I melted some pure beeswax into it and added essential oil, and we’ve been using this all purpose salve for everything; we use it as lotion, apply to dry cracked hands and feet, diaper rash, and to put on little scrapes and scratches, as lip balm, used as wood polish for our wood blocks, and even in a light layer to get my son’s hair to stay down for a picture.
How To Make Simple All Purpose Salve:
- In a double boiler over simmering water melt 2 ounces of pure beeswax (I found mine at our farmer’s market for $1/oz or it’s available from Mountain Rose Herbs)
- Remove from heat and add in 14-16 ounces of coconut oil; I used raw extra virgin for it’s antibacterial properties. (buy coconut oil here)
- The heat from the water will melt the coconut oil easily, but not heating it so hot that you lose the properties associated with raw coconut oil. Coconut oil melts above 76 degrees, so that’s all we need to raise it up to.
- If desired, mix in 30 drops of an essential oil of your choice- I used peppermint. At this point you can add powdered herbs to make the salve more therapeutic, but I opted to just keep it plain and all purpose.
- Stir with a fork to evenly distribute the essential oil, beeswax, and coconut oil and pour into a lidded container to cool (cool with the lid on or off, it doesn’t matter). I poured it all back into my coconut oil container, but you can also divide it up into smaller containers to keep in different areas on the house.
- Use as you wish!
You would think that since both coconut oil and beeswax are solid at room temperature, the mixture would also be solid- but the salve is creamy and easy to scoop out with your finger.
What natural remedies do you keep in your medicine cabinet?
I agree – we use coconut oil for everything! I have been using it straight as a salve as well. I like this addition, though!
I love coconut oil – but it is really greasy. Is it still greasy after the beeswax is added? My husband hates it when I put products on my hands that leave the steering wheel greasy. Also, I’ve heard that too much coconut oil can actually dry your skin out – do you know anything about that?
I was going to say that I started using just the coconut oil for my elbows when they were terribly dry at the end of this summer, and it didn’t seem to help at all, until I started using regular old lotion. So, I am excited about trying this blend. Why didn’t I think of that?!
I use coconut oil all the time, and my skin is never dry. It does have moisturizing properties, but, more importantly, it seals in your own moisture. In the winter, I have been making something similar to this salve but with half-coconut & half-cocoa butter. I bathe with it instead of soap and use it as an additional moisturizer. Love it. Will have to try this.
Hmm, I suppose that’s pretty subjective! I don’t feel it’s greasy, but, say, if my children rubbed it on their hands and then touched the window it would leave a print (ahem, not that they’ve ever done anything like that
)
Thanks for sharing Cara, this is something I will look into more. there is so much we can do on our own, like our parents did years ago without falling in the “need to buy” trap.
Cara, I wonder if this would work well for little burns from the kitchen?
Not sure Sarah, it might!
We recently learned that toothpaste works amazing on burns. We have a friend who is a welder who told us about it. I’m not sure what’s in the toothpaste that makes it work, but my daughter had a severe (well, severe to me…) burn on her hand and after putting on the toothpaste she never complained again about it. Better results than what we had with lavendar even.
What works the best on the little burns in the kitchen is to apply honey directly on the burn.
I have been using pure Lavender essential oil (from YoungLiving for the quality) on burns. It stops the burn immediately, stops the pain, & will even prevent scarring. No kitchen should be without it. It works best when applied immediately, but will work a bit on even older burns.
Hi Cara, as my family calls me the “Salvinator” and it is usually straight coconut oil, I loved this recipe! I would love to share it on my thoughts on friday link love post!
Alex@amoderatelife
Too funny! Thanks for including me in your link love
This looks amazing! I’d love to put some on my hands after cleaning the kitchen! You should have a giveaway for your salve!!
