How to Make Your Own Herbal Salve

There are a variety of different natural products you can make at home with healing 
herbs, from lotions to poultices. Another popular product to make is a salve. A salve is 
essentially cream or oil-based and can be applied to the skin for different healing 
properties. Here are some tips for making your own herbal salve.

Necessary Materials to Make Your Salve

If you want to learn how to make your own herbal salves, you are on your way to 
stocking up your medicine cabinet with natural remedies for burns, scrapes, and many 
other health issues. The first thing you need to do is gather the right materials. To start 
with, you will need to choose a carrier oil or any type of organic oil. Coconut oil is often 
chosen, but you can also use olive oil.

Next you will need to choose your dried herbs, going with equal parts of each herb you 
decide to go with. You can also use just one type of herb. You will then need some 
shaved beeswax, jars, cheesecloth, and traditional essential oil if you want to use it.

Sample Salve Recipe to Try Out

While you should put together your own recipes of salves based on the healing 
properties of the herbs, here is a basic salve you can try out. This one includes 
grapefruit essential oils to give you more energy, plus lavender and rose to relax you. 
There is also some calendula in there as well. What you want to do for your salve is 
combine coconut oil with dried herbs like lavender, rose, and calendula, then a few 
drops of essential oils. You can also mix in your shaved beeswax to give it the right 
consistency. 

Types of Herbs You Can Put in Your Salve

Keep in mind that most salves are going to use more than one herb, because they are 
trying to treat a particular medical, skin, or mental health condition. The salve often 
helps with an actual skin condition where it is rubbed, but not always. For example, you 
can make a salve that is rubbed on the chest when someone has a chest cold, as it 
provides soothing qualities. 

As a good place to start, here are some of the best herbs to add to your salve, 
depending on what you are using it for:

*	Chickweed
*	Comfrey leaves or roots
*	Burdock
*	Chamomile
*	Arnica
*	Plantain
*	St. John’s wort
*	Goldenseal leaf
*	Echinacea leaf
*	Thyme
*	Yarrow

Give these a try or make your own concoction with any herbs you have on hand.
