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Calculators

Lip balms & salves

There is no published model that turns a composition into a hardness number, so this does not invent one. It reports what can be computed honestly — how much of the balm is solid, and the mean of the melting points its own ingredients publish — and puts them against the range balms of your format are usually written at.

What you are making
Waxes and butters

Melting points come from each ingredient’s own page, with the source printed on it.

Tubes and tins
A 5 mL lip tube holds about 4.6 g of balm, not 5 g — balm is lighter than water.

give the balm some weight

Calculated at soapformulator.com, every value sourced. Check the figures against your own scale.

The formula, and where it comes from 
solids %        = (waxes + butters) ÷ total × 100
mean melting pt = Σ(massᵢ × Tᵢ) ÷ Σmassᵢ     # over what publishes one
containers      = ⌊batch ÷ (V × ρ × fill)⌋   # ρ ≈ 0.92 g/mL, not 1
  • Solid fraction = Σ(mass of waxes and butters) ÷ total mass. A composition figure, not a measurement of the finished balm.
  • Mass-weighted mean of the ingredients’ own published melting points: T = Σ(massᵢ × Tᵢ) ÷ Σmassᵢ, each Tᵢ from that ingredient’s record. — A mixture does not melt at the mean of its components’ melting points — it softens over a range, and a wax network can hold a much lower-melting oil solid well above that oil’s own melting point. Read this as a comparison between two of your own formulas, not as the temperature the balm melts at.
  • Working ranges the craft formulates in: lip balm in a tube around 25–35 % solids, a tin balm 15–25 %, a salve 10–20 %, a firm stick 35–50 %. — Conventions collected from how balms are written, not measured thresholds. Warm climates push every band up.
  • Tubes and tins are sold by volume; a balm’s density is close to that of its oils, ≈ 0.90–0.95 g/mL. The default assumes 0.92. — Weigh one filled tube to calibrate. Fill weight also depends on how far from the rim you stop.

Why there is no hardness score

Nobody has published a model that maps a wax-butter-oil composition onto a measured penetration, so any single number would be made up. Solid fraction and mean melting point are not the same thing as hardness, but both come from a figure with a source on it, and comparing two of your own formulas by them tells you which will be firmer.

What the mean melting point is not

It is not the temperature the balm melts at. A mixture softens over a range, and a wax network holds a low-melting oil solid well above that oil’s own melting point. Read it as a way of comparing two of your formulas, not as a specification.

Common questions

How do I make it firmer?
Move liquid oil into wax, a point or two at a time. Wax builds the structure; butter mostly adds body and payoff. Going the other way, butter for wax softens it without making it greasy.
Can I scent a lip balm?
Lip products are IFRA category 1, the most restrictive there is, because the category assumes the product is eaten. Limits are often a tenth of what a bar soap allows, and many materials are not permitted at all. Read your supplier’s certificate for the category 1 figure specifically.
Mine came out grainy.
That is almost always shea or another butter recrystallising as it cools slowly. Hold the melt hot for twenty minutes, then chill it fast — straight into the fridge once poured. Composition is not the cause, so no number on this page will show it.
My balm is outside the range.
The ranges are collected from how balms are written, not measured, and a warm climate pushes every one of them up. Outside is information, not a fault.

Goes well with

All tools
Oil & butter reference Saponification values, iodine, fatty acids — as published ranges with the source on every row
Fragrance & allergen check IFRA load by product type and EU/Canada allergen declarations from supplier sheets

Know when the workbench lands

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