Beeswax
Why use beeswax?
Surely other waxes are cheaper and easier to come by.
Well, yes, they are cheaper and far easier to get but beeswax is the purest and most natural of all waxes.
Let me tell you about beeswax and why I love it.
It’s not just for candles.
Beeswax is antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antifungal, non-toxic, bio-degradable, 100% renewable and actually improves and cleans the air that you breathe. It has been adored and prized by civilisations for many thousands of years and knocks other waxes to the kerb!
No other wax comes anywhere near!
Beeswax is made up of nearly 300 different compounds, including acids, esters, polyesters, fatty alcohols, and lots more. All of which shows that beeswax is an incredibly complex and valuable product from the hive.
Beeswax is made by bees of course.
The young worker bees consume honey from the hives stores then they secrete delicate little wax scales from a specialised wax gland on their abdomen. To make one pound of wax a bee must consume approximately 6 pounds of honey, making it a very costly material for the hive to produce.
The virgin wax is clear and colourless, tasteless, and brittle. It needs a little more work done to it before it is useful by the hive.
Once the little wax scale is created, the bee then uses her legs and mouth to chew it. This softens the wax while also adding enzymes, so it can be moulded into the intricate honeycomb wax structure that is found in hives. The wax becomes a more yellow colour as pollen and propolis is added, giving it even more beneficial properties.
A young healthy worker bee can produce about eight scales of wax in a 12-hour period. One tiny gram of wax consists of about 1000 wax scales.
The beautiful honeycomb wax structure is vital in the hive. It is used to store nectar which will become honey, a pollen store and the queen uses the little cells to lay her eggs and raise her young.
Why the hexagonal shape? Simply it is the strongest and most effective shape. It is perfect for storage and ensures that there is no wasted space in the hive. Empty space is a waste and can make the hive harder to heat.
Can you eat beeswax? Yep, it is perfectly edible.
Many people prefer what is called cut comb, which is just a section of the honeycomb full of honey cut straight from the frames in the hive. In ancient times it would also have been chewed like a chewing gum. The beeswax will have the taste of the area in which it was created. It will have its own unique blend of pollen and honey from that locality.
We are not the first people to realise how fantastic beeswax is.
Beeswax has been used by ancient peoples for thousands of years. The Vikings knew about it, the Greeks and Romans loved it and even the Egyptians prized it.
There are cave paintings in Valencia, Spain that date back 8000 years that depict people collecting honey and honeycomb from wild bees. They were just using sticks … Brave!!
Beeswax has been found in Egyptian tombs, it was used in the embalming process and to seal the coffin and make it airtight. The word ‘mummy’ actually comes from a Persian word meaning, wax. They used it for the living as well, in health remedies, perfumes, in writing tablets and a multitude of other uses including keeping the curl fixed in their wigs.
In ancient Rome many doctors used beeswax in an application known as ‘cold cream’, to treat burns, wounds, cuts, bruises, and fractures. They also used it in their artwork. It is called encaustic painting, and the method is still in use today.
In ancient Greece, Hippocrates, the father of medicine used beeswax in cases of swollen tonsillitis. Did you ever hear of the story of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun? Well, his feathered wings were held together with beeswax. It was widely used as an adhesive. Unfortunately, he didn’t listen to his father’s advice about what happens when beeswax gets too hot.
The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all knew that beeswax candles were the best. They loved that its flame was the closest candlelight to sunlight. Despite its abundance, beeswax candles were only for the rich, those further down the ladder had to use tallow candles.
Beeswax is so versatile and has so many uses that is has been used in the past as money! In Medieval Europe, beeswax was a unit of trade, meaning you could pay your rent or a debt in beeswax. The Romans often demanded beeswax from countries that they conquered by way of a tax, often preferring the beeswax over honey!
The modern world drifted away from beeswax for a while, lured by other waxes that were cheaper and easier to make.
But nature knows best!
We have discovered that these other cheaper alternatives either contain so many toxins or we are destroying our world to make them.
The cheapest which is paraffin wax, is a material derived from petroleum, coal, or shale oil, when burned, releases compounds similar to what is found in diesel fumes.
Soy wax is made from soybeans which is a renewable resource, the only problem is that there has been massive deforestation to plant more soybeans for wax uses. This of course leads to lots of other environmental issues such as soil erosion, increased pollution, and excessive pesticide use. Also, many soy wax blends still contain paraffin wax. Indeed, a candle only needs to contain 51% soy wax to be allowed to be marketed as a soy wax blend.
Unsurprisingly, the modern world has come back to beeswax.
A pure, toxic free wax that is made naturally, without processing and during its creation, the environment is improved!
And just to ensure that our ancestors knew what they were talking about, there have been several modern scientific studies completed to prove its wonderful properties.
Today’s cosmetic industry is fully aware of the benefits of beeswax.
Beeswax is of course excellent for use on your skin. It creates a natural, healthy barrier on your skin that keeps moisture in while also letting your skin breathe. It has skin softening properties and enhances the skins elasticity. It is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-bacterial, perfect for sensitive skin.
At HoneyComb Cabin, we ADORE beeswax and are constantly discovering how truly amazing it is.
We hope that you will come to love it too.
The bees will be delighted.
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