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Homemade Healing Salve

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Homemade Healing Salve Recipe Like Neosporin but more effective and all natural Homemade Healing Salve

I’m not a fan of Neosporin because its made with petroleum jelly and isn’t nearly as effective as the natural options.

My homemade healing salve (or “boo-boo lotion” according to the kids) is helpful on cuts, bruises, stings, poison ivy and skin irritations. It also helps diaper rash and baby skin irritations- just don’t use with cloth diapers or line them first.

It’s easy to make and some of the ingredients even grow in your front yard during the summer… The picture on the left is Plantain, which grows in most parts of the country and is great for the skin. Most people just know it as a common garden weed.

This salve is naturally antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and astringent. It also doesn’t contain petroleum! I never goes bad, so I make it in big batches, but you can reduce the size if needed. I always keep this on hand while gardening for skin irritations and bug bites.

All ingredients and tins and lip chap containers to store it in are available here. (Storing in a lip-chap container makes it portable and easy to apply. )

You Will Need:

  • 2 cups of olive or almond oil
  • 1 tsp echinacea root (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons comfrey leaf
  • 2 tablespoons of plantain leaf (herb-not banana!)
  • 1 tablespoon of calendula flowers (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon yarrow flowers (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon of rosemary leaf (optional)
  • 1/4 cup beeswax pastilles
  • 1/2 tsp grapefruit seed extract or vitamin E oil to preserve

How To Make Healing Salve:

  1. Infuse the herbs into the olive oil. There are two ways to do this. You can either combine the herbs and the olive oil in a jar with an airtight lid and leave 3-4 weeks, shaking daily  OR heat the herbs and olive oil over low/low heat in a double boiler for 3 hours (low heat!) until the oil is very green.
  2. Strain her herbs out of the oil by pouring through a cheesecloth. Let all the oil drip out and then squeeze the herbs to get the remaining oil out.
  3. Discard the herbs.
  4. Heat the infused oil in a double boiler with the beeswax until melted and mixed.
  5. Pour into small tins, glass jars or lip chap tubes and use on bites, stings, cuts, poison ivy, diaper rash or other wounds as needed.

 

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About Wellness Mama

Wellness Mama is a full-time housewife with a background in nutrition, journalism and communications. Her passion is helping others achieve optimal health through a “Wellness Lifestyle.” She has helped hundreds of clients lose weight, increase athletic performance, improve fertility, and overcome numerous health problems and diseases. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, & Pinterest.

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DISCLAIMER: The statements made here have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

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  • Becky

    This would be worth trying. I found out the hard way that I am allergic to Neomycin. I had an ear infection and they gave me Neomycin drops for it. I almost lost my hearing. They weren’t sure if I would get it totally back. Thank GOD I did. I just about won’t use any medicaitons. Too many risk.

  • Shari

    Where are all of these herbs found?

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama
  • Aingael

    Thank you. I learned of the healing properties of “Soldiers herb” aka plantain last summer but was unsure of how best to utilize it. I have to young boys 5 and 2 and we all have allergies to a lot of things. This will be taking a place of honor in our medicine cabinet!! Thank you a thousand times.

  • Aingael

    grocers, backyard, garden shops. or specialty places.

  • Sam

    hey there wellness mama, I’m new to your site but I was wondering where you got your double boiler from? everything I find at target looks like what I use to steam my veggies, are they one in the same?

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    I found mine at a garage sale, but it is basically a small pan with a slightly bigger pan that fits on top of it. I put water in the bottom one and the ingredients in the top one. Most of the time though I just use a glass bowl on top of a saucepan that is a little smaller…

  • Conlynnemor

    This herb is more amazing than most people know.  My dad lived in the Jungle of Peru (Tarapoto) to be exact and a medicine man introduced this herb to him when one day he showed him a lesion on the back of his left leg. Dad had previously gone to see a regular doctor, and was told he had a skin cancer and it was not curable unless cut off and it was the size of his calf muscle.  Well… this herb that USA calls plantain is called “LLANTEN”‘ in Peru. The medicine man told him to boil water and to drop a leaf in the boiling water just long enough to wilt it, take it out an cool slightly and put the entire leaf or leaves on the affected area and wrap with cheese cloth. Change it daily and do this for a week or until it was gone. After this primitive treatment, all dad had left was a discolored smooth area on the back of his leg for the rest of his life. I personally grow this herb, (it grows wild) and when i make collard greens or other greens I also include some LLANTEN leaves. I also make tea with the leaves, boil water and let it steep, add some honey and a little lemon and enjoy.

  • Carmen

    Love your website :)

  • Susan Bewley

    Wow, this is so cool! I have this week growing throughout my yard and had no clue it was anything but a weed!  Can you move it to a pot to grow indoors?  I have never seen it for sale normally.

