Keep Healthy Salve Recipe

Making your own essential oil healing salve is a great way to keep healthy this fall. Not only can it help protect you against coughs and sniffles, but it can promote resiliency and support your body’s own ability to keep healthy and strong.

What is a salve? An aromatherapy salve features essential oils, carrier oils and waxes, like beeswax or a plant wax like candelilla, and can be applied anywhere on the body. But is most effective massaged into the neck, upper chest and soles of the feet. It’s a simple and easy DIY product to make at home and can be a powerful addition to your keep healthy tool kit when you start feeling like you might be catching something.

Want to know the steps to how to make a Salve?

Here are your salve making essentials; you’ll need blending tools and simple kitchen items to make your essential oil salve recipe:

• 5 one ounce aluminum salve tins or glass jars - you will need these to pour your slaves into once you make them.

• Heat source, like an electric hotplate or your kitchen stove top - you need this to help slowly melt all the ingredients together.

• Double boiler or bain-marie - you need to gently “cook” all the ingredients.  A double boiler, or bain-marie is a kind of kitchen pot that uses steam to gently warm ingredients. The bottom pot holds about an inch or 2 of water, and is placed directly on the heat source. A special double boiler pot has ridges around the edges of the pot that can easily stack another pot on top of it, allowing the steam from the bottom pot to gently warm the ingredients in the upper pot.  If you don’t have access to this special double boiler pot, you can use a set up that’s called a bain-marie, where you place a glass or metal bowl over the bottom pot so that the steam from the pot can warm the ingredients in the bowl.  The whole point of a double boiler or bain-marie is not to heat the ingredients directly, but to use steam instead.

• Mixing tools, like a stainless steel spoon, or disposable wooden sticks, like popsicle sticks.

• Various small glass bowls, measuring cups and spoons to place your ingredients in.

• A digital scale that can measure amounts to .00, and has a “tare” feature and can easily switch between grams and ounces.

• Paper Towel

• Oven Mit

• Parchment Paper

• Blank address labels or stickers to apply to each jar as your label.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make 5 one ounce homemade salves:

• ½ ounce of beeswax, we recommend using beeswax pellets so you can get a more accurate measurement.  We use beeswax in the recipe because beeswax gives the salve its nice creamy texture, and feels soft and protective on the skin.

• 2 ounces of Tamanu Carrier Oil. We are using Tamanu Oil in this recipe because it has been shown to fortify and support a healthy immune system.

• 2 ounces of Jojoba Carrier Oil.  We are using Jojoba Oil in this recipe because it offers a smooth and nourishing experience and doesn’t leave the skin feeling greasy or oily.

• 1 tsp of Vitamin E Carrier Oil.  We are adding this to our recipe because Vitamin E is a great antioxidant and can help your salve stay fresher longer.

 

Here are the Essential Oils for salves:

• 5 Drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil
• 15 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil
• 20 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil
• 20 drops of Patchouli Essential Oil
• 5 drops of Cinnamon Essential Oil

Here is how you make it:

1. Thoroughly clean and disinfect a counter or table top in your kitchen, and line a 18 inch area with parchment paper
2. Open up all the jars and tins you’ll be using, and set them on top of the parchment paper.
3. Using your digital scale, measure out the beeswax and set aside.
4. Measure out the Tamanu Carrier Oil, Jojoba Carrier Oil and Vitamin E and mix them together in a separate measuring cup and set aside.
5. In a small glass cup, or bowl, or measuring cup, mix together all the essential oils and set aside.
6. Fill the bottom pot piece of your double boiler with 1 to 2 inches of water and warm over your heat source until it starts to steam.
7. Place the top piece of your double boiler pot, or set up a bowl like a bain-marie so it rests above the steaming water in the bottom pot.
8. Add the wax to the top pot, or bowl and let it melt thoroughly.
9. Once it is melted, add the blended Carrier Oils and stir thoroughly over the heat until everything is melted and well incorporated 
10. Turn off heat, and using your oven mit, lift the top pot, or bowl, off the bottom pot and wipe the sides and bottom dry with your paper towel, so no water is left dripping.
11. Add your essential oil mixture to the melted mixture and stir well.
12. Carefully pour the mixture into each jar or tin and cap quickly.
13. Let the salves set on your table or counter top for at least 4 hours.
14. Label each jar: Now it's ready to use!

How to use your Keep Healthy Aromatherapy Salve:

Think of your “Keep Healthy Aromatherapy Salve” as your very own homemade 100% natural version of a Vicks Vapor Rub.  Whenever you are feeling like you are catching a cold, or you feel slightly achy and run down, apply a finger full of your salve on your neck, upper chest and soles of your feet. You can apply the salve as often as you wish.  

And for an extra boost of protection, you can try massaging the salve on your upper chest and then placing a warm damp washcloth over the area to help your chest absorb the oils more quickly so you can start feeling better faster.

Of course, as with any essential oil product, you should first do a patch test, to make sure your skin doesn’t react badly, and since this salve has a tiny bit of Cinnamon Essential Oil, we would recommend that you avoid using this on children under 10 years of age. If you’d like to replace the Cinnamon Oil, you can switch it out with Geranium Essential Oil, which also has equally potent health supporting properties, but is more gentle on the skin.