After reading “Medicinal Herb Gardening” by Mrs. Celena J. I was prompted to write more about making medicinal herbal balms and ointments. They are easily made once you get the hang of it and different ingredients can be used for different applications. My two favorites are Healing Muscle Balm and Rose Balm for the lips and skin. My family and friends also love these two combinations and have found them very effective.
Healing Muscle Balm is a combination of infused oils of Arnica, Meadowsweet, and Comfrey leaf. These particular herbs help with reducing the inflammation and alleviating the pain of muscle injury and arthritic problems as well as encouraging healing of the injury. I add beeswax to harden the oils, coconut oil for increased absorption into the skin and Vitamin E. oil for a preservative.
Rose Balm is a combination of infused oils of rosebuds/petals and rosehips as well as Calendula for a soothing and healing ointment which can be used on rashes, eczema, and other skin irritations and is a wonderful lip balm.
INFUSING THE OILS:
It takes a couple of weeks to prepare everything.
1. Fill a quart canning jar with herb of choice. Flowers (dried roses, arnica flowers, calendula flowers) can be packed into the jar. I usually fill the jar half full of the leafy herbs (one herb to each jar) – it’s not an exact science.
2. Pour oil over herb or flowers to rim of jar.
3. Cap, label, and shake.
4. Place the jars in a very warm area – I use my garage here in the South. (I’ve tried a heating pad but never felt comfortable leaving it on when I’m not at home.)
5. Turn the jars upside down a few times at least once a day to move the herbs around and allow their medicinal qualities to infuse into the oil.
After 10 days to 2 weeks the oils are ready for use.
6. Strain the plant matter out using cheese cloth placed in a strainer and return the strained oil to the cleaned jar (don’t forget to label everything!)
7. Keep in refrigerator for freshness.
I’ve experimented with a number of oils and prefer Grapeseed oil with Vitamin E already added (I still add a few drops of Vit E oil.) Sunflower oil is also very nice. Olive oil hardens in the refrigerator and then I have to wait for it to soften up to make the balms.
These recipes use dried herbs and flowers. Fresh herbs (like St. Johns Wort) need to be treated a little differently but I’m not going to cover that here. Be sure you purchase the herbs (if you don’t grow or wildcraft your own) from a reputable company. I really like Mountain Rose Herbs and Herbalcom.com herbs.
GENERIC SALVE (BALM/OINTMENT) RECIPE:
Ingredients:
1 cup infused oils – choose your mixture (I mix them together in a large pyrex measuring cup)
1 oz of beeswax
large tablespoon of virgin coconut oil
1. Melt beeswax in double boiler (I have an old one just for balms)
2. (Fill another pot with water – just enough to sit the pyrex measuring cup in after mixing – bring to a boil and then leave simmering – see below)
3. Add oil mix slowly and stir as it melts into the beeswax
4. Pour beeswax/oil mixture back into the pyrex cup and sit the cup in the simmering pot of water (see above – this gives you a little more time before the mixture hardens) – add essential oils per preference – about 40 drops.
5. Pour (QUICKLY) into containers.
(I purchase 1.8 oz and 4 oz jars for this but you can use any jars at home if you’re not selling them or giving as gifts. The mixture will harden on the side of the glass measuring cup. I scrape that off with a rubber spatula and put it into a small canning jar for my own personal use.)
For lip balm you can use 2 oz of beeswax to one cup of oil (This would be to put in the lip balm tubes.)
RECIPE FOR HEALING MUSCLE BALM:
NOT FOR USE ON BROKEN SKIN
RUB INTO SORE AND ACHING MUSCLES
ARNICA infused oil 1/2 cup
MEADOWSWEET infused oil 1/4 cup
COMFREY infused oil – just a little less than 1/4 cup
Beeswax 1 oz (add large spoonful of coconut oil) drops of Vitamin E oil for preservative
Add several drops Spearmint essential oil (or essential oil of choice, blends for muscles are especially good.)
RECIPE FOR ROSE SKIN SALVE:
1/2 cup rose petal/buds infused grapeseed oil
1/4 cup rosehip infused oil
1/4 cup calendula infused oil
Beeswax 1 oz (add large spoonful or more of coconut oil/few drops of Vitamin E oil to preserve)
Rose Geranium essential oil drops (Rose essential oil is extremely expensive to I use a rose blend with the rose geranium – a little bit of lavender added to that is also nice.)
An extra nice touch is to “double-dip” the roses. Infuse them for the two weeks – strain- and add the strained, already infused oil to another jar filled with the roses and let them sit for another 1-2 weeks.
Personally, I’ve had great success with both recipes. After smashing my big toe into a doorjamb, I used it liberally.
The toe turned black and blue but healed within a week and the nail remains in place. Also was very helpful for muscle spasms in the back (sequelae from injured toe incident.) And the Rose ointment is very soothing for chapped lips and minor skin irritations.