The Best Organic & Natural Lip Balms, Based on Their Ingredients
Last Updated: July 29, 2023
When it comes to lip balms, there are a surprising number of iffy ingredients. We took a deep look into 20+ organic and natural lip balms, and rated them based on their ingredients.
When making the switch to clean skincare, lip balm is a great place to start.
It’s simple and cheap to make the swap to a natural lip balm. Because it’s going right on the lips, you do ingest some amount of lip balm throughout the day from eating, drinking and licking your lips. For this reason, it’s very important to have a clean, natural and chemical-free lip balm in your skincare repertoire.
Lip balms are a great way to keep the lips hydrated and prevent them from getting chapped and dried out. However, like most skincare products, there are a lot of concerning ingredients that can be found in lip balms.
Thankfully, there are many great organic, natural and clean lip balms available and there’s no reason to use a petroleum-filled, skin-irritating lip balm when you can choose a clean, natural and organic balm.
Let’s take a dive into the world of natural lip balms and find out exactly what it means for a balm to be organic.
The Three Main Healthy Ingredients In a Natural Lip Balm
Generally, clean and natural lip balms will use these three types of ingredients to make up the base of the product.
Oils – Oils from coconut, jojoba, olive, castor, avocado and more. These oils can penetrate into the skin, offering deep hydration and helping to repair dry, chapped lips.
Butters – Natural butters like mango butter, cacao butter, and shea butter help add firmness to the balms as well as helping to nourish the skin.
Waxes – Beeswax (which makes a product non-vegan), candelilla and rice wax help keep the balm stay on your lips. Waxes also help protect the lips from irritation, too. In skincare, waxes are an occlusive, meaning that in this case, they seal moisture in the lips.
Iffy Ingredients To Avoid in Lip Balms
The following list of ingredients are common chemicals found in lip balms that have potential health issues, and therefore we believe you should avoid them.
Synthetic Fragrance – A very common reason for skin irritation, and a 2008 study found that 83% of drugstore creams contained fragrance or a fragrance-related allergen.
The term fragrance when used in products is an umbrella term, and there are currently 3059 chemical ingredients that can be used in fragrances. And what’s worse is that manufacturers can just list “fragrance” and not the individual ingredients that go into the fragrance.
Some of these 3059 ingredients have been linked to health effects like cancer, allergies, reproductive issues and more.
Read our full story on chemical fragrance here.
Parabens – These are toxic preservatives that have been linked to breast cancer, hormonal disruption and skin irritation. Anything ending in “-paraben” such as methylparaben, ethylparaben and butylparaben is included.
Parabens are not part of the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) list, meaning they can be included in products labeled as organic—a trick you need to watch out for. Conversely, the European Union has banned products with parabens since 2012.
Chemical Sunscreens – Ingredients like oxybenzone, homosalate and octinoxate are chemical sunscreens also known as UV absorbers. These controversial chemicals have been linked to breast cancer and endocrine disruption and have no place in a lip balm. Read our full story on chemical sunscreens here.
Mineral Oil & Petroleum Jelly – Otherwise known as petroleum jelly, a petroleum-derived product that clogs skin pores. What’s worse is that due to improper refining, it’s sometimes contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are linked to cancer.
The Best Natural Lip Balms
These balms are all fully organic, have all natural ingredients, and are the best of the best in the world of natural and organic lip balms.
Kari Gran
This 100% organic balm is made from a base of castor seed oil, beeswax, camellia oil, avocado oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, and calendula oil. For it’s list of organic and natural ingredients, this balm gets a top rating.
Ingredients
Badger
This lip balm from Badger is a 100% organic balm full of clean ingredients. Organic olive oil, beeswax, and castor oil are the key ingredients in this clean balm we give a “best” rating.
Ingredients
Alaffia
This organic coconut oil balm contains only four ingredients and gets a top rating.
Ingredients
Dr. Bronner
Dr. Bronner’s USDA-certified organic lip balm is made of 100% organic ingredients. With organic avocado oil, beeswax, jojoba oil, hemp oil, and peppermint, this is one of the best lip balms we looked at.
Ingredients
Booda Butter
With an excellent list of all-organic ingredients, this Non-GMO verified lip balm is one of the best we’ve seen.
For those with a tree nut allergy, this balm does contain almond oil.
Ingredients
Henné Organics
This USDA-certified organic lip balm (beeswax and various oils make up the balm) is fragrance-free and full of excellent ingredients. We give it a top rating.
Ingredients
Good Natural Lip Balms
These lip balms are good, but not the best. Most of them are not fully organic—or not organic at all—and might have potential irritants or ingredients you may wish to avoid.
Avalon Organics
This lip balm from Avalon Organics is made from many organic and natural ingredients. The only concern is that it contains several potential allergens, so be aware of that if you have sensitive skin.
Ingredients
Alba Botanica
Organic coconut, castor seed, jojoba, soybean, apricot oils and beeswax, candelilla wax, and sunflower wax make up the base of this balm. This product does contain several potential allergens, so be aware of this if you have sensitive skin.
Ingredients
Kosas
While this balm does have a clean list of ingredients, none of them are organic. Tocopherol and rose hip oil can be potential allergens if you have sensitive skin or are prone to chapped lips.
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Bite Beauty
While the list of ingredients in this balm is clean, there are balms with better and simpler ingredients.
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Desert Essence
Soybean oil, organic beeswax, organic shea butter, and candelila wax make up this main ingredients of this balm. With no ingredients of concern, we give it a good rating.
Ingredients
Biossance
This balm from Biossance has a clean list of ingredients, although there are some balms with a more simple and natural ingredient list.
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Ilia
Ilia’s lip balm has a clean list of ingredients, but we’ve looked at others that have a much more simple and organic list. While there’s nothing of major concern here, we’d recommend other balms over this one.
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Bite Beauty
While the list of ingredients in this balm is clean, there are balms with better and simpler ingredients.
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Crazy Rumors
This balm has an excellent list of ingredients, most of which are organic. If you have a tree nut allergy, do note that this main ingredient of this balm is macadamia nut oil.
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Hurraw!
This lip balm has a relatively good list of ingredients, but does include a few potential irritants. If you have sensitive skin, look for the ingredients marked with an asterisk (*).
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Weleda
This balm does have a clean list of ingredients, but it does have several potential irritants. If you have sensitive skin, you might wish to choose a balm with less irritants.
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eos
This all-organic lip balm has an excellent clean list of ingredients. The only ingredients of concern are a few essential oil ingredients (linalool, limonene) that are known to be contact allergens. This shouldn’t be a concern unless you have sensitive skin.