I’m wondering if you (or anyone else) has some idea what essential oils or herbs could be mixed into this to treat an ongoing ringworm-like rash (responds to anti-fungal OTC treatment, but never gets completely better) that keeps going around my kids. I’ve gotten desperate enough to try a doctor (we usually do homeopathic and natural remedies), but they won’t/can’t give me an actual diagnosis; they just keep trying to prescribe stuff. Anyway, I’m not very herb-savvy (or essential oil-savvy), but I’d love to find out if there was something that might work. For now we’re just doing coconut and tea tree oil on the rash, but it’s so messy!
Jennifer, you can use iodine to get rid of the ringworm, what I’ve read is it takes about 3 days using it 3 times a day. Iodine is important to your health anyhow and I believe that’s why we suffer from so many different ailments is due to a severe lack of iodine in our bodies.
http://www.susangaer.com/studentprojects/ringworm.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Got-Ringworm?&id=209084
Hi,
I know this post is a bit dated, but thought I’d reply anyway in case your around. For any kind of fungus type of rash, I’ve found that tea tree works great. Also a splash of raw unfiltered vinegar seems to work great also.
Hi Cara.
I would like to start making my own salves. I got the stuff to make the one you posted here & have a few friends excited about making this salve too. Thank you for sharing.
Now I’m wondering if you know of any bloggers who are into salve making. I have been searching online trying to find such bloggers with no success.
I am especially interested in recipes that I can use for babies & children.
-Verna
Hi Verna,
Salves are one of the easy home products to make and you can add multiple ingrediants. You can start with simply olive oil as a base. I do olive oil, shea butter coconut oil, jojoba oil all melted together w/ beeswax to bind it. I add a bit of vitamin E, some aloe vera, and then last some e/o of lavender oil. This is a wonderful diaper cream salve. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ingredients, and you will probably develop your own that you love in know time at all.
I made this salve and have been using it regularly. I had some nasty patched of eczema on my hands and after about a week of putting this on every night before bed, they cleared up! It’s wonderful! I’m making some more plain salve and packaging it in little tins to give as gifts to some family members with eczema. I am constantly amazed ( I don’t know WHY it would amaze me) at the wonders of the natural ingredients that God has given us. Better than any chemically processed hand lotion.
I’ve been making my own lotion for a few months now and love it. Calendula oil is a great addition for eczema sufferers. If you need something even more moisturizing, add shea butter as well. I use one part each beeswax and Shea butter plus six parts coconut oil (and/or olive oil).
I am excited to try this out. I also picked up shea butter & calendula oil to add to it. My son has very bad eczema on the back of his legs. Do you add the calendula oil to the salve or just put that on separate? Thanks!
Wondering what the “shelf-life” is for the salve & lotion? How do you know if it’s starting to go bad?
I would imagine that in theory it could grow mold, but I haven’t experienced that. Maybe someone else will know more.
Will the consistency be the same if you dont add the essential oil?
It will
I must not have used enough beeswax because mine came out greasy. Also, the beeswax started to harden back up as soon as I added the coconut oil, so I have some wax “floaters” in the mix. I used sweet orange oil and Vitamin E and I LOVE the smell! Thanks for posting!
That sounds like it smells wonderful! If you wanted to, you could try re-melting the mixture on a double boiler. I did that to smooth mine out, and I added an inch lanolin at the same time.
Thank you so much for this! I LOVE coconut oil and use it for everything. My son has had really bad eczema since birth and that has since gone away. I’ve used coconut oil with him from birth. Now he has scale psoriasis on his head in a few spots. I usually can manage it with cleaning it and using coconut oil. I had seen your post and thought “PERFECT”, I can keep it on his head longer so that it can really heal. I found a salve that I bought online to test it and in a few days the scaling and inflammation is almost gone, which normally it was just on and off scale and inflamed.
The ingredients are much like yours, but they added some other ingredients. How could I find a breakdown to make this myself? It has Virgin Olive oil, Virgin Coconut oil, Raw Honey, Beeswax, Karanja and Neem oil. It’s a lot like yours, but the Raw Honey was something I thought would be nice to add.
Again… Thank you so much! Love this!!
Lavender oil is terrific for burns – takes the sting right out of it. I made a batch of similar salve years ago and it’s still potent and useable – must be fifteen years old!