Practical Recipes for Making Your Very Own Organic Healing Salves – Cheaply AND Effectively

Making Your Own Organic Healing Salves
In the last post, I offered instruction on making simple organic, herbal body lotions. I hope you've tried it and you're having fun with it! If you haven't, what are you waiting for? Your body is hungry for the pleasurable and nutritious nurturing only you can give it. Your spirit can also use the boost, no doubt. In this plastic, chemically-ridden world we've created to live in, every natural connection is priceless.

Beware - Most commercial ointments are petroleum based and usually contain preservatives as well. Though they contain healing ingredients, your skin is also absorbing chemicals known to be dangerous. Making your own organic salve is so easy and inexpensive, there's really no reason not to create your own.

Salves are ointments you can prepare to help heal wounds and abrasions, protect an infant's skin from diaper rash, soften dry skin, and treat chapped lips. To make an organic herbal salve, start by preparing your herbal oil as described in the last post. To turn it into a salve, heat it with beeswax over a double boiler, using about ¾ - 1 ounce of grated beeswax in one cup of strained herbal oil. Pour it into a container with a tight-fitting lid where it will harden as it cools. If it is too thin, just reheat it and add more beeswax. If it's too hard, reheat and add more oil. Stored in a cool place, the salve will last about six months to a year.

With just a few basic herbs and a good quality oil such as almond oil, grape seed, jojoba or even olive oil, you can prepare salves that will serve most any skin need. Following are some suggested herbal recipes for salves that are valuable to keep on hand.

For scrapes and cuts:
Prepare your herbal oil by adding about 3 teaspoons each of crushed garlic, calendula and comfrey into one cup of oil. Seal it in a jar and allows it to site for at least a week. Strain the herbal oil, expressing as much of the oil as you can from the herbs. Prepare the salve as described above.

For burns:
Add 3 teaspoons each of calendula and comfrey and the juice of 3 large, split aloe vera leaves – or about ½ ounce of pure aloe vera gel - to one cup of oil.

For skin irritations and diaper rash:
Use German chamomile, calendula and comfrey. Vitamin E is a good addition as well, using the contents of 3 capsules per one cup of oil.

For insect bites or stings:
Use basil, calendula and chamomile.

Calendula and comfrey are both central to most skin healing solutions - as you can see . Calendula is very soothing and comfrey stimulates skin regeneration. Garlic is one of the most powerful antimicrobials in nature, making its addition excellent for any skin preparation to be used where there is a risk of infection. Aloe vera and Vitamin E can be added to any preparation for additional soothing and healing. Also good for the skin is lavender, as it has antimicrobial and skin soothing properties as well. It also adds a lovely fragrance that can be calming, especially for babies.

Try several recipes and experiment with them to create the safe, organic healing salves for you and your family.