>>Ok Vicki, quit hiding your recipes. All fun aside, you sound very talented too. How do you know what goes with what, and how much of this and that? If I just started playing and experimenting I'd end up with a big mess. <<
Tropical Fish! You CAN do it!! lol I didn't have a clue when I first started but after learning herbs and reading way too many books I had to try it. Some of the books that I read were Joyce Wardell's Herbal Well-Being (simple recipes), Rosemary Gladstar's Family Herbal and Dina Falconi's Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Hair. *Note here I have never been happy with any of the hair recipes that I have tried and I've been doing hair for over 30 years so I know what i want in a product.
When I first started I tried making a couple of healing salves with beeswax and they turned out real good. You need to get your infused oils or tinctures in alcohol if you want to do this. They both have their drawbacks and advantages. In tinctures with alcohol, they can be more drying but they also last for years compared with an oil that is more soothing but has a year or so shelf life. The oils can be too oily as well. I wouldn't do the glycerin at all myself in creams or salves. Just my opinion.
If you just want to play around with herbals, you can mix the tincture or oil right into a base already made of vaseline or cocoa butter or any other product you find you like although I stay away from doing that being I don't know exactly what's in the products and the whole point is to make it natural and chemical free. Right!
I also started right in writing down each formula in a notebook so I found if it didn't turn out as good as I wanted, I'd know what not to do next time.
Ok, here's a recipe I made that seems to work really well and I've had good feedback from the people who've used it.
1) I gathered Greater Plantain from areas that had nice clean leaves free from road toxins, etc.
2) I chopped them very fine and filled a small baby food jar till it was packed full and poured extra virgin olive oil to the top. I poked it down to remove all air bubbles and capped it.
3) After a month sitting in my cellar stairways and me shaking the dang thing every time I went down there which was every few days, I took it and strained it into a small amber colored bottle. (Save these bottles and sterilize in boiling water like a canning jar if you buy any)
4) NOW I'm ready to make my salve. I take pure beeswax and melt it in a double boiler, a few small chunks at a time. I slowly add some oil and keep mixing it with a (I use a chinese chop stick) until it feels like it may be a good balance. I test it by taking the stick and dabbing some on my finger and let dry for a few seconds. If it's consistancy is too hard you will know right away and if it's too greasy, you will also know after a few seconds. Then I add whatever it needs in oil or beeswax to get just that nice creamy feel.
5) I pour it in a small jar and immediately add one capsule (by piercing the capsule with a straight pin and squeezing out the oil) of vitamin E into the jar right into the mixture. The vitamin E acts as a preservative. Cap it and label it and you've got a real nice salve!
I call this my Plantain Salve and it's great on acne, (had two teenage boys using this regularly, they even asked for it), bug bites and stings, and it even helps hemorrhoids. I had one friend that used it on a sore on her gums and she said it took the soreness away and after a couple of days it healed it right up. Plantain also helps kick the digestive system into gear so that helps eliminate toxins in the system. This is called a simple and all I really did was put it in salve form. Now you try it!!!
It's been fun! I'll give you another recipe with more ingredients if you'd like but starting simple is best. Chickweed also makes a great simple salve. Have fun! God Bless!
Vicki