Balms and salves, explained properly
Trebalm is a working reference for anyone who makes, sells or simply wants to understand water-free skincare. Real melting points, percentage formulas that total 100, the mechanism behind every fault, and calculators that do the arithmetic for you.
Eight sections, one subject
Everything on Trebalm sits in one of eight places. Each hub is a map of that part of the subject, not a blog archive.
- Fundamentals
Balm basics
What a balm is structurally, how anhydrous products behave, and the physics that decides texture and stability.
- Materials
Ingredients
Waxes, butters, oils, antioxidants and actives, with melting points, fatty acid profiles and honest assessments.
- Formulas
Formulas
Percentage formulas with the reasoning behind every number, from a first lip balm to a rinse-off cleansing balm.
- Diagnosis
Troubleshooting
Grainy butter, sweating oil, cracked tops, sunken tubes, drag on the lips. Cause, fix, and prevention.
- Practice
Making and selling
Equipment, pour temperatures, filling, packaging, batch maths, shelf life and the rules that apply once money changes hands.
- For buyers
Buying and using
Read any label, judge any claim, and understand what a balm can and cannot do for your skin.
- Head to head
Comparisons
One wax, butter, oil or product against another, decided on measured values rather than marketing language.
- Free tools
Calculators
Wax ratios, batch scaling, container fills, blend stability, unit cost, ingredient lists and essential oil dilution.
The numbers most people are looking for
Full wax comparisonAlmost every balm question comes back to a melting point and a percentage. These are the values the rest of the site is built on.
| Material | Melts at | Typical share of a lip balm | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beeswax | 62-64 C | 10-20% | Structure with cushion |
| Candelilla wax | 68-73 C | 7-14% | Vegan structure, harder per gram |
| Carnauba wax | 82-86 C | 1-3% | Heat resistance and gloss |
| Shea butter | 32-38 C | 15-30% | Body, cushion, richness |
| Cocoa butter | 34-38 C | 10-25% | Snap, firmness, scent |
| Castor oil | liquid | 5-15% | Gloss and cling |
Do the arithmetic in the browser
All eleven calculators- Calculator
Wax ratio and firmness
Set a wax, a container and a climate, get a firmness estimate and a starting percentage.
- Calculator
Batch and container fill
Turn a number of tubes or tins into a batch weight, with overage, then into grams per ingredient.
- Calculator
Oil blend properties
Blend up to six oils and see the fatty acid profile, stability estimate and expected shelf life.
- Calculator
Shelf life estimator
See which factor is actually limiting your best before date, and it is usually not the oil.
Where people usually start
- How to make lip balm
The base formula, three variants, exact pour temperatures and the faults each mistake produces.
- Balm vs salve vs ointment vs cream
One table across eight product types. The only hard line is water content, and the rest is convention.
- Why shea butter goes grainy, and how to fix it
Crystallisation, not contamination. Full melt, then cool fast.
- Does lip balm dry your lips?
No physical dependence, but three real mechanisms that make the feeling genuine.
- Tallow in balms
What rendered beef fat actually contributes, why water content is the spoilage risk, and where the popular claims outrun the evidence.
- Labelling a balm you intend to sell
What must appear on the label, and where a cosmetic quietly becomes a regulated drug.
How Trebalm works
Numbers before adjectives
Every claim about hardness, melting or shelf life comes with a figure and a range, and we say when a figure is a typical value rather than a measurement.
No brands, no affiliates
We compare ingredients, ratios and methods. We do not rank shops or products, and nothing here is a paid placement. See our editorial standards.
Corrections in public
When we get something wrong we fix the page and log it on the corrections page with the date and what changed.
Trebalm is a reference for makers and informed buyers. It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for the safety assessment your local law may require before you sell a cosmetic. Read the safety disclaimer and the methodology note.