PREPS PART 29: MAKING SALVES AND CREAMS

IF TSHTF and there are no more convenient corner stores and Walgreens, where will you get salves and creams?
Hard working homesteaders will still need chapstick and skin cream, as well as medicinal creams for rashes and burns.

I make homemade chapstick from beeswax and olive oil. I learned this from a wonderful woman named SPINNERHOLIC who occaisionally drops in to TBK.

Use a small microwave safe bowl or if you are going to melt it in a double boiler one of those small aluminum mini loaf pans.
Shave about 1 Tbs.of beeswax into your container, add about 1 Tbs of olive oil and melt. It will take awhile. Add more olive oil up to 2-3 Tbs maybe, stirring with a chopstick or toothpick. Before adding more oil remove it from the heat occaisionally and let it cool to see if the consistancy is right. It should be firm but melt when you rub your finger over it a few times. Add more oil for a total of about 3:1 oil to beeswax until it feels right at room temp. Add the oil from 2 Vitamin E capsules you prick with a needle to preserve it. Store in a small tin or a small plastic container you can buy at the drugstore. This lasts indefinitely, is very soothing, smells wonderful and stays on your lips a LONG time.
What recipes do you have?

Here's one of MANY from:
http://wildforager.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=salves&action=display&thread=1033772215

Comfrey Salve
1 cup chopped comfrey or 1/2 cup dried ( I prefer to make this with fresh comfrey)
1/2 cup fresh chopped plantain or 1/2 cup dried
2 tablsp. dried calendula blossoms
1 tbsp. dried chamomille blossoms
I also add some fresh jewelweed when I can get it or houndstongue.
Olive oil
beeswax
unbleached coffefilter, lg. funnel or strainer..
Essential oils of Lavender and teetree
Vit.E Capsule.
In a large glassjar ( a canning jar works real well), Place all the herbal ingredients and cover with olive oil.
Place this jar into into a pan of water and bring water to a boil, than reduce to simmer for good 2 to 3 hours ( check your water frequently*)., NEVER get the oil mix to boil ,if your herbs look crisp or brown, discard all...
Strain the herb infused oil through an unbleached paperfilter into another jar and return to the double boiler ( I use an old potato-ricer into which I place another coffee filter and press the last of the goodness of the herbs out before discarding the herbs). Gently add beeswax to it ( about 2tbsp grated beeswax per 1/2 cup of oil), again, DO NOT boil the infused oil mix, just have the water so you can melt the wax.
Let cool, but not set and add 10 drops of t tree essential oil, per cup of infused herboil and 10 drops of essential oil of lavender.
I also use 2 capsules of Vit.E , broken open, to 1 cup of infused oil.
Stir well and pour into smaller jars, cap well and label.
Since there are no preservatives, this salve needs to be kept from extreme temperatures. well stored mine last for about a year.
Before I spend the bucks to buy reg. salve jars, I hit up friends who had babies for their small babyfood jars...
C-M
* Never add COLD WATER if the water has boiled down, it could crack
your jar with the infused oils, add very warm tap water...

what do you use the comfrey salve for?

This is a business I used to go to when we lived in California..... They offer a wide variety or products.......... I've purchased supplies to make my own creams and bathsalts from them.....

http://www.lavenderlane.com/default.asp

Jojoba oil (actually a wax). It's the closest veg oil to human skin oils. Able to penetrate between cells for fast action. As good a skin penetrator as DSMO but better for ya. This the main reason cosmetic mfrs use it. Sorta expensive ($60/gal) but it takes very very little to do it's work.

Mixed into herbal poultices, it works very much like today's "patch" technology. Does not go rancid as other oils do, therefore keeps forever. I hunted but could find no notation of allergy problems.

Native Americans extracted the oil from jojoba seeds to treat skin disorders, sores and wounds for centuries. Jojoba oil contains no cholesterol or triglycerides and is not broken down by normal metabolic pathways..can be consumed with no problem.

CelticRose said:

This is a business I used to go to when we lived in California..... They offer a wide variety or products.......... I've purchased supplies to make my own creams and bathsalts from them.....

http://www.lavenderlane.com/default.asp

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Great site CelticRose...thanks

is that beeswax from straight from the hive? I'm getting ready to go to a craft show and there is a beekeeper there. If I remember correctly , I think he has beeswax. Is this what you call beeswax or is it some form of melted, purified type stuff?

YUP Deemy...just plain ol' beeswax. I chip mine off a big beeswax candle. I have also used the wax from a honeycomb which I liked even better.

In my parts there is a whole lot of poison oak. As a hunter and a hiker I have all but eat the stuff. Thank the good Lord I'm not alergic. I have never had a bad reaction to the oils and have rolled around in it, when traversing thrue vary thick patches of poison oak on steep hill sides. The oils come right off the leafs just brushing up against it. I can grab it and use the branches as leverage to traverse threw it. The oils are vary noticable when you grab and pull on the branches, .

However most people are not as lucky as I and will get a vary bad rash all over there body from just one small encounter. The oils seem to travle with sweat and never seem to dry up. My step son is so alergic to poison oak he has caught it from my pants days later, threw the washing maching.

My native friends told us how to use a manzineta salve to aid in my step sons recovery process. Basicaly you use green manzineta leaves. And pulp them down into a salve by boiling and smashing/mixing with water to a salve consisticity. It really works good. My step son thinks it's the next best thing to hunting, .

