Homemaking Art #2 Herbal Remedies/Herbal Salves

Over the past few months I have been building my herbal pharmacopoeia in an effort to begin treating my family’s problems in a more natural way. I have tried my hand at syrups, tisanes, infusions & decoctions of various herbs and so far I am really liking the results.

Before you work with herbs, always think safety first. Get to know your herbs one at a time. I mean really get to know them. Latin names and all – inside and out. Use all of your senses. What does it look like fresh/dried? What does it smell like fresh/dried. What does it feel like, taste like, you get the idea. What are it’s applications, side effects, dangers, special preparation methods, contraindications with prescriptions or other medical conditions and on and on. Are they safe for kids and babies? What are the active parts root/seed/bark/leaf/flower/fruit/wood etc and are you using the correct one in the correct way?

<<<<<I cannot stress enough that plant medicines are powerful and they can be dangerous when used without the proper knowledge. Most herbs are safe, but in the wrong combination or used incorrectly, they can hurt you. Please, Please, Please do your homework before creating herbal remedies or using herbs to treat yourself or your family. you could possibly kill somebody if you screw up badly enough, and I don’t want that on my conscience.>>>>>

I had a ‘day off’ last Sunday and spent the day making healing salves.

It started out as one recipe that I created to treat my lizard hands and, as is typical with me, somehow it turned into 18 jars of herbal healing salves of different types. An intensive course in salve making if you will. I really enjoyed it and got some nice product out of it.

Most commercial products for dry skin have ingredients that burn, I needed something that didn’t, so, I created it. I wanted something with no fancy smell or color, no artificial preservatives, something that works with your skin to help it heal. I chose the herbs, oils, butters, waxes and essential oils specifically for their healing ability and came up with a final product that I am happy with. A little soft this time, but that can easily be remedied with a tad more beeswax. No, you can’t have that recipe *it’s a secret*, but i’ll follow with a few other recipes that I made.

**SAFETY NOTE – EVERYTHING THAT COMES INTO CONTACT WITH THE SALVE SHOULD BE SCRUPULOUSLY CLEAN, SOME SAY STERILE. THESE SALVES HAVE NO ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES AND MAY GROW ICKY THINGS THAT COULD HURT YOU IF THEY GET CONTAMINATED. FOR THE SAME REASON, ALWAYS USE A CLEAN UTENSIL OR TISSUE (EVEN YOUR KNUCKLE, ANYTHING BUT DIRTY FINGERS)TO REMOVE THE SALVE FROM THE CONTAINER. DISCARD ANY SALVE THAT DOES NOT LOOK OR SMELL RIGHT**

That being said, I used the ‘sanitize’ (it does not sterilize – there is a difference) cycle in my dishwasher to run everything through and I am comfortable with that.

The first step in most of these recipes is infusing the herbs in extra virgin olive oil. That warmed infused oil is mixed with any other oils or butters, then beeswax is melted into it, then it is cooled for a bit so the essential oils don’t evaporate then the essential oils are blended in. It is then poured in prepared glass containers and allowed to cool. Pretty straightforward – like cooking, just follow the recipe.

Extra virgin olive oil is available pretty much anywhere. I get mine in the 2L bottle at BJ’S because I use it in cooking so frequently. The other oils and the Grapefruit Seed Extract are available at The Health Concern. I got the beeswax at Herbal Accents. It is in pearl form for easier melting, but block will work too if you grate it first, kind of a pain in the ass, but usually cheaper. I got my dried herbs at The Health Concern as well. I will be growing calendula and lavender next year and yarrow grows in the field across the street, so next year I will be wildcrafting that.

I used glass bowls on top of sauce pots as double boilers and my 4 & 8 cup glass measures for squeezing the finished infused oil into. I used floursack cloths for straining the herbal oil, but you could use cheesecloth.

I used clean wide mouth half pint jars, cleaned out baby food jars and those itty bitty jelly jars as containers. Label everything. You think you’ll remember what that greenish goo in the jar is, but I promise, you won’t.

Herbal Infused Oil

Place your dried plant material in the top of a double boiler on low (or a slow cooker on low with water in the bottom and the oil and herb mix in a mason jar) and cover with olive oil. Bring the temperature up to 120-150 degrees F and keep it there for about 4 hours. Strain through floursack cloth, squeezing all the oil out of the plant material. I had four jars in the Crock Pot and two boilers going at once for the six recipes that I made. I tested the temperature periodically to ensure that they weren’t going over 150, but one did ~ ooopsie, it didn’t burn and I used it anyway. *make sure to keep that big pot lid and fire extinguisher handy*
Keep in mind that once oil starts to heat up, the temperature goes up drastically, watch it carefully.
You don’t want to burn the plant material, just release it’s essences into the oil.
Do not cover the pot. You don’t want condensation to build up and drop back into the oils. Water in your mix brings contamination and can affect the final texture.

