Healing Salve Recipe

In my last post, I talked about my plans to use some herbs to help my recovery along after the baby comes. (Since that time is coming up fast, most of my posts will be related to my frenzied preparations.)

I decided to share the "recipe" I use for making our family's salve here. Its been a huge blessing for our accident-and-injury-prone family. As I mentioned in my other post, the herb mixture isn't exclusive to using in salves or ointments. It can also be used in lots of other applications. (Since I'll be using the herbs in more tender areas this time, I'll be omitting the cayenne pepper for this round.)

We use this salve for bruising, scrapes and cuts, sprains, and other minor injuries. I've given tubs of it to friends who have had surgeries, dislocations, and other injuries, and they've said that it helped. Many of the herbs in this recipe also have pain relieving properties.  Just FYI,  this ointment smells funny.  Like... herbs.  It's not an offensive smell though, and I don't really mind it.

*But please note that I am not an herbalist! So please do your own research when it comes to using herbs. Some can be dangerous when ingested or when used in large quantities or for babies or small children. Don't be poisoning yourselves!

Healing, pain relief salve:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup shea nut oil
1/4 cup sweet almond oil

2 Tbsp Dr. Christopher's BF&C herbs
1Tbsp valerian root powder
1 Tbsp St. John's wort powder
1 Tbsp comfrey root
1 Tbsp lobelia leaf
1 tsp cayenne

4 Tbsp (1 oz) beeswax (pastilles or grated works best)
Approx 20 drops desired essential oils (you can use any. For aroma or healing properties or both.)

Pour carrier oils and herbs in a sauce pan. (Everything but the beeswax and essential oils.) Heat the mixture, stirring it a little, until it's hot but not simmering, so you don't scorch the herbs. Cover and remove from the heat. Let it steep for 30 minutes or more. Heat it again, stirring a little, and remove from heat before it simmers. Cover it again, and let it steep at least 30 more minutes, but preferably overnight. The longer it steeps, the more active the herbs are in the finished product. I steep mine overnight.

Strain the herbs out of the oil using a clean cheesecloth or muslin. Make sure you twist and squeeze the herbs in the cheesecloth to get all the oil that you can out. A lot gets trapped in there. Oil will get all over your hands, but I just rub it in like lotion. :) Discard the herbs.

Put the strained oil in a double boiler to reheat it. (I like to just use a glass measuring cup in a pan of hot water, because in the end, that makes it easier to pour into containers without spilling and wasting.) Add the beeswax, and heat and stir until it melts. Remove from the heat and add essential oils while it's still hot. 

Quickly pour into clean containers, because it will start to set up fast as it cools. If it solidifies too fast, just reheat and then pour again.

I like to use different sized containers. I keep smaller tubs in my purse, in the diaper bag, in the car, etc. I store larger tubs in the fridge so they don't go rancid before we can use them.  I also plan to make a batch with more beeswax to make it more solid and less lotion-y, and pour the hot mixture into roll-out Lip balm tubes so that it can be applied directly to the skin like chap stick, instead of needing to dip into tubs or jars.

All of these ingredients can be found at herb or health food stores, but you might need to hunt for the Dr. Christopher brand herbs, as they're more of a specialty item. Containers for storage and use can be found easily and inexpensively online. 

Beeswax is sold in many forms, and pastilles are definitely easiest to work with here, because it can take some serious muscle power to try and grate a block of wax. Olive oil can be substituted for the other oils in this recipe, but I like using these because they're more moisturizing and seem to soak into my skin, instead of just sitting on top of it like olive oil tends to do for me.

Using Herbs Postpartum

Around my house, we use a healing herbal salve that I make. We use it for speeding the healing of bruises, minor cuts and scrapes, sprains, and other minor injuries. With large household, we go through a lot of it, and we also give it as gifts. 

Today I mixed up a double batch of the herbs. I'm saving half to use the next time we start running out of the ointment. 

The other half is what I'm focused on today, since I'm in a hurry to finish preparing for this little baby to join our family. I'm putting the second half of the herbs in a tea bag, to steep and then use as a compress for myself after the baby comes. The tea bag could also be used in the bath after a birth, sort of like bathing in a tea, to help speed healing. But since I prefer showers during that healing time, I'll be putting my "tea" into a small bottle, which I can use to apply it to my postpartum pads. (I'll just spritz some onto the fresh pads.)

I'll be using that with the witch hazel pads I get at the hospital. I might just make my own, reusable pads, and add some witch hazel to the mix. I'll have to see. If I do that, I'll just make small, single layer flannel washcloths that can be moistened with the tea and witch hazel, then set those on my pads when I change them. I have a large shipment of flannel arriving this weekend, and might dedicate some for this.

For now, my tea bag of herbs is steeping in a half gallon mason jar on the stove, over an ultra low heat double boiler situation.

The tea bag is simply a muslin drawstring bag, which prevents the need to strain out the herbs later on. After steeping this batch, I'll freeze the tea bags to use again later. The next time I use them, the tea will be weaker, but that's okay.

This is my first time using herbs in this particular way, but I'm hopeful that it will help to speed up my generally long healing process after the birth of this baby. Since there are still some weeks before baby comes, I'll probably freeze the finished tea in small containers until I'm ready to use it. And then any leftovers can be used for compresses, in partnership with salve.

I'll share the recipe and process for making the salve in my next post. Just know that the same mixture of herbs can be used in a variety of ways. You don't have to just mix them with oils or waxes.