Movember Challenge

We are proud to support the Movember Foundation with its focus on men’s health. According to the Movember Foundation, men die an average six years younger than women, and for reasons that are largely preventable. Which means that it doesn’t have to be that way: we can all take action to live healthier, happier and longer lives. Learn more about how you can help: https://us.movember.com/

“Grow a Mo, save a Bro”

This November, men are encouraged to grow a mustache to bring awareness to men’s health. The first of the Five Things For Men to Know and Do: Make man time. Stay connected. Your friends are important and spending time with them is good for you. Catch up regularly, check in and make time.

Fun fact: The world’s longest mustache is believed to be a 14-foot monster belonging to Ram Singh Chauhan of Rajastan, India, who regularly massages it with mustard and coconut oil to keep it healthy. (Maybe that’s a freaky fact!)

Since most of our readers are women, we don’t really want to encourage the feminine ‘stache. (I pay good money to avoid that!) But you probably have a partner, brother, father, or friend who can grow a mustache. And that’s where we Adventurous Makers come in! We can support our bros with products for their facial hair.

This week, we’ll have several special recipes to support Movember. We hope you’ll enjoy them. And we hope you’ll take action to support men’s health. My husband has a Mo and a long beard, so he gets to be my main tester for these recipes. I tried to talk him into letting me really style his facial locks. So far that’s a no go. Maybe by the end of the week he’ll relent!

Let’s get into the kitchen and make up something to support that Mo!

Our first feature is Movember Mustache Muscle. This wax is intended to make your Mo behave. Some Mos lie flat. Some have curls and twirls. Some can get really wooly. Let’s see if we can make the Mo look and feel great!

I think this is the perfect product to package in our 0.15 oz Lip Balm Slider Tins! The recipe in grams will fill 6 tins with a little left over, depending on how full you fill the tins.

Gather your supplies and let’s make some good stuff!

Recipe:

INSTRUCTIONS:

Weigh the Coconut Oil, Lanolin, Jojoba Oil, and Beeswax into a microwave-safe container. Heat in 30-second increments in a microwave.

The finished product on the left is golden because I used Golden Jojoba Oil and regular yellow beeswax in the recipe. After seeing it, I realized the color could cause problems for men with light colored mustaches. So I changed the recipe to use Colorless Jojoba and white beeswax. The light colored wax was the result.

Alternately, you can use a double boiler. Put everything but the Vitamin E Natural and fragrance into a warmed double boiler, and allow the ingredients to melt fully.

When mixture is fully liquid, stir well, add the Vitamin E Natural and fragrance, stir again, and pour into tins. You’ll want to work quickly, as the mixture hardens rapidly.

I used a blend of essential oils my husband enjoys to make a small test batch. He has a favorite mustache wax I was trying to duplicate while making some changes to ingredients I didn’t like. The wax he purchased had petroleum jelly, for which I substituted lanolin. When perusing different products on the shelves of local stores, I realized that many beard and mustache products use petroleum jelly. Lanolin is a lovely alternative, and it is far more sustainable than petroleum products.

The texture of his purchased wax is slightly different from my product, but I like the result of my recipe. We shall see what the mustache bearer thinks.

After using this wax, my husband said it had a decent body, but it does not have a super strong hold. He does not curl or otherwise style his Mo, so I didn’t think the product would need to be very strong. This wax is a good middle-of-the-road strength. Based on the consistency of the products he has purchased, I think this qualifies as a medium hold wax.

After the mixture was hardened, I realized I’d goofed in the formulation. Not all mustaches are dark colored! Some may be blond, some are gray, and we don’t want to put a lot of yellow in a mustache care product. So I switched the Beeswax and Jojoba Oil to the light and colorless varieties, respectively. Lanolin is still yellow, but using the lighter oil and wax will help tone down the yellow.