Balm vs. Cream: What's the Difference, and Which Should You Use?

At InVine Botanicals, in our garden in Tallahassee, Florida, we make two kinds of herbal skin care: balms and crèmes. At a glance they can seem like cousins, but they are built differently, they feel different, and they're meant for different jobs. So over the next few minutes, let's clear up the real difference between a balm and a crème: what each one actually is, how we make them, and how to know which one you should reach for.

Here's the part that surprises people: both of them begin in exactly the same place, this garden. Every balm and every crème we make starts as whole herbs that we grow, dry, and infuse ourselves, right here in Tallahassee. We cut those herbs by hand, at their peak, using the same slow, careful method for everything that will eventually become a balm or a crème.

The harvest is dried gently on screen racks over several days, and once the leaves and petals are fully dry, they're ready to give up their character to oil. We slow-infuse the dried herbs in organic oil for six to eight weeks, in cool, dark conditions, until the oil takes on the herb's aroma and color. That slow, whole-herb infusion is the shared foundation underneath everything we make.

Once that oil is strained and ready, though, a balm and a crème head off in two very different directions. Let's follow the balm first. A balm is the simpler of the two by far.

It is just that infused oil, blended with beeswax and a little Vitamin E, and essentially nothing else at all. The single most important thing about a balm is what it leaves out, and that is water. A balm is what's called anhydrous, which simply means completely water-free.

With no water in the mix to dilute it, a balm is concentrated, and the beeswax gives it that firm set, so it melts into the skin from the warmth of your fingertips. It feels richer than a lotion, and it stays on the surface a good deal longer, which is exactly what you want when you're softening one rough patch of skin rather than moisturizing all over. The beeswax is what does that.

It leaves a light, breathable film on the surface of the skin that helps slow the loss of moisture, without ever fully sealing the skin off the way petroleum jelly does. Beeswax is also our main tool for texture. More of it makes a firmer balm that stays exactly where you put it; a little less makes a softer, more spreadable one.

The ratio is really the formulator's dial. We make three balms this way: our Bug Bite Balm, our Breathe Free Balm, and our Muscle Revive Balm. Different herbs, but all three are built on that very same oil-and-beeswax base.

And because there is no water anywhere in a balm, there's nothing in it for bacteria or mold to grow in. So a well-made balm keeps for a long time, with no need for any added preservatives. Making one is refreshingly low-tech.

We gently warm the infused oil, melt the beeswax into it until it's smooth, stir in the Vitamin E, and pour it into jars while the whole thing is still liquid. As it cools, it firms up into the soft, solid balm you dip a finger into. Nothing is whipped, nothing is emulsified, and nothing is diluted; it simply sets.

This is also one of the oldest forms of skin care there is. Apothecaries and herbalists have combined infused oils with beeswax into salves and balms for thousands of years, long before modern cosmetics ever existed. For our balms, we infuse into richer oils, organic olive and coconut, because those heavier oils suit that firm, staying-power job that a balm is really made for.

Which is the perfect moment to turn to the other half of what we make. If a balm is firm and rich, a crème is its lighter, faster-absorbing counterpart. A crème is made to sink in quickly and to feel silky rather than waxy.

We build ours for the face and the hands, where you want real moisture, but without a heavy layer sitting on top of the skin. It starts from the very same idea, a whole-herb infusion, but for a crème we infuse into lighter carrier oils, organic apricot kernel and grapeseed, which feel far less rich on the skin than olive or coconut do. And here's the twist most people don't expect: our crèmes are waterless too.

Most creams on the market are largely water; ours contain none at all, so every drop is the infused oil and the botanicals themselves. Instead of water or aloe, the lighter feel comes from the oils themselves, plus two rich plant ingredients: velvety mango butter, and a precious oil pressed from prickly pear seeds. Making a crème begins exactly where a balm does, by straining that finished herbal oil.

From that point on, the two genuinely part ways. Those strained oils are measured out, and from there a crème is built rather than simply poured. We warm velvety mango butter and blend it into those lighter infused oils, along with the prickly pear seed oil and a little Vitamin E, then finish with a whisper of essential oil for aroma.

Nothing is emulsified, because there is no water in it to emulsify. It simply comes together silky and smooth. And our two face crèmes carry no beeswax at all: on the face, we let the plant butters and oils do the work.

Our Spearmint Hand Cream follows the same path, with just a touch of beeswax kept in for hard-working hands. There's a Moringa Face Crème in the line too, built on moringa we grow in these same beds, so the crème side of what we make is just as garden-grown as the balms. Our Spearmint Hand Cream carries the very same spearmint you can see growing out here, infused slowly, then folded into that lighter, silkier cream.

So both a balm and a crème come from the same garden and the same whole-herb infusions. The entire difference is simply in which oils we choose, and what we do after that oil is made. So, which should you actually reach for?

Choose a balm when you want something targeted and rich. A balm is ideal for one specific spot, for rough hands or dry lips, or for holding in moisture after time spent outdoors; that firm, waxy texture stays right where you put it. Reach for a crème, on the other hand, when you want lighter, everyday moisture that sinks into the skin quickly and never feels heavy, which is why our crèmes are made for the face and hands.

In practice, a lot of people end up keeping both: a crème for daily, all-over softness, and a balm for the specific spots that need something richer. Our balms come in amber glass jars, and our crèmes in glass pump bottles. Whichever one you choose, you're getting the same thing at heart: whole herbs that we grew in our Tallahassee garden, slow-infused into oil, and made by hand.

Every balm jar and every crème bottle is filled and capped by hand, and finished with a printed label marking its batch number and infusion date, so it traces right back to the garden and the season it came from. So that's the real difference between a balm and a crème: the same garden, the same slow whole-herb infusion, and two different finishes for two different jobs. com.

Thanks for spending a little time with us.