Lately I’ve been into making a lot of our own toiletries. In the past I’ve made hair detangler, toothpaste, sunscreen, tallow face balm, body oil, bar soap and even my own make up. One thing I’ve been enjoying learning about is herbal remedies and how herbs can be applied topically with my kids using our very own herbschool lessons. So, naturally, I would land here, making our own salves.
Now, I’ve mentioned in another blog post about how we buy earthley products, and that they’re not hard on the pocket. However, in an effort to be more self sustainable I decided once my earthley products were out, I would create my own salves for my family.
The first of my salves to go out was my all purpose salve. We use this as basically a “boo boo cream”. You know, bumps, bruises, cuts, scrapes, bug bites, diaper cream, whatever! We’ve even used it as a hair detangler in a pinch. Mainly we just use it to appease my children’s need to apply something before putting a bandage on their invisible scratch. We’ve really enjoyed having this in our first aid kit, and even sharing with friends when needed.
If you’ve been following me on my Instagram you’ll know that I had decided to clean out my closet and use up all the dried herbs I had stashed in the closet. I did so by adding them to quart sized jars and covering them with oil and waiting 6-8 weeks for the herbs to infuse into the oil. Which then sparked a million ideas, but we’ll save those thoughts for another post.
A little note on salve making: I’ve scoured the internet and my herbal remedies books and basically salve making is melting beeswax in oil on a double burner (or a makeshift one). However, the quantity is pretty much up in the air. Some same 3:1 (3 parts oil:1 part beeswax) some say anywhere up to 8:1. I say, follow your heart. If you feel like you want a thicker salve, add more beeswax! In an effort to stretch my beeswax supply, I opted for the 8:1 ratio here and it’s very easy for the kids to spread too, which I like!
For now, here’s the recipe for my all purpose salve!
•2 oz of beeswax
•2 oz lavender infused oil
•8 oz calendula infused oil
•6 oz chamomile infused oil
•1 tbsp Shea butter (.5 oz)
Add all ingredients to a double boiler until beeswax is melted, pour into your jars, tins, or sticks. Let cool. Enjoy!!
It’s really rather easy. Maybe with the slow method of infusing it takes awhile, but in the meantime start some more infusions, or go forage some herbs, and get preoccupied with that so you forget your herbs are infusing. But also, mark your calendars so you don’t forget! I left a mason jar extracting lavender for a year once. That was some potent oil!
If you decide to make this, I would love to see! And I almost forgot, I created a label for the top of a mason jar, so please feel free to use that! I don’t have a fancy label maker, I just plan on printing & laminating it, then gluing it to the top of the lid to protect it from the oils.