So now that you’ve studied your herbs and made your infused oil you can make your salves!

Yarrow Salve

Great for clean cuts like paper cuts and knife cuts, not  for dirty, ragged wounds or scrapes because it heals so quickly and can trap in splinters or debris. Good for nosebleeds.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an herb with antibacterial, analgesic and anti-styptic (stops bleeding) vulnerary (heals wounds) properties.

1 cup extra virgin olive oil infused with 1 cup dried white yarrow flowers and leaves

1/8 cup beeswax

20 drops tea tree (Melaleuca alternafolia) essential oil

20 drops lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil

5 drops Vitamin E oil

8 drops grapefruit seed extract

Blend infused olive oil with beeswax in the double boiler and heat gently until beeswax melts. Pull from heat and set aside to cool for a minute. Stir in essential oils, vitamin e oil and grapefruit seed extract and pour into prepared glass containers. Set aside, loosely capped, to cool. Label and refrigerate.

To Use – Apply a blob to thoroughly cleaned boo boo and cover with a bandage. Use a bit of salve on a tissue to apply to the inside of nose to stop nosebleeds.

Calendula Salve

Use this salve on chapped hands, diaper rash, burns, and scrapes.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is vulnerary, antiseptic and anti inflammatory.

1 cup evoo infused with 2 cups dried calendula flowers

1/4 cup beeswax

1 ounce lanolin

20 drops tea tree essential oil

20 drops lavender essential oil

5 drops vitamin e oil

8 drops grapefruit seed extract

Blend infused olive oil with beeswax in the double boiler and heat gently until beeswax melts. Add lanolin and stir to melt. Pull from heat and set aside to cool for a minute. Stir in essential oils, Vitamin E oil and grapefruit seed extract and pour into prepared glass containers. Set aside, loosely capped, to cool. Label.

To Use – Apply a blob of salve to thoroughly cleaned burn or scrape and cover with bandage. Apply liberally to diaper rash and chapped skin.

Comfrey, Lavender & Calendula Salve

I’ve seen a few variations of this recipe on the internet, this is my version. Some say it is safe for use on chapped lips, but as you will see it has a controversial herb in it. I do not plan on using it for application to mucous membranes, so I feel safe with it.

Use for bumps, bruises, twists and sprains.

Calendula, see above.

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is anti inflammatory and internal healer. It also has quite a bruhaha as to whether it is safe for use. Please use your own good judgement about the use and potential danger of comfrey.  I chose to make this salve knowing that this would not be one for broken skin, just bumps and bruises twists and sprains. I actually plan on using it on the ankle that I third degree sprained last year that still isn’t right. I would also use it on my kids – but only in the right situation.

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) (my favorite herb YAY! lavender) is anti inflammatory, anti bacterial, and vulnerary. One day lavender will get it’s very own post. Because it’s just that awesome.

1 cup extra virgin olive oil infused with 1/4 ounce each dried lavender flowers, comfrey leaves and calendula flowers

1/4 cup beeswax

20 drops tea tree essentail oil

20 drops lavender essential oil

5 drops Vitamin E oil

8 drops grapefruit seed extract

Blend infused olive oil with beeswax in the double boiler and heat gently until beeswax melts. Pull from heat and set aside to cool for a minute. Stir in essential oils, vitamin e oil and grapefruit seed extract and pour into prepared glass containers. Set aside, loosely capped, to cool. Label.

To Use – Apply small amount to bumps or bruises and gently rub in. Rub gently into minor sprains and strains. Do not use on broken skin or mucous membranes.

All of the recipes have lavender, tea tree, Vitamin E and grapefruit seed extract as natural preservatives and also for their healing properties. Keep in a cool dry dark place, or even refrigerate for shelf life up to a year.

Salves are fun to experiment with because you can infuse a multitude of different herbs into the olive oil for different effects. Instead of or in addition to the olive oil you could use sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, rose hip seed oil etc. Each of these has it’s own special healing abilities for specific conditions. You could add Shea butter, Cocoa butter or any number of natural nut butters for their therapeutic value. Lanolin is very emollient and makes salves creamier. Essential oils are also valuable in a salve because they absorb so quickly.

Once you have learned a few herbs and tried your hand at salves a few times, you can use your accumulated knowledge to create your own recipes and cater to your own families specific needs. Once you know your stuff – experiment, you may come up with something that you really like!

Have fun making salves!

SHINE ON!