Lip Butter Face-Off: Burt's Bees & Solana

We're happy to showcase the first installment of Daria Baker's ingredient deep dive. Daria is a UTK student majoring in nutrition and double minoring in environmental studies and public health. For a school project, she's taking a closer look at the ingredients found in some of your favorite KnoxFill products and comparing them to other alternatives.ย 

I personally canโ€™t go anywhere without my lip balm - I risk the chance of an endless day/night of feeling like my lips will fall off from the constant licking, even though it only makes things worse. I personally have been using Burtโ€™s Bees as my go-to lip balm, so I thought that it would only make sense that I put it head-to-head against the one offered at KnoxFill.ย 

I was pleasantly surprised that the lip balm currently in my pocket did hold its own overall, but it does fall shortย on a few ingredients and onย packaging. Solanaโ€™s vegan lip butters are made with certified organic ingredients rated at EWG (Environmental Working Group) 1 and 2 andย come in a compostable tube. I donโ€™t know about you, but hearing that something is in compostable packaging just makes me want to try it out even more. Burtโ€™s Bees does offer a mail-in program through Terracycle to compost their tubes, but the lack of recycling infrastructure here locally has me thinking that maybe I'll have to find a new favorite lip balm.ย 

In addition to clean ingredients and thoughtful low waste packaging, Solana lip butter is made in Knoxville and woman-owned. Personally, I like supporting local, women-owned companies because you know where and who is actually making your product, you get to keep your hard-earned money within our community (and help build up Knoxville to be the best region it can be!), and you are supporting local makers and business owners (rather than helping pay for some corporate personโ€™s third home or boat . . .) Burtโ€™s Bees, in contrast, is owned by the Clorox Company, a defendant in a lawsuit aimed at some of the biggest plastic polluters.ย 

Our lips are more sensitive and susceptible to drying out than the rest of the skin on your body, and itโ€™s important that theyโ€™re well protected from the elements. We know that choosing an effective lip balm or butter can take some trial and error - and we encourage you to check out Solana next time your favorite lip product runs out! Keep reading to see a deep dive of the ingredients in each product, the function they serve, and their EWG rating.ย 

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

Ingredients: cera alba (beeswax, cire d'abeille), cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, tocopherol rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil (huile de colza), limonene.

Packaging and end of life:ย The package is not recyclable curbside, however, they do offer a free TerraCycle mail-back program.

Burt's Bees Ingredientsย 

Functionย 



Grade (according to EWG Skin Deep)

BEESWAX

Appeared as: CERA ALBA (BEESWAX; CIRE D'ABEILLE)

Helps retain moisture and protects lips from UV rays.

1

COCOS NUCIFERA (COCONUT) OIL

Helps with moisturizing the lipsย 

1

HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL

Helps keep lips moisturized by creating a protective seal over the lips

1

LANOLIN

Helps seal in and keep lips moisturized.

1

TOCOPHEROL

This is an antioxidant and helps with moisturizing the lips.

1

ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS (ROSEMARY) LEAF EXTRACT

Has antimicrobial properties and is an antioxidant.ย ย 

1

GLYCINE SOJA (SOYBEAN) OIL

This is an antioxidant and helps with moisturizing the lips.

1

CANOLA OIL

Appeared as: CANOLA OIL (HUILE DE COLZA)

Helps with moisturizing the lips.

1

MENTHA PIPERITA (PEPPERMINT) OIL

An essential oil, this fragrance ingredient does have some allergy concerns - hence the higher EWG rating.ย 

4

Limoneneย 

Perfuming

5ย ย 

ย 

Solana Simply Eco Lip Butterย  ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย 

Ingredients: Carnauba wax*, castor oil*, sunflower seed oil*, mango seed butter*, coconut oil*, and organic flavor oil.*

*Certified organic ingredientย 

Packaging and end of life: this lip butter comes in a compostable paper tube. Simply get all that good lip butter out at the end and then toss it in your compost bin.

Solana Simply Ingredientsย 

Function

Grade (according to EWG Skin Deep)

Organic carnauba wax

Helps thicken mixture and raise melting points of other contents.ย 

1

Organic castor oil

Acts as a humectant and helps retain moisture.

1

Organic sunflower seed oil

Helps keep lips moisturized by creating a protective seal over the lips

1

Organic mango seed butter

Can help with healing lips. Also helps prevent wrinkles and sun damage.

1

Organic coconut oil

Helps with moisturizing the lipsย 

1

Organic flavor oil

(Depends on flavor)

Brings flavor to the productย 

All Flavors:1

ย 

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