Beeswax, found in some lipsticks, tattoo balms and other cosmetics is obtained by melting a honeycomb with boiling water and then straining and cooling it.

It is not unusual for farmers at larger bee farms 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 whom if they survive transport will be killed by the bees in the new colony. Large commercial bee farms may also replace the honey that 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 so this process does nothing to support our critical bee population. Many reasons cosmetic producers incorporate beeswax into their products is because it is far cheaper than the alternatives, often half the cost, so perhaps profits are not unusually the driving factor here.

Should we be concerned? Well we should all be concerned as after all, bees are essential for their roles in food production for humanity’s benefit. Many of our food crops for both man and animals depend on bees for pollination. It is estimated that if the bee population was somehow reduced by at least 30 percent, more than half of the world’s food supply will be adversely affected. With droughts, earthquakes and other natural and man made disasters befalling us nowadays, losing the bees is yet another challenge to our survival as the dominant species on earth.  We may even go the way of the dinosaur and the dodo, no thanks to the elimination of our little striped helpers.

So with that said, when it comes to healing your tattoo, perhaps using a vegan tattoo balm might be your best choice not only for your tattoo, but for preserving the bee population. I guess most vegans are more than likely already considerate of these facts mentioned. All we need is for more people to follow suit and avoid those products that use beeswax most often for blatant profit.

Furthermore, beeswax is very thick and sticky so it’s not the most ideal topical application for a fresh tattoo despite what promoters might tell you. It takes a very long time for it to absorb into the skin layers and can actually have the reverse intended effect and prolong the healing time of tattoos unnecessarily. This thicker wax prevents air from being absorbed into the fresh tattooed skin which is exactly the opposite of what healing skin requires. I guess it's juts logical when you think about it.

So when choosing cosmetics or a tattoo balm, perhaps spare a thought for the bees and our ‘food bowl’ as without these amazing creatures, we’d be in huge strife! Avoid petroleum based balms and lotions and give a vegan tattoo balm a try instead and be part of the solution and not the problem. Give the bees a day off and try out a vegan alternative tattoo balm here>>