Candelilla Wax

About This Product

Candelilla wax is obtained from the surface of the candelilla shrub, Euphorbia cerifera, which grows in the Chihuahuan desert of northern Mexico and southern Texas. The plant coats its stems in wax to limit water loss, and the wax is recovered by boiling the harvested stems in acidified water and skimming the layer that rises. It carries CAS number 8006-44-8 and the INCI name Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, and is supplied as a hard yellow-brown solid. Unlike beeswax and carnauba, which are dominated by esters, candelilla is roughly half hydrocarbon, chiefly hentriacontane. That composition makes it hard and distinctly brittle, and it melts at around 68 to 73 degrees Celsius, higher than beeswax but well below carnauba. In formulation it is prized for a combination that is hard to find elsewhere: it is vegan, it gives real hardness and a good gloss, and it has excellent binding and film-forming power, so it holds pigment and oil together in a stick. It is roughly twice as effective as beeswax at raising hardness, so substitution is not one for one; around half to two thirds the quantity is the usual starting point. It is used in lipsticks, balms and stick products, as a vegan beeswax replacement, in candles as a hardening additive, in chewing gum base, fruit coatings and polishes. Bio Green Wax supplies candelilla wax to specification on melting point, acid and saponification value, penetration hardness and colour.