FAQ

Honey is an excellent food for children and toddlers during their growing years, particularly at breakfast. It boosts their resistance while also making milk easier to digest.

Ballot-Flurin has actively campaigned for animal protection and welfare since its founding in 1976. NONE of our preparations or raw materials have ever been tested on animals. They are all tested and validated by doctors on human volunteers.
But we go much further still to save bees and spare animals from suffering. For example, we have developed a pollen-harvesting system that avoids injuring bees and their fragile legs, and that gives them the choice of whether or not to give us the pollen, thanks to a two-entry hive design. As for honey, we only harvest the surplus, leaving all their own resources to the bees.
Bees are our partners and our inspiration. Do we have the right to steal their production by tearing off their wings, feeding them industrial sugar, and treating them with chemicals? We founded and practice Gentle Beekeeping®, a pioneering and committed method for animal welfare, biocenosis, and inter-species collaboration. All our beekeeping materials and plants are local and harvested in step with the seasons, with no bio-piracy involved.
Thank you for joining us in protecting animals and all living things!

Honey is always liquid when it is first harvested. It only takes on its final consistency and color after a certain amount of time, depending on the season, its floral origin... and the personality of our bees! The precise texture of our organic Grand Cru honey cannot be determined in advance. White marbling may also appear on the surface (especially in winter) — a visual sign that your honey is truly pure and natural.
Embrace these variations as a mark of genuine authenticity. With us, every jar of honey is truly one of a kind!

Your organic Grand Cru honey is always at its best within the year following harvest. However, it can keep for years away from light and temperature fluctuations. There's no need to refrigerate it — a good, temperate cupboard away from vibrations and light works well. Once opened, your honey will keep well thanks to its screw-top lid.

A skincare or beauty preparation can be considered truly "natural" when the molecules that make it up come from our natural environment, are not artificially created by man, and undergo little modification during the making of the product.
Indeed, our body's cellular ecosystem functions at its best when it "recognizes" outside molecules that have always been present in its environment. When it comes into contact with synthetic molecules, unexpected consequences can occur (irritation, intolerance reactions, allergies).
It should be noted that the term "natural" has no legal definition. Any product can legally be described as "natural" as soon as it contains even a tiny proportion of an ingredient that deserves that name... Moreover, for reasons of economic profitability, it is very easy to distort the "naturalness" of hive materials by artificially boosting their production (for example, by treating bees with synthetic antibiotics, etc.).
Fortunately, to counter such misleading practices for consumers, official organic labels guarantee the truly natural origin of a product. Learn more, see "Questions about labels."
At Ballot-Flurin, we guarantee that all of our hive products are 100% certified organic (AB or Cosmebio labels), of local or regional origin, and handcrafted in small batches.

Let us first recall that nothing can replace a sensible lifestyle founded on a positive outlook on life and a balanced diet (organic if possible!).
To support you in that pursuit, our organic hive products have proven their effectiveness for more than 20 years, satisfying an ever-growing number of loyal customers — something we are very proud of.

Their effectiveness requires expertise that cannot be improvised and rests on 4 fundamental steps:

1 – Formulation: our formulas are exclusive. Their originality is based on a limited and precise combination of hive products from the same Pyrenean biotope, which strengthens their biocompatibility, reduces cellular overload, and significantly lowers the risk of allergies.
To achieve this, we combine the best international research in apitherapy with ancient knowledge compiled over 3 generations of pioneering doctors of natural medicine in our family.
2 – Beekeeping and natural raw materials: the value of a skincare and beauty preparation depends above all on the quality of its ingredients. Gentle beekeepers since 1984, we harvest our own beekeeping materials ourselves. Depending on the need, we use hardy plants from our local terroir, gathered in unspoiled locations, and spring water from the Pyrenees.
3 – Manufacturing: this is a crucial step requiring great expertise. Indeed, it is easy to degrade or weaken organic raw materials as they are transformed into skincare and beauty preparations. We make a large part of our preparations by hand, in our own laboratory.
4 – Scientific validation, testing, and safety: our preparations are evaluated by health professionals (toxicologists, dental specialists) and undergo numerous clinical tests and validations in addition to regulatory testing. For example, our cosmetic products are the subject of ethical medical studies on volunteers (no animal testing at any stage). A reputable, independent dermatological institute conducts in-depth clinical studies under dermatological, gynecological, and medical supervision for each of our formulas. Our toothpastes are studied under dental supervision. Our most innovative preparations, such as our Hive Elixirs, are backed by a complete scientific dossier. Finally, our most innovative know-how is patented.

