Just Bee Cosmetics - Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet - .15 oz. (4.25 g)

Just Bee Cosmetics Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet offers 100% natural protection with no artificial fillers, smoothers, preservatives, or stabilizers. The primary ingredient in Just Bee Cosmetics Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet is beeswax in its natural state. They gather wax locally from their carefully managed hives as well as wild sources. Competitors' products contain “beeswax” that has been extensively processed and is a by-product of pollination or honey production. Their wax will contain many residual chemicals and is often imported from China or other countries where bees are considered an industry and not a crucial part of a natural ecosystem. Ingredients that are not readily available in their local area are sourced from suppliers that provide products as close to their natural state as possible. They use only high quality organic oils and do not use inexpensive filler oils such as olive or cotton seed which have been hot processed or produced using a chemical solvent.

Just Bee Cosmetics Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet provides a thin coverage layer that outlasts other brands. Just Bee does not glob on in an oily mess. The less oily formula needs only a thin application layer to provide a protective coat, which requires less product for each application and extends the life of each tube. Just Bee Cosmetics Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet’s flavor is subtle and provides just the right amount of interest while not overwhelming the senses. Just Bee Cosmetics Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet offers a longer shelf life because of the high beeswax content, which provides natural preservative properties and maintains freshness. Each ingredient, each batch, each tube of Just Bee Cosmetics Lip Balm Just Bee Sweet is carefully filled and quality checked on site.

What Makes Them Bee Friendly?
Just Bee is committed to supporting and fostering a beekeeping environment that promotes the natural habitat and natural behaviors of bees. “Bees are sensitive, social creatures that have achieved a high degree of harmony and productivity in their colonies. Their social structure is both dynamic and ordered. They are intelligent, and can learn and remember; they can use visual orientation to estimate the distance from a nectar source while in flight. They construct colonies that are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.” (The Ecologist, June 2007) They are naturally good at what they do.

For thousands of years, bees have been a crucial part of the human experience. The first man-made homes for bees were small skeps, domes made of clay or straw, which allowed bees to build their hive in a safe, accessible container. However, because there was no way to remove only the honeycomb, the entire hive had to be destroyed each time honey was harvested. To make harvesting less destructive, the top bar hive was invented. This type of hive is made up of several horizontal bars from which the bees build their comb. Several changes later the bars became movable, which allowed each comb to be inspected or harvested individually. Allowing the beekeeper to preserve each hive, while at the same time, reaping the benefits of the honey, wax, and other great products. Just Bee uses movable top bar hives because this method is more Bee Friendly.

But then, the demand for honey and a more industrialized harvest method called for a different hive form, the preformed frame based hive. This is the type of hive you may be familiar with: rectangular frames inside a stack of boxes that are added or removed as the bee keeper sees fit. This “advancement” in beekeeping had several perceived advantages. It standardized many of the areas of beekeeping thus allowing the beekeeper to quickly work many hives. Frames could be “uncapped” and spun to remove the honey, then be put back in any hive for bees to refill and recap until the process could be repeated. This method has become the model for beekeeping worldwide. Unfortunately, this industrial method causes a number of problems. First and foremost, it changes the relationship between the beekeeper and the bee.

The use of this industrial method forces bees into a hive structure that is unnatural. When an industrial beekeeper wants to expand a frame based hive, he adds a box, called a super, to the hive that contains preformed foundation comb made of either pressed wax or plastic. These jolting additions result in a huge negative impact on the the hive. The added surface area is additional space that needs to be guarded and maintained; the bees may not be ready for this large expansion to the hive. Unguarded areas allow parasites and predators a haven within the hive, creating a place for them to gain a foothold and assault the community of bees. When disease and pests do attack, the industrial beekeeping mentality is to use harsh chemicals to eliminate the threat to the hive. These chemicals imbed themselves in the wax and stores of the hive and can never be removed. As the wax is reused with each honey cycle, these chemical levels build. The toxic environment created by the chemical residue degrades the overall health of the hive.

Additionally, the use of a preformed foundation only allows bees to create cells of one size. In a natural wild hive there are cells of many different sizes. Some are for raising new worker bees, some for raising male or drone bees, some for raising queens, and others for storing honey and pollen. Forcing one cell size on the bee colony increases susceptibility to diseases and pests. The use of this hive type and the industrial attitude toward beekeeping has contributed to many problems in the bee population and in the products that come from this type of hive management.

Colony collapse disorder, American foulbrood disease, mites, and parasitic wax moths are a few of the constant threats to all bees regardless of the method of beekeeping. However, allowing the bees to expand their hives as they choose in a movable top bar hive gives bees the upper hand. This hive allows bees to create cells of the correct size at a rate that they can guard and maintain. No chemicals are needed when the beekeeper pauses to allow the bees to work for themselves, remaining patient and not coercing the bees to work for us. With this slower, more in touch method of beekeeping, Just Bee does not need to use smoke to work with their bees. Smoking the hive is meant to scare the bees, simulating a fire, tricking the bees into gorging themselves on honey and abandoning the hive. Using smoke on a hive disrupts the bees for hours and leaves residual scents for days that disrupts the bees delicate pheromone communication and ruins the balance of the hive. Being Bee Friendly is a way of thinking about the bee - human relationship.

At Just Bee they simply allow their bees to maintain happy, healthy, naturally thriving hives. Then, and only then, will they delicately harvest what is extra.

About Just Bee
Just Bee is a 100% natural beeswax lip balm that provides a layer of protection unlike any other. Thoughtfully crafted in small batches, Just Bee only uses carefully chosen ingredients and natural subtle flavoring that adds an extra dimension of interest and quality that cannot be found in any other product.

Keith and Jean LLC is a small cosmetics company that specializes in creating quality products using only natural ingredients. They use their own naturally harvested beeswax and honey as well as organic, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. If specific items are not available, they choose only supplies from partners that share their vision of quality and a commitment to natural products.