by Arlene
My skin has been really dry for the past few months, as I have been undergoing chemotherapy since the start of March. My hands have cracked (all the extra COVID-19 handwashing and hand sanitiser has really taken its toll), as has the skin around my nose and mouth, and my scalp has been very dry – all the more noticeable because of my hair loss! Just as I needed extra moisturising, I found all my normal moisturisers either too light, or caused my cracked skin to sting painfully.
My doctor prescribed some great moisturisers, and while they did a great job, I wanted something a little more luxurious. Luckily, I know how to make my own salves.
A salve is an intense moisturiser, used to help heal dry or irritated skin, and they are much easier to make than you might think. My recipe isn’t set in stone, and different batches will produce slightly different results, but the basic ingredients for a salve are the same no matter what herbs or essential oils I decide to add.
Basic ingredients:
3oz beeswax
3oz shea butter
8fl oz olive oil, or coconut oil
A few drops of whatever essential oil I feel like.
I have used lots of salve over the past few months, and last week I realised that I was almost out of my dry skin salve, and needed to start making some more before I ran out completely. My herb garden is pretty well established, so after preparing what I needed last week, yesterday I was finally able to make some salve.
I started by picking my herbs – rosemary and lavender – from the garden, and giving them a gentle wash before spreading them out on kitchen roll to dry. I also cleaned and steralised a jam jar and lid by carefully washing it and then filling it to the top with freshly boiled water, and set it aside on a clean tea towel until I needed it.
Once the herbs were dry, I carefully broke them into the jam jar, filling it to the top, and then covered them with virgin olive oil. I popped on the lid, and gave the jar a good shake to start the process of infusing the oil with the benefits of the herbs. I set this aside for a week, and I usually remembered to give it a good shake every day.
I love the mix of rosemary and lavender. Rosemary has so many benefits it’s difficult to know where to start. For my purposes in this salve, I use it because it helps with aching joints, and is a great anti-inflammatory. Lavender is a wonderful antiseptic, and combined with the rosemary, the smell is amazing.
You don’t have to use fresh herbs. I have a store of dried herbs, and these work just as well as fresh, so I decided to make some calendula and chamomile salve at the same time, since I had both of them to hand. This is an incredibly soothing salve, as chamomile is a natural wound healer and wonderful for dry itchy skin. Combined with calendula, which has the same properties, the salve will have a lovely rich gold colour, and feel really good on the skin.
You can use any olive oil you like – and I use one from Aldi which I also use for cooking and bread making. If I am happy to put it in my body, there is no reason I shouldn’t be happy to rub it on my body, right? The same goes for coconut oil, and I buy it in the same place. Beeswax and shea butter can both be found online, or you may be lucky enough to have bees, or know someone who tends bees, and they may give you some.
Making the salve is very simple. Once the olive oil infusion is ready, simply strain it into a glass bowl, add the shea butter and the beeswax, and set it over a pot of boiling water to melt together. I find it easier to use a grater to break the beeswax up, as this makes it melt quickly into the rest of the mix. Once it is melted, let it cool slightly before adding your essential oils – a few drops of lavender in my case, and pouring it into a dry steralised jar or container. I use the boiling water method of steralising for this part as well.
While the the rosemary and lavender salve was cooling, I cleaned all the equipment and started again with the calendula and chamomile mix, adding a few drops of chamomile essential oil at the end.
I have made a few salves this past year, and to save myself using up lots of jam jars (I want to save them for jam after all), I invested in some metal tins. They have been brilliant, as I bought a multi pack of sizes, which means I can have a little tin to carry around with me in my pocket, as well as a big tin for everyday use.
The joy of making something like this is huge. It brings me a lot of happiness making them, and my hands have stayed crack free for weeks!
Obviously, I am making these for my own use, and I know I’m not allergic to any of the ingredients. If you want some professional advice about how to make salves, or use herbs and essential oils, try the following websites:
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lavender-Healing-Salve
https://www.myrobalanclinic.com/
I am not paid by any of these websites to endorse them – I have found them useful, that’s all.
Happy making!
Mainly Witterings 