Taking the bees comb wax (their home) is considered cruel. PETA will not certify a product “Cruelty Free” that uses beeswax for this reason. We need bees to pollenate most of our food crops, and there is no need to exploit, and harm bees by taking their wax to make products.

There are plenty of other plant based (non-petroleum) waxes that manufacturers can use that are much better than beeswax. Ladybug Jane uses plant based carnauba and candelilla waxes. The Ladybug Jane brand was the very first Vegan Lip Balms ever made. Beeswax products can never be Vegan Certified.

Bees don’t just spit up beeswax!

Technically, they spit up to make honey, but making beeswax is a little different. Every pound of beeswax is a labor of love and a lot of hard work for bees to make.

Worker bees make the wax using eight glands located on the inner part of their shield plates. Eight pounds of honey must be removed from the beehive to get 1 pound of beeswax!

Bees typically only live for about 40-days; they are working hard to help the next generation. Bees only leave the hive on sunny days. After working so hard, imagine the devastation of someone coming along and taking all your house and hard work away. It’s not fair, or necessary.

Beeswax Is Not Hydrating

Lets think about this for a second, would bees want water in their hive? Or would they create a wax to keep water out of the hive to protect their home, young, and honey?

There is a lot of misinformation online, saying beeswax is hydrating and a humectant ( reduces lots of moisture) It is not. It’s a myth to say beeswax is hydrating and “locks in Moisture”.

Beeswax is hydrophobic, meaning it repels water from the beehive and skin. Run water over a beeswax candle and one will quickly see that the water slides off.

Heavy waxes like beeswax repel water.

Beeswax is not Cruelty- Free. Factory- farming of beeswax is happening.

Beeswax has become an acceptable and widespread ingredient in so many natural and clean beauty products especially lip balms. Beeswax is often used as a natural alternative to petroleum-based products, but bees need their own beeswax.

Beeswax is found in 99% of ALL lip balms and lipsticks.

Beeswax molds easily, quickly, and is cheap compared to other plant base waxes.

Unfortunately, at factory bee farms and large bee farms, it is not unusual for farmers to cut off the queen bee’s wings so that she cannot leave the colony or to have her artificially inseminated on a bee-sized version of the factory farm “rape rack.” When the beekeeper wants to move a queen to a new colony, she is carried with “bodyguard” bees, all of which—if they survive transport—will be killed by the bees in the new colony. Large commercial bee farms may also replace the honey—which bees produce and need to get through the winter—with a cheap sugar substitute that lacks the nutrition of honey.

Many bees are killed, or have their wings and legs torn off because of haphazard handling.

How is Ladybug Jane helping the bees?

All Ladybug Jane lip balms are beeswax free. Every ingredient is carefully sourced to ensure it is free of pesticide, petrochemicals, and other harsh GMO ingredients. Our lip balms are 98% organic. One ingredient we use called Candellia wax is not available in an organic certified form.

We donate 20% of our profits to a tree-planting program in Costa Rica and in Malibu, California.

What can you do to help the bees?

With the bees disappearing, they simply don’t have extra wax or honey to share, and they can’t make honey if they are making beeswax. Buy products that don’t use beeswax. By looking for products that are beeswax-free, such as Ladybug Jane Lip balms you’re already doing a lot to help. If you want to do more, here are a few ides:

1) Plant flowers. When planting for bees make sure you plant from untreated plants. Most plant starts are pre-treated with neonicotinoids. The safest thing is to plant from organic seeds.

2) Buy fruits and veggies from local organic farms/growers who are growing with permaculture practices in place. This helps show that you support bees because on those farms they aren’t using pesticides or practicing large-scale mono cropping.

3) Start a backyard hive or join a community of beekeepers that practice bee-centric beekeeping, which is a philosophy that puts the needs of the bees before the needs of humans. This focuses instead on education and rescuing unwanted colonies that might otherwise be exterminated.

4) Avoid GMOs

5) Eliminate the use of pesticides since they can poison the bees. Ask your local community and golf course to do the same.

Join us in taking the sting out of Lip balms!

Our purchases reflect our values, so it’s time to make a beeswax-free choice to take a stand for bees!