Hello Friends! Today I thought I’d share my herbal salve method with you because I’ve had some requests from some sweet fans for more herb related content. With Christmas just under 3 weeks away I thought now would be a great time to share this post for those wanting to make this as an affordable, handmade gift to give this year.
For those of you new here that don’t know, I’m a 1997 graduate of the School of Natural Healing. It was there I earned my degree as a master herbalist and I’ve been enjoying supporting my body with herbs and teaching nutritional herbology for over 30 years. At the school we were taught how to safely use herbs, essential oils, how to make our own herbal formulas, and we were taught how to safely cleanse using herbs and foods, as well as many other natural healing modalities. You can learn more about the School of Natural Healing and courses offered by them HERE.
Herbal Salve has always one of my favorite things to make. When I was studying for my masters all those years ago there were SO MANY BOOKS, and I loved them all. But there was one book that I found the most fun of all. It was a book called Herbal Preparations and Natural Therapies by Debra Nuzzi, I don’t even think it’s in print any longer, but it was my hands down favorite book!
Recently I made some salve for my husband. I used the 4 to 1 oil/beeswax proportions from her book for a summer salve and a 5 to 1 ratio for the winter salve, and I combined it with an idea from an herbalist friend of mine who also happens to be a retired RN.
The best thing about this method is that it’s unique in that it uses herbs before they expire. Many people don’t know this but herbs are just like spices, after a year they lose potency and should be discarded. Instead of waiting a year my frugal herbalist friend came up with the idea to use herbs about to expire in salve.
Lo and behold it makes such a soothing salve for skin. I’ve written the instructions below, but guess what? I made a video of the process for you as well!
Herbal Salve
There are many herbs you can use for an herbal salve including calendula, lavender, comfrey. For my recent batch of salve I used a blend that was actually formulated specifically to support bone, flesh and cartilage. It’s a formula by Dr. Christopher, the founder of the School of Natural Healing and it’s called Complete Tissue and Bone Formula. I also added some peppermint to this since I had some I needed to use, and since I knew peppermint will help my husband with some of the joint and muscle issues he experiences regularly.
Making the herb infused oil
The first thing you want to do is start two weeks before the day you actually want to make your salve. Start with mixing one part of dried herbs to two parts of oil (I used 1 cup of dried herbs and 2 cups of oil. I used coconut oil but you could use avocado, olive, or jojoba.
You want to use a sterilized dark colored jar and lid or else you want to keep it in a dark place-but you want to remember to shake it daily.
If you are in a hurry another option would be to let your oil and herbs steep in a crockpot for around 12 to 24 hours. It’s best if it doesn’t get above 130 degrees Fahrenheit though.
Straining the oil
After this, strain your oil and herbs-don’t forget to make sure all your utensils are sterilized. I like to use a large strainer first, and then I like to put it through a smaller cheesecloth.
Adding the beeswax
Typically, and as mentioned you would want to use 4 parts of oil to 1 part beeswax. Since I used coconut oil and I know that it’s going to get super hard when the weather cools I’m doing one jar for summer and the rest for when it cools off. The cooler weather blend is going to be 5 parts oil and 1 part beeswax.
I like to make this super duper easy. You could slowly heat your oil and beeswax pellets or finely grated beeswax in a double broiler until it melts together (again watch carefully not to get it too hot). I like to do this inside the jar so as not to waste any salve!
You could do it in a double broiler though.
A special touch I like to do in each container is I like to add a few drops of essential oils once I have the salve in a jar. I added myrrh and frankincense to some of mine for skin, and a blend called PanAway by Young Living to my husbands because it’s his favorite oil as he feels it supports his joints.
A few drops of benzoin are always a good idea to help preserve the salve.
If you don’t want to make your own salve you don’t have to! You can get Complete Tissue and Bone Salve on Amazon!
Would you like to see more herbal related content like this herbal salve recipe from me? Drop a comment and let me know!
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I like the addition of peppermint, but for achey muscles, and for the aroma!
This is so interesting, I’ll have to look more into it
How cool you got your Masters degree in this. I didn’t even know that was a thing. I love going the all natural route for things!
I have always been intrigued my some of these herbals but never really knew how to use them. Thanks for the useful info!
I love this idea, I definitely need to make it, I definitely love the video instructions
This sounds fantastic. I might have to give this a try and see if it helps with my aches.