    Budget Earth – Shopping List for Healthy Earting

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    Honestly, I’ve never tried moving it indoors, but let me know if you try it!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=735810663 Margie Payne

    What is the size of the jar you use?  I can’t seem to find that, and b/c of the small amount of herbs, I’m guessing it matters so that its not to diluted?  Thanks.

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  • Sarah

    This is wonderful stuff! I was looking for something to put on wounds in place of antibiotic ointment, and this is perfect. I didn’t have the yarrow, but made it anyway. We needed something for cracked thumbs, so I took my healing salve, put it in the double boiler with some cocoa butter and beeswax, and wa-la. Thick, non-melty healing salve that coats skin.

  • Aliyah

    I wish I could find an effective healing salve that didn’t contain comfrey. I realize healthy individuals can use certain amounts of comfrey without trouble, but I am a battling cancer– all naturally–and don’t want to overload my liver with anything since I need my liver to help fight the cancer. Is there any suitable substitute for the comfrey? Thanks in advance.

  • Amanda

    are the herbs fresh or dried? Does it matter? Can’t wait to try this!

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    Either one will work…

  • jkfreeman

    My mother used to call this leaf a Frogs leaf because of the way it resembled a frogs back. I still use the whole leaf for infected cuts and the like!

  • http://www.facebook.com/katie.webb.9638 Katie Webb

    I make my slave with plantain, lavender and rosemary. Just plantain is wonderful! My favorite healing herb.

  • http://www.facebook.com/dana.atchison.58 Dana Atchison

    I have comfrey in my yard – lot of it but I made a salve and it smelled so bad – is that normal? I did a jar of olive oil and comfrey leaves and then after it sit – I made a salve adding beeswax. it was more of a soupy green and stank so bad. it wasn’t stink it was Stank – I ended up just tossin it. does comfrey smell bad – or maybe my neighbor was wrong and it wasn’t comfrey. They were some nice big leaves. Thanks D*

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    I’ve never had it smell bad like that… it definitely has an earthy scent, but not bad… probably good that you tossed it!

  • Lyndsay

    Did you use fresh leaves in the oil and how long did you let it sit? Fresh leaves are very juicy and will start to rot and this will smell nasty, best to dry the leaves first so there is no water in your mix!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=570124232 Colleen Black Taylor

    This looks great. I’m looking for something that I can make and store – any idea how long this might store before it “expires”? Thanks.
    Colleen

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    If made with dried herbs, it will last indefinitely…

  • Laura L

    This is so sad it’s funny. We have the best medicinal plants growing freely all over and we are taught that they are all weeds. I had no clue what plantain was and looked it up on google. This has been plaguing my yard for the last 3+ years that I have lived here and I am constantly ripping it up because I don’t want to use pesticides! lol Now I feel silly. Looking forward to the spring and my yard full of plantain, dandelions & other stuff this year! :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/terra.cox.71 Terra Cox

    I made this, turned out wonderful. didn’t have calendula, though.

  • RB

    How long is a batch of healing salve last before it turns rancid and how to store it?

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    If made from dried herbs it will last for years…

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  • Sylvia

    Does infusing multiple herbs together in the same jar of olive oil take away from the effectiveness (potency?), as opposed to, say, if you were to infuse each herb in its own jar of olive oil?

    P.s. your website has become a favorite! I share it with as many people as I can… it’s really helping me change my lifestyle – for the better :) Thank you!

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  • Erika

    Is the plantain you refer to the one with long, tapered leaves and seedy sticks on long stems, or the short, rounder leaves with the seedy sticks on short stems? I’ve seen both pictures on google. I’m sure the taller plant is refered to as “English Plantain”. When I had allergy testing done about a decade ago, the doctor told me that I was allergic to English plantain. Do you think it would be unsafe to use like this, or could it just be the pollen that agravates my allergies and not the leaves?

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    I would guess your allergy is just to the pollen, but you might want to leave the plantain just in case…

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  • Guest

    I’m going to give this a try! Quick question, what do you think of anise seed? I read it is an expectorant herb and since I have some at home I was wondering if I could add it to this recipe, if so, is it [anise seed] okay for toddlers.Thanks!

  • Branwen

    The Comfrey makes cells replicate so that they heal faster–it is a “top down healer” which means the skin will seal at the surface first, so it’s not for use on deep wounds until infection has been cleared and the wound well on its way to finishing healing.. This formula should be just fine without it, all of the herbs are great for healing the skin. Using the Comfrey as a part of a formula for an external application such as this should not have an adverse effect on your liver. That worry comes more from internally ingesting Comfrey long term. But again, you don’t need it for this recipe to be effective.

  • Shannen Lee

    Is this good for after birth wounds ? bless _/|_ <8

  • http://wellnessmama.com Wellness Mama

    I have used it for that…

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