Homemade creams and salves are much easier to make than you might expect. You essentially need the base ingredients: oil, bees wax, and shea butter + whatever flowers, plants or essential oil you want to infuse into the salves. When infusing plants into oils, always dry them first. Fresh plants con introduce bacteria into the potion. Instead of buying multiple creams with sketchy chemical ingredients throughout the year, look into making your own. This recipe is incredibly hydrating, healing (and powered by plant magic), and makes for perfect gifts as well.

This recipe uses plant infusions, but essential oils can be very powerful. For hand and face creams I prefer plants, but for pain creams and antibacterial salves I go with extra-potent essential oils. For this method, melt down the oil+bee’s wax+shea butter and just add drops of essential oil before letting it cool. How much essential oil is a personal choice as well. For pain creams, I like to add a lot, almost so much that it burns the nose a little when you smell it. The beauty of these salves is that there is a lot of wiggle room in the proportions. More wax=a denser salve, less wax and shea butter= a creamier salve.

Ingredients

5oz oil (sweet almond, jojoba, virgin coconut (for body only))

2 - 4 tablespoons dried flowers herbs (lavender, calendula, rose, sage, rosemary)

2 ounces bees wax

2 ounces shea butter

Small glass jars with lids

Recipe

Add the dried plants of your choice to a mason jar with the oil. Infuse the plants with your method of choice:

Sunlight (long) infusion: add dried plants to a sterilized mason jar filled with oil and let it infuse in a warm location/in sunlight for at least 1 to 2 weeks. The longer the better.

Quick infusion: add the plants and oil to a mason jar and boil the jar gently in a saucepan of water (which comes halfway up the glass) for 2+ hours. Longer simmering leads to a deeper extraction and infusion.

Strain the plants and keep the oil in the jar. Place the jar in a saucepan of water that comes halfway up the glass. Add the bees wax and shea butter and gently simmer until melted. Divide the oil between the small jars and let it cool into the salve. Store in a cool, dark place.

Dried herbs properties for salves

Lavender: reduces redness, anti-inflammatory, eases sunburn, insect bites and fights bacterial infections.

Calendula: anti-inflammatory, skin softening, antibacterial (good for scrapes and cuts), soothes eczema. High in antioxydants.

Sage: anti-bacterial/antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, fights acne and soothes eczema symptoms. Can also smooth cellulite, regulates sebum production. Sage is high in vitamin A which is essential to the synthesis of collagen. It is also charged with antioxydants.

Rose: balances skin pH. Fights inflammation, dermatitis, redness, irritation, and eczema. Helps reduce acne scars, impurities, and brightens skin.