We are not a subsidiary of a multinational corporation for whom natural products are just one niche among many — we are a human-scale family business, based in the heart of the unspoiled Pyrenees.
Although we are experts in apitherapy, we remain first and foremost beekeepers, "shepherds of our bees," closely connected to nature. We harvest our own beekeeping materials and make our own preparations ourselves. Filled with the soul of our countryside, they reach you pure and unspoiled. Pioneers of organic beekeeping since 1983, we are proud to have helped make organic products increasingly accessible. We deeply believe that everything is connected: an organic skincare, beauty, and wellness preparation cannot be content with simply benefiting the person who buys it. It must also contribute to the beauty and preservation of the world.
With Gentle Beekeeping©, founded on the language of bees, we are fighting today to build an even more demanding form of organic farming:
We refuse to import cheap organic beekeeping materials from far away (even under fair-trade labeling) and instead favor local, community-minded gentle beekeeping that keeps our countryside alive, where everyone can find work and thrive.
We watch over the well-being of our beloved bees at all times, and aim to make organic products even more effective by preserving their subtle energetic and vibrational strength.
We stay close to you: our honey house-laboratory and our apiaries are open to view; through our educational visits, adults and children alike can see for themselves the perfect naturalness of our products.

The ancients were well aware that nature holds subtle forces invisible to our five classic senses, yet essential to our health and well-being... The term "energizing" refers to the overall principle that allows these subtle forces to be transmitted, amplified, and preserved, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of our preparations.

Our current era favors large, anonymous factories that mass-produce goods, consume vast amounts of energy, generate significant pollution, and are disconnected from the sources of their raw materials (often located at the far corners of the planet), resulting in enormous pollution from the transportation of those raw materials.
At Ballot-Flurin, the hive and its little community "from the field next door" is our star factory! Only bees are able to produce, without any chemical residue and using nature's own clean, natural energies, living materials as rich and complex as propolis, royal jelly, and pollen — materials that humans are unable to recreate. Of course, true to the principles of Gentle Beekeeping®, we let them "live their own lives," avoiding productivist methods that would corrupt our bees' precious expertise. Located near our apiaries, right in the heart of a living, authentic countryside (our neighbor is a farm!), our highly innovative, local, eco-friendly, and responsible micro manufacturing site takes care to preserve the natural benefits of our beekeeping treasures by processing them on-site into precious health, beauty, and wellness preparations, with the following advantages:

– Local and regional harvesting of beekeeping materials and simple ingredients: no importing of cheap organic beekeeping materials from far away
– Preparations made on-site, using our own formulations. Reduced transportation = less pollution
– Bioclimatic building. Green electricity, 100% supplied by our own solar panels
– Eco-friendly, "low-tech" artisanal manufacturing methods based on slow maceration and gentle, non-destructive manual processes: zero pollution, low energy needs, and a highly natural finished product.
– Greater traceability. Beekeeping materials are fully tracked from hive to airless bottle! – Support for the local economy, by keeping our production site right where it is.

Honey has accompanied humankind since the dawn of time. Our ancestors sensed that it held nature's living forces within. This nectar of the gods nourishes and delights us. It also heals. Wild by nature, born with an accent of their own, our honeys each have a story. We take great care of them, setting aside the shortcuts of modern beekeeping. Harvests are limited — nature demands it. Discover their rich flavor and receive their powerful vitality as a gift.

Beeswax is secreted by bees to form a protective, energetic shell around royal jelly, propolis, and raw honey. Widely used in natural beauty and organic cosmetics, its many virtues also work wonders for your well-being and your home. Rich and precious, our ultra-fine beeswax is certified 100% organic and locally sourced. Our Gentle Beekeeping method guarantees beeswax of apitherapy- and Apicosmetics®-grade quality, with an optimal richness of active natural ingredients and a living structure and vibrational field.

Ballot-Flurin is a pioneer in natural skincare and beauty products made from bees. As early as 1992, our products — such as our anti-aging Beekeeper's Cream — were already made from 99% natural-origin ingredients, which was quite an achievement at the time. We were also among the first to display the INCI list of ingredients. Today, our 3 official organic labels (AB, COSMEBIO, ECOBIO), enhanced by our own guarantees (100% organic beekeeping materials, etc.), ensure the absence of synthetic ingredients, which are very often responsible for unwanted side effects. We only use natural additives permitted under these labels. We also go beyond even the strictest official standards: we are producers of our own beekeeping materials, which guarantees the total absence of synthetic ingredients at every stage of production. We do not treat our bees with chemicals, even those tolerated under organic specifications.

