Do you want to know the difference between white & yellow beeswax for soap making? If YES, here are 4 clear differences between white and yellow beeswax pellets. Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus Apis.
The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive workers collect and use it to form cells for honey storage and larval and pupal protection within the beehive. Chemically, beeswax consists mainly of esters of fatty acids and various long-chain alcohols.
Types of BeesWax
The most common type of beeswax color that can be easily found is yellow. This is actually the pure and natural tone of a honeycomb. In fact, the more golden the color, the more quality the wax is said to have. Those that have darker colors are the ones that are deemed as lower quality waxes.
Yellow is really not a fixed color of beeswax; that is, the wax must not really present as yellow. It can be creamy golden, orangey and dark brownish tint. The colours or tints usually have something to do with the flowers where the bees are harvesting or foraging the materials they need for their hive.
Uses of Beeswax
Beeswax with yellow to golden color are said to be pure and of high quality. These are the type of wax that product makers prefer to use. Both yellow and white beeswax can be used for creating holistic products such as lip balms, lotions, soaps and candles.
Beeswax has an indefinite shelf life and it’s usually added to bath and body recipes as a hardening agent. In cold process soap, beeswax is a natural way to harden your soaps and can be added up to 8% in recipes. When using it in a recipe, melt it first (make sure not to explode it in your microwave), and add it at thin trace when the batter has reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, otherwise the beeswax will begin to harden in your soap.
Be aware that beeswax can contribute to overheating your soap, and you could end up with a soap volcano or heat tunnels if your temperatures are too high. Because of this, you should not insulate beeswax soap or only lightly insulate it for recipes containing 1-3% beeswax.
Though beeswax makes cold process soap harder, but that’s not the case in melt & pour soaps. Adding beeswax to most melt & pour bases will actually make it softer. If you are finding that your particular base is too soft, take a look at your ingredients. Alternatively, you can let your soap sit out under a fan for up to a week to get a harder bar of melt and pour soap.
What is the Difference Between White and Yellow Beeswax Pellets?
Aside from the natural conditions that affect the color of the beeswax, the processing methods do also have an effect. You have to know that the honeycomb accumulates impurities in which the beekeepers who harvest them really need to filter them out.
One of the most common processing method involved is by the use of heat where the beeswax are melted. Exposing the wax to a high temperature is often a result of a dark colored wax. We are going to attempt to isolate the differences between the yellow and white beeswax, and what occasion each should be used.
1. Filtration process
One of the main differences between white and yellow beeswax pellets is actually their filtration process. Yellow beeswax have undergone heating procedure and then filtered to get rid of the debris. While for the white beeswax, it undergoes pressure-filtration which gives that white like ivory color.
2. Refined and bleached
Yet another difference between the yellow and white beeswax is that the yellow beeswax is fully refined, while the white beeswax is naturally bleached by exposing it in thin layers to air, sunlight and moisture. The wax has been completely refined to the extent that the yellow tint got removed.
3. Uses
Yellow and white beeswax differ also in their uses. Pure, unbleached, pressure-filtered beeswax is typically ivory in color. It features a sweet scent, and is ideal for those products where you desire a light tone. If you want to add colorants to your product, then white beeswax is highly recommended.
Yellow beeswax has been heated and cleaned to filter out debris. It varies in color from light to dark yellow. This version of beeswax is ideal for candle-making and other products where you’d like the natural color of the stuff to come through.
White beeswax is great for projects such as candle making because you can create lots of different colored candles with natural mica powder. Beeswax candles are naturally hypoallergenic and emit negative ions into the air, which have various health benefits.
Yellow beeswax can still be used for candles, but will not showcase the colors in the mica powder as well as a white beeswax base will. White beeswax is typically chosen for aesthetic reasons. Yellow beeswax is also used in cosmetic applications like balms or salves but white for lipsticks or anything where a high percentage of beeswax is needed.
4. Purity
Yet another difference between the yellow and white beeswax is that beeswax with yellow to golden color are of good purity and of high quality.