeswax
1 tablespoon Manuka Honey
Directions: 
Melt everything except honey in double boiler. I use a glass bowl that fits on top of a saucepan filled with enough water to touch most of the bowl. When everything is melted, remove glass bowl, dump the hot water and replace with ice and water, then place bowl back on top. This will cool down the melted ingredients quickly. Use a handheld mixer to whip the ingredients as they cool, pausing occasionally to scrape the sides of solidified mixture back in. When mixture is almost solidified, add the honey and continue to whip and scrape the sides. When mixture is completely whipped into a frenzy, scrape it into your final container. Immediately place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Then just store at room temperature in a handy place. The results is a fairly thick balm with, well, not an unpleasant odor. Naive, yet not innocent.
If you'd rather have something that smells nice, you can add a drop or two of essential oil, such as lavender, but keep in mind that essential oils are very complex and not as safe as those that sell it would like you to believe. Some, including lavender and tea tree oil are estrogenic. I completely avoid them.
The freezer part is to cool the mixture quickly. If not done, the honey in the balm will tend to crystalize, which is fine as it melts on your skin, but it is much nicer if it’s all smooth and buttery. 
NOTES:
Manuka honey has quite the reputation, but there is no conclusive evidence that it is effective at anything better than regular honey. Also, the odds of buying actual Manuka honey, even of the label says it is, is about 10%. The majority is counterfeit. I trust Costco. Honestly, the balm is probably just as effective with regular honey, but since I saw Manuka honey at Costco I grabbed it. Other oils would probably work fine too, but I am partial to safflower as it has actually been clinically tested on babies.
It is my opinion that many people that have allergies struggle with using moisturizers because virtually all commercial products contain preservatives. Many of those preservatives, and other ingredients used as well, are known allergens. The majority of shampoos, for example, contain methylchloroisothiazolinone and chloroisothiazolinone, a combination also known as MCI, that is a preservative used in industrial lubricants that works by breaking down cell walls. Nasty stuff. It is now my philosophy to not use anything on my skin that I would not eat. I actually tasted this balm, and, well, it tasted awful. I do not recommend spreading it on toast.
Links to products I used:
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