Popular Skin Cream Made with Beeswax, Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly, Propolis

Behind a Mysterious Balm, a Self-Made Pharaoh
By Anna Jane Grossman, The New York Times, 9/27/2007

…Egyptian Magic, which comes in nondescript plastic tubs, remains a decidedly low-key production, and it still has a pop at the helm. (A 4-ounce jar sells for $32 on Egyptianmagic.com.)

The story of Egyptian Magic begins in 1986 at a Chicago diner when an elderly man approaches Westley Howard, a water filter salesman who is passing through. “He said, ‘Brother, the spirit has moved me to reveal something to you,’” said Mr. Howard, as Mr. ImHotepAmonRa was then known. “It didn’t seem too weird to me. I’m a spiritual person, so these things happen to me all the time.”

The stranger’s name was Dr. Imas. He never revealed his first name or made it clear what kind of doctor he was. Over the next two years, Dr. Imas periodically visited Mr. Howard in Washington and showed him how to make a skin cream from olive oil, beeswax, bee pollen, royal jelly and bee propolis (a substance that seals hives)…