vegan belly butter

I ran out of Beeswax! What???

It’s a staple ingredient, after all. How could I let that happen?

(Honestly, I don’t actually know how that happened at all…I just realized one day I was completely out! Yikes!)

Out of Beeswax

I was left with two options, use the other waxes I had on hand or frantically try to get my hands on some beeswax.

Of course, not having the energy to be frantic, I did some research and decided to try out the other waxes that I had on hand.

Other Wax Options

After a wee bit of research, I learned that you use about half of the amount of “other” wax as compared to beeswax. In other words, where you would use 2 tablespoons of beeswax, you would substitute 1 tablespoon of “other” wax. Other waxes tend to be harder than beeswax, so you just need a little less of it.

Candellila Wax

I settled on trying out some of the Candellila wax. I was charged with making some belly butter for a good friend who is quite pregnant.

I used exactly half of the amount of wax I would normally use. I melted all of the ingredients together and then poured the butter into the jars. I love the colour of this wax. It’s a light yellow and it didn’t darken up even after it cooled off. I was a bit worried that the mixture didn’t have enough wax because it didn’t start to harden for quite a while. I ended up leaving it overnight and, lo and behold, it had turned into a beautiful butter by the morning. I tried some out for myself and it was great. It was soft enough to easily smear onto your skin and it was hard enough not to be runny in the jar.

That’s exactly how I stumbled on the art of making vegan belly butter. I used some different oils and of course, the candellila wax. However, the process was the same in that I simply melted everything together, added some essential oils, and then poured the liquid into jars to set.

I tried this butter out myself and thought it worked wonderfully. However, sadly, it did not work out so well for my pregnant friend. Something in it, either the different combination of oils or the wax itself (or that very combination of wax and oils) didn’t agree with her skin. Fortunately, I got my hands on some beeswax in the interim and whipped up a batch of the regular stuff. Phew!