Used successfully for thousands of years, hive products have proven both their effectiveness and their safety. You can use them for the whole family without risk. Since our preparations are of bio-apitherapy grade, very rich in active ingredients, and highly effective, we recommend following the indicated dosages.

To eliminate any risk of allergies or contraindications, we have put the following measures in place:

No synthetic ingredients: Depending on the nature of our products, our 3 labels (AB, Cosmebio, Ecobio) guarantee the absence of ingredients derived from heavy chemistry, thereby keeping the risk of long-term adverse effects under control.
Local, natural raw materials: The beekeeping and plant ingredients used in our preparations come, for the vast majority, from the same Pyrenean biotope. This strengthens their biocompatibility, multiplies their positive effects, and avoids the intolerances that can occur with natural products sourced, for example, from distant countries.
Official guarantees and expertise, rigorous manufacturing tests and controls: pesticides, microbiological safety, heavy metals, radioactivity: Learn more, see question 2, "Are your preparations really effective and safe?"

The vast majority of our preparations are perfectly and naturally suited to children over 36 months of age, thanks to their pure natural composition: to help you identify them, a "Suitable for children" pictogram is displayed on these preparations. Since our products are naturally very rich in organic natural active ingredients, please follow the recommended dosages carefully.

– For very young children: We are required to state that our hive products are suitable for children aged 36 months and older. Indeed, under current regulations, only a pediatrician is authorized to advise on using a product below that age.
Our preparations, all organic and wholesome, are frequently given to young children by their parents, with excellent results. It is up to parents to decide. Catherine Flurin used all of her products on her own children when they were babies. For your children as for yourself, listen to your body's signals and reactions. Observe, and stay attentive.

– Pregnant women: The same principle applies. All products can be consumed and used while staying attentive to one's body and using common sense. For women who wish to take royal jelly during pregnancy, we recommend instead waiting and doing a course of treatment after giving birth; at that point, it will offer all its benefits for the mother's physical and mental fatigue, which is often heightened following childbirth.

By pollinating a great many plant species, bees form a vital ecological link for sustaining life on Earth. However, for the past twenty years or so, beekeepers have observed an increasingly alarming death rate among bees.

There are many causes: widespread environmental pollution, the decline of floral biodiversity, the practice of intensive industrial beekeeping... However, mounting scientific evidence points to the particular responsibility of pesticides used by humans in intensive industrial agriculture.
Several pesticides are implicated, including Cruiser. Introduced into seeds, they are used on corn and sunflower crops. During flowering, bees are drawn to these large cultivated plots, which readily supply them with pollen. Stored in the hive, this pollen will feed young larvae from late winter through early the following spring.
What then occurs is a very insidious form of poisoning: large numbers of young larvae die, slowly poisoned over several months. These substances also act on the bees' nervous systems: in particular, they lose their sense of direction entirely, and die of exhaustion before managing to find their way back to the hive.
Thanks to the fight waged by a great many beekeepers, we hope that pesticides will be phased out and replaced with organic alternatives. Unfortunately, the pesticides used up to now will remain in the soil for several more years, continuing to contaminate future plantings. It should also be noted that increasingly sophisticated pesticide products are regularly brought to market, whose effects on bees may ultimately prove just as harmful. The same is true of GMO seed brands, which considerably disrupt bees. These plants are deliberately made sterile and resistant to the most aggressive herbicides.

Ballot-Flurin's response:
Since 1984, we have protected our bees and the substances they offer us from at-risk areas: each apiary is carefully chosen with the greatest attention paid to the surrounding environment within a 3 km radius. We scout the surrounding area to ensure that the bees will find all the wholesome resources they need there: located in hillside areas during the cold season, our hives are moved into the valleys in early June, before the corn flowers, to avoid any contamination. Set up far from areas of intensive farming, they remain there until October, amid wild, organic flowers, in an unspoiled environment.
The very special relationship we maintain with our bees, based on the language of bees, allows us to anticipate even more precisely how they might react to their environment. Bees have a genuine language and know how to warn us of danger.
Finally, positive beekeeping practices and attention to hive well-being produce bees that are more resistant to disease and more likely to survive (bee stress is also a major cause of their weakening).