What Is Body Balm Used For: Everything You Need To Know
Taking care of your body is crucial to having a good quality of life, feeling healthy and energized, and practicing self-love.
Your skin can give you clues to health issues that are happening inside your body, so taking care of your skin is crucial. Knowing where to start can be a hassle with so many skincare products out there.
One of the easiest ways to take care of your skin is simply moisturizing. However, choosing a moisturizer can be complicated, especially if you do not know what you are looking for.
Keep reading to learn more about the wonderful benefits of body balm for your skin and the planet.
What Is Body Balm?
Now, what is body balm, exactly?
Body balms are products that help lock in moisture while also giving your skin the nutrients it needs to glow and be healthy.
Body balm is great for taking on the go, especially if you struggle with dry skin. Plus, you can free up space in your bag and not worry about a bulky bottle of lotion that could leak.
Body balm is also a step up from traditional lotion — it provides more intense hydration and moisture with a more concentrated formula.
Body Balm vs. Lotion: How Do They Differ?
There are quite a few reasons why body balm is different from and better than conventional lotions.
First, body balm is made without water, whereas many lotions are made with a higher percentage of water. With a large proportion of water to other ingredients, it can be difficult to see results and achieve smoother skin.
Even though lotion contains water in contrast to body balm, it can leave you with a greasy residue because your skin cannot fully absorb the lotion.
Because of this, you may find yourself applying lotion multiple times a day, only to be left with dry skin.
What Are the Disadvantages of Conventional Lotion?
Moisturizing lotion is an essential part of many people’s personal care routines, whether it be applied after showering or in the morning with deodorant and perfume.
Unfortunately, conventional lotion options have several downsides for your skin and the planet.
Water Content
As mentioned previously, many lotions are made up of between 60 and 80% water. With a watered-down moisturizer, it can be hard to get nutrient-rich hydration.
Because most moisturizers are made with high water content, they require preservatives and chemicals to maintain shelf stability.
It seems almost pointless to apply moisturizer every day if it is not truly moisturizing and can even be harmful to your skin — and your wallet.
Unnecessary Chemicals
Because of the water content of conventional lotions, chemicals and preservatives have to be added to keep them stable and to attempt to keep moisture on your skin.
A common additive for lotion is polyethylene glycol compounds or PEGs. Polyethylene glycol compounds come from petroleum by-products and non-renewable sources like natural gas and coal.
PEGs are also found in products like baby wipes and cleaners, and they are used as thickeners, softeners, and surfactants.
The issue with PEGs is in their production process. To produce PEGs, they must go through a process called ethoxylation.
Ethoxylation poses the risk of contamination with ethylene oxide — which is a known carcinogen.
Using skincare products should be a safe and healthy part of your personal care routine, and you should not have to worry about applying products that may cause cancer in the future.
Fragrance
While it can be relaxing to apply lotion with calming scents, those fragrances may be harming your skin.
Fragrance in skincare products is a common allergen, and it can cause issues like contact dermatitis and hives, both unpleasant and painful skin conditions.
Fragrance can also aggravate respiratory problems if inhaled, and the chances of this happening are higher if you apply lotion over large parts of your body every day.
Hundreds of fragrances are synthetically-made and usually are not disclosed on a product’s packaging, making it difficult to know what, exactly, you are putting on your skin and how it may affect you both short and long term.
Here at Bite, our Nothing to Hide Pledge ensures total transparency about our fragrance ingredients — because we have nothing to hide.
Greasy Residue
Another issue with the water content of lotion is that there is not a significant amount of moisturizing agents that are enough to be absorbed by your skin. This can lead to your lotion sitting on your skin and leaving a greasy residue rather than sinking in and getting to work.
Lack of Absorption
Watered-down lotions do not do much for your skin. If your skin cannot absorb the product, then it cannot absorb any ingredients that are meant to moisturize your skin.
Having to apply lotion repeatedly without any visible results can be frustrating, especially when you are spending money on moisturizers that will not work.
Moisturizers that your skin cannot absorb have not only consequences for your skin but also on the environment.
What Is the Environmental Impact of Lotion?
If you are constantly applying lotion, chances are that you will run out quickly, which can become wasteful.
Most lotion products are packaged in plastic bottles with plastic pumps that get clogged easily and leave dried lotion everywhere you don’t want it to be.
Not only are plastic pumps and bottles clunky, but they also contribute to plastic pollution.
Much of the beauty industry depends on plastic to package products that contain harmful, harsh chemicals that do more harm than good for your skin and the planet.
Though plastic lotion bottles are recyclable, only 31% of plastics are recycled, and the remaining plastics end up in landfills and bodies of water like oceans and lakes.
