Thursday, November 15, 2012

Winter Salve

It has been such a long time since I have made this stuff, not sure why, it is seriously so easy and takes maybe an hour and a half to put together (most of that time you don't need to do anything!)


melting oils

1.) Melt a half cup coconut oil and a half cup olive oil in a double boiler ( I used a bowl over a pot of boiling water). Add a couple ounces of Vitamin E oil if you have it, but not needed.

adding herbs

2.) Once oils are melted add in 1/2 cup herb blend (in this batch I have equal parts, ST John's wort, calendula, and comfrey to equal 1/2 cup) and let it sit in double boiler (keep water boiling underneath) for 1 hour.

grated beeswax

3.) grate up 3 ounces of beeswax. (You can use beeswax pellets or just a 3 ounce chunk of beeswax not grated, I just found the grated wax melts faster.)

straining oil

4.) Strain the herbs from the oils. Use a cheese cloth, it helps keep the bits of herbs out of the finished salve.

melting wax in herb oil

5.) Put the oil/herb mixture back into a cleaned double boiler, add beeswax. Allow the wax to melt completely.

essential oils

6.) Add your Essential Oils. I used 30 drops of Tea tree and 40 drops of Lavender.
Mix well with wooden spoon.

salve before it gets solid

7.) Pour into either one large tin, or glass jar, or (as I have done) into 2 ounce tins. This makes about 12 ounces of salve.

salve after it gets solid

This stuff works great on dry chapped hands and cracked heels, it is also good on diaper rashes, scrapes, etc... so pretty much anything! And it smells wonderful.
I got the tins here, and the essential oils here. You can pick up herbs either on line or at a local health food store. The beeswax I have a hard time finding locally, although I am looking!

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I have been getting my beeswax from a local person who also sells their honey. I also have been able to find it at Natural Grocers and Whole Foods market. Hobby Lobby carries it too! Good luck on your search and your salve looks great!

Twisted Cinderella said...

What a great idea and so simple too!

sustainablemum said...

That looks great, thank you for sharing.

Usborne Books Liz said...

What a great idea! That would make fabulous holiday gifts.

Debbie Jones said...

I have a bad problem with chapped hands in the winter and so does my son. It was even worse when we lived in a colder climate. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I'm going to try to get all the ingredients and give it a try! Would also be great gifts in the cute little tins.

Lori ann said...

i did this when my children were small and we used a lot of salve, now i am lazy (hee hee) and would rather just buy it, do you have an etsy shop? :)

momto5 said...

@Lori: no etsy shop... yet. although i have been toying with it. i would to actually love to grow most of the herb i would use.

HannahW said...

This looks like a very nice salve. I have all the ingredients.. so I should try your recipe. If you would like, we'd love to have you link this up to our Eco-kids Tuesday liky party. http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/11/friday-afternoons-and-ecos-kids-tuesday.html

Stephanie said...

Hooray!
I make our lip balm, and I make lotion bars every winter, but I haven't made medicinal salve, though I've been meaning to with our calendula.
Thanks for the recipe!

Stephanie said...

(Have made lots of lotions and tinctures, just not this salve, I mean.)

Angela said...

Oh, i didn't realize it was so simple to make salves. What a great gift for all my gardening friends, whose hands get so torn up in the rainy, cold weather. Thanks!!