Basic Healing Salve Tutorial
Have you ever wondered how to make a healing salve to use on yourself or your family?
Today I’m going to show you how you can make an easily customizable healing salve!
Basic Healing Salve Tutorial
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So what is a healing salve anyway? Simply put it is a mixture of oil & beeswax. They promote healing & moisture to the skin. However the healing magic truly happens when we add the use of certain plant allies into the mixture.
I’m not sure if you noticed but we like to infuse things around here. On a recent blog post we shared a simple tutorial on making your own medicinally infused oil, see that tutorial HERE.
So while it’s great to be making our own infusions, what do you do with them? One thing you can do is make a healing salve to use on yourself or your family. Be sure to stick around as I have plans of sharing more natural medicines, home & body recipes you can make. But today I am going to share with you a basic salve recipe that you are free to customize however you please.
In the infusion I am sharing with you today I am using Yarrow infused olive oil.
Yarrow has so many benefits for the skin I find it baffling a lot of people don’t even know who she is. Allow me to introduce you to her.
YARROW
Achillea millefolium
Yarrow has antiseptic, anti-inflammatory & astringent properties just to name a few. It is both stimulating & sedating depending on what YOUR body is needing, this is because of its amphoteric properties. which means it moves in the direction it’s needed in the body, there is a wisdom to plants that if you listen they are willing to share, teach & nurture.
Another thing it does is actually draws the skin back to itself & has the ability to reduce bleeding. This is due to the volatile oils yarrow contains which stimulate blood flow to the surface which is why I choose her for this recipe today.
Yarrow does have some stimulating actions & properties, especially to the uterine muscles & should therefore be avoided during pregnancy.
So those are just a few of the actions & properties yarrow contains, but that is just the tip of the iceberg my friends. Coming up shortly I will be sharing a lot more information about this plant ally as this was simply a humble introduction
What do you use a healing salve for?
This question can be answered by reflecting on two things:
What do you want to use it for?
What plant allies are you wanting to use?
You see depending on the ingredients used the salve can do so many things ranging from drawing impurities or toxins out of the skin or promoting healing. They have been used throughout our history for many things ranging from a diaper rash ointment to a remedy for chapped lips.
We have a whole kingdom of plants, referred to as Kingdom Plante, that are waiting & ready to help any ailment we may encounter. In fact, did you realize that just by looking at the plant, how it grows, the shape & texture of its leaves, smell, taste & color, can tell you what its healing properties actually are?!? This is referred to as the Doctrine of Signatures which I will be sharing more about in future posts.
Basic Healing Salve Tutorial
How long do healing salves last?
With proper care & storage your salves should last a few months if not longer.
You must be sure to keep your salve out of the sun, a good way to do this is by using metal tins or colored jars & store them in a cool dry place. When I make a bigger batch & like to separate it into small 1 oz & place the extra ones in the refrigerator.
A few things to watch out for is if the color, texture or smell changes in any way. If this happens you must discard it. Think about it, you put expired food into your body, so why would you put something that’s expired on your skin?
Recipe & Directions
The formula for this recipe is 1 cup of oil add ¼ cup of beeswax. Since I am only making 1 1oz jar of salve I will be using ⅛ cup of oil to 1.5 teaspoons of beeswax
Take your prepared medicinal oil & measure out the appropriate amount
For each cup of oil add ¼ cup of beeswax to a double boiler
Stir to make sure everything is melted & incorporated
Do a consistency test by placing 1 TBSP of mixture on a plate & then put it in the freezer for 1-2 minutes. Check the firmness of the salve. To make a harder salve add more beeswax to the blend. To make a softer salve add more oil to the blend.
Once the desired consistency has been reached remove from the heat & pour into tins or small glass jars.
Store in a dark, cool place & it should last months.
Watch the video that accompanies this blog post HERE.
Comment down below & let me know what medicinal infused oil are you going to use for your first salve recipe?