Even worse, most plastic products can take hundreds of years to break down. So, the bottle of lotion you used years ago is probably still in a landfill somewhere.
Thankfully, there is a solution to the issue of plastic waste produced from lotion bottles.
Bite Body Balm: Good for You and the Planet
At Bite, we know that your health and the earth’s health are important. Choices that we make can create a more positive impact on the earth than we think, especially when it comes to personal care products.
Our line of personal care products is formulated with clean, safe ingredients packaged in refillable containers to help you cut down on waste — the easy way.
Our Body Balm is made with zero water, zero waste, and all of the nutrients that your skin needs to stay moisturized and hydrated all day.
Below is a list of ingredients and components to our Body Balm that will make your skin and the earth smile.
Squalane (Vegan)
Squalane is a powerful hydrating and moisturizing ingredient that is made from squalene through the process of hydrogenation.
Squalane imitates your body’s natural oils, which makes it the perfect moisturizer. Squalane can also slow down signs of aging and help create glowing, healthy skin.
The first and richest source of squalene is shark liver oil, meaning an alarming number of sharks are killed to acquire this ingredient.
Luckily, squalene can also be sourced from plants. Our squalane comes from vegan plant sources to help keep your skin moisturized and marine ecosystems in balance.
Sunflower Seed Wax
Sunflower seed wax is a nutrient-dense wax that contains vitamins A, D, and E. Vitamin E is an essential vitamin for the overall well-being of your skin because it creates a barrier to keep moisture in your skin and dryness out.
Sunflower seed wax also helps condition and nourish your skin, leaving it feeling healthy, soothed, and hydrated.
Shea Butter
Shea butter comes from nuts that grow on shea trees. Another essential moisturizing agent, shea butter contains vitamin E and keeps your skin feeling soft.
Rosehip Oil
Rosehip oil comes from a type of rose bush usually found in Chile.
Rosehip oil is a nutrient-dense essential for skincare because it is packed with vitamins and fatty acids as well.
Fatty acids are important for skin hydration because they strengthen cell walls which prevent water loss.
One of the most important characteristics of rosehip oil is that it is easily absorbed by the skin, which only increases its hydrating and nourishing benefits for the skin.
We use rosehip oil in our body balm because of its powerful antioxidant and hydrating abilities.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E, as mentioned before, is essential for skincare because of its ability to create a hydration barrier for the skin. Vitamin E is found in natural body oil, but it never hurts to have more!
Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid is a substance that your body naturally produces and is found in skin, eyes, and connective tissue as well.
You may have seen a good deal of skincare products, especially moisturizer, that has hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is present in many moisturizers because it helps keep your skin flexible.
Hyaluronic acid is a wonderful anti-aging ingredient because it reduces the appearance of wrinkles. Most people target their face for wrinkle reduction, but wrinkles can also form on other areas of the body like hands and legs, which are often neglected.
We include hyaluronic acid in our body balm to target those areas where wrinkles can form and to improve your skin’s flexibility and elasticity.
Eco-Friendly Packaging
Perhaps the most important characteristic, our body balm is packaged in recyclable metal and is refillable as well. We design our products for refills, not landfills!
Our body balm is refillable and lasts much longer than moisturizer packaged in a plastic bottle. In fact, one refill is equivalent to five 8-ounce bottles of lotion!
Because our body balm is ultra-concentrated, it will last you much longer than conventional lotion. Packed with nutrients and powerful moisturizers, you will not have to reapply constantly and will have smooth, nourished skin all day.
The Bottom Line
Being our largest and most visible organ, our skin is what we carry with us all our lives, and it is crucial to take proper care of it.
When you know what you are putting on your skin, you can make better decisions that keep your health in mind.
With Bite’s Body Balm, making health and earth-conscious choices is made easy.
Because our Body Balm is ultra-concentrated, a little goes a long way, saving you money and the earth from plastic pollution.
Choosing a moisturizer that works and keeps the earth in mind can be a tough task, but with our Body Balm's soothing, gentle ingredients, we make that task easy for you.
With only one earth to live on, Bite can help you take care of your skin and our planet!
Sources:
Castor Oil: 4 Benefits and Uses | Healthline
#ChemicalCallout: Polyethylene Glycol Compounds (PEGs) | Made Safe
Perfumes and fragrances - undesirable effects | NIPH | FHI
Why smelling good could come with a cost to health | The Guardian
Plastic bottles pollution: impact & solutions | B-CAP
The lifecycle of plastics | WWF-Australia
What Vitamin E Does for Your Skin's Health | Cleveland Clinic
The Benefits of Rose Hip Oil | Cleveland Clinic
Efficacy Evaluation of a Topical Hyaluronic Acid Serum in Facial Photoaging | NCBI