I tried to find more info and found this about bees-wax a vary good reading link.....

http://www.durhamsbeefarm.com/propolis_cream.htm

LilRose, you said you have used wax from a honeycomb. My brother keeps bees and gave me a gallon container of beeswax. He drained most of the honey from this. Can I put this in a large pot of water and boil so the beeswax floats to the top? Will this work?

Amethyst said:

LilRose, you said you have used wax from a honeycomb. My brother keeps bees and gave me a gallon container of beeswax. He drained most of the honey from this. Can I put this in a large pot of water and boil so the beeswax floats to the top? Will this work?

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That's what I did Amethyst. But I had to let it cool and then take the wax off that set on the top. If I recall, I did this twice to be sure the honey was all gone. Makes a nice soft wax.
I hope you will try it. It is fun and makes a great product.

LilRose,

I have missed these prep threads. I hope you aren't running out of them!

I don't have a salve recipe to contribute, but I make liniment from comfrey leaf, ginger root, hot peppers and sometimes I add willow bark. I don't have proportions, but I use more comfrey than other ingredients. Wintergreen leaf or mint could be added, too. I put all into a jar, cover it with rubbing alcohol and let it steep. You can strain out the ingredients or leave it in. I use rubbing alcohol because I cannot afford vodka in the quantities I would need and I use vodka for the internal medicines. Of course if you can and would prefer it the vodka would be better.

I would love a good herbal drawing salve recipe if anyone has one.

Thanks for these very interesting and helpful threads, LilRose.

spinner

Spinner has a winner! I think your linement must be very effective since it has hot peppers in it which have capsasin, which is used in over the counter pain creams. And willow bark for its aspirin. I bet it works well.
What does the comfrey do? I am sort of new to the healing herbs art.

Comfrey is also known as "knitbone." It is a powerful healer for broken bones, bruises sprains, strains, burns, sores, ulcers, etc. It will heal injuries so fast that it is not recommended for deep cuts since the skin can heal over the wound and trap potential infection deep in the wound. A wonderful herb that has (in my opinion!!) received a bad rap as carcinogenic based on some very limited and skewed research - it is not recommended for internal use. However, when it was used internally it was believed to heal ulcers, internal bleeding and digestive complaints. Also for bronchitis and respiratory problems. The root is also used and is preferred by some as more powerful than the leaves having a greater concentration of the healing agent allantoin which stimulates the production of cells responsible for forming collegen, connective tissue, cartilage, and bone. Both root and leaves are used as poultices, compresses and in salves. I have used a root poultice on boils and it healed them without leaving a scar. Before plaster casts were in use, cloths saturated with a paste made by boiling comfrey were wrapped around broken bones and the comfrey hardened to make a sort of cast.

More here: http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_comfrey.htm


spinner

To address the bee's wax question. All commercial bee's wax is cleaned. The best would be from the hive is you can get it. The two types are natural (brown) and bleached (white). I prefer the brown. Fresh from the hive still containes some propolus (anti-viral and bacterial agent).

As for comfrey leaf or root? It has a gooey property that sooths and heals. I always add comfrey to my salve along with jojoba which has a natural SPF of 14.

The best jojoba is "Golden Jojoba". It lasts for years and jojoba pulls your formula into the skin. With out jojoba many natural creams just sit on your skin. Glycerine on the other hand pulls moisture from the atmosphere and keeps it on your skin. Just watch a natural bar of soap cure. It will be all drippy one day and dry the next. It is the natural glycerine taking in moisture from the room. One gallon of jojoba will last you 5 years of use as it is always used in recipes at only 10% volume.

Jojoba with cocoa butter makes a perfect skin protector in the sun. The cocoa butter will give you a golden brown tan. I always add these to my slaves and never burn.

Other items to add. I like using;
10% jojoba
40% infused lavender oil
30% coco butter
10% infused calendual infused oil
10% vegetable glycerine

To this I add vitamin E in the form of Wheat Germ oil. The finest source of vitamin E.

I make up a quart at a time and pour into 2 oz jars and refrigerate for use later.

As for the cream recipe. This one is tricky and involves the use of glycerine, olive oil flakes and water. Then there is the oil side. You can use any oils you want. Along with the oil side is bee's wax to cooagulate. Both are heated in separate pans until they both rise to 165 degrees. At this point you pour into a mixer and blend unitl cool. It takes about 40 minutes of blending. When you are finished you pour all into a large bottle and take out what you might use in one week to keep it fresh. This is some of the best cream on earth. No preservatives, dyes or colors. Go out and get the Complete Soapmakers Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch. It contains a cream recipe and I have altered it to fit what I need over the past 7 years. I never have to buy body or face creams. I make em.

Just a personal use note to add. I have used comfrey leaf poultices on infected cuts . It seems to pull the infection out. Or maybe it just encourages healing to the point that the infection is over come. Either way it does seem to work well in that sort of application. Thus I personally would use it in a situation where a cut was likely to become infected, esp if modern medicine might not be available should an infection occur.

LC

I have way to much comfrey...any suggestions on using the leaves?

Deemy, I dry mine so I will have it when I need it. Of course you could make some of the salves, etc that have been shared by others and store it in that form.

LC