I’m making a nice hand salve for Mother’s Day gifts this year. Almost every year, my sisters and sisters-in-law get together, at my oldest sister’s mother-in-law’s house, to celebrate Mother’s Day. We order P.F. Chang’s, which one of the guys picks up so no one has to cook, and I always buy or make a small gift for all the moms.
Gardener’s Bliss Hand Salve
This year, I thought I’d make a nice hand salve for use after a hard days work in the garden, or really anytime. There are many recipes out there for this type of salve, basically combining beeswax and oils in varying amounts, depending on how thick you want the final product. Essential oils for healing properties and scent are almost always included. Still, many people go the extra mile and add a few other goodies. Some add honey,and some infuse their oils with calendula petals or comfrey, both of which are said to be extremely beneficial to the skin.
Originally I wanted to add jewelweed extract. You may remember from your Girl Scout (or Boy Scout) days that jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, aka Touch-Me-Not or Whistle Weed, has the ability to relieve skin irritations from insect bites and even poison ivy. If you notice, many commercial soaps and sprays have jewelweed as the main ingredient. However, since the extract is made with water and alcohol, I had a really hard time incorporating the extract into the salve. If I had any patience and lots of time, I could have probably boiled off the water and the alcohol but I don’t have either, so I stuck with the basics: oils, wax and essential oils.
Ingredients
- 5 T. beeswax pellets
- 1 c. coconut oil
- 1 c. olive oil
- lavender & lemon essential oil (5 drops lavender/15 lemon) each
- 5 vitamin E capsules (acts as a preservative)
- 2 oz glass jars with lids (makes 8 or 4 – 4 oz jars)
First, place the wax, coconut oil and olive oil in a large glass measuring cup. Then place the measuring cup in a pot of simmering water.
Stir occasionally as the ingredients melt into a nice liquid.
While you are waiting, take the time to place the essential oils into your glass jars.
Once the wax and coconut oil are melted, dip a spoon into the liquid and then place it in the freezer for a minute, to see what the consistency is like. If you would prefer it to be thicker, you may want to add more beeswax. Add oil if you want it to be thinner.
Then, remove the container from the water and let it sit to cool for just a couple of minutes.
Next, add your vitamin E by pricking the capsule with a pin and squeezing the oil into the salve mixture. Stir and pour into the glass jars. This recipe filled exactly eight 2 oz. jars.
The possibilities for variation are many. You can find tons recipes on the web including ones that explain how to infuse your oils with dried and fresh herbs. The basic steps are incredibly easy and make for a great gift. You can go on from there to experiment and create a unique batch of your own.
About Patti Estep
Patty.
I plan on making this salve. It sound so easy abs I’m always looking for something for healing hands as are my daughters. I have a question about the oils. Do you use just one type of oil or a few. You mention lemon and lavender. I have both. Do you combine them?
You can use any oils you want. I used olive and coconut because I always have olive and coconut seems to be in fashion.;) For future reference you can infuse flowers in other oils like olive or almond oil by letting them steep or gently heating them on the stove and then straining them. Calendula is a good flower for skin and would be an option. Also I think the coconut gives it a thicker consistency but you could just add extra beeswax if you decided not to use coconut oil. The essential oil part is also up to you. I just happen to really like lemon and lavender. I only used 5 drops of the lavender in each jar because I didn’t want it to be too feminine in case the girls wanted to share with the guys. Lemon is my favorite scent so I used a lot many 15-20 drops. It just depends on what you like. I put them in the jars while the other ingredients where melting. This way you can experiment with the scent before combining with the salve liquid. Let me know how they turn out. I just realized that this was a big spoiler alert for my moms ;). Oh well, at least it gives others like you a chance to make it in time for Mother’s Day.