Black drawing salve is a natural remedy I first heard about when visiting a local Amish community to pick up produce and eggs. I saw one of the farmer’s sons applying what looked like tar to his arm after getting a large splinter from a fence post.
I asked what he was putting on his arm and was told that it was a drawing salve to help pull out the splinter and make sure the area didn’t get infected. I was fascinated and wondered if it would work and if it would stain the skin.
The farmer assured me that it didn’t stain the skin and that they used it all the time in their community to help with wound healing and drawing out things that were stuck in the skin. He said that it was even effective on some spider bites for drawing out the venom.
I asked if there was a place to buy it, and was told that they made it themselves but the farmer offered to write down the recipe for me.
Black Salve Recipe
We’ve been making variations of this recipe ever since. It takes a while to make but is very effective and well worth the time. We especially use it for splinters and pieces of glass that get stuck in the skin.
I have not tried it personally for this, but black drawing salves are also said to help remove moles and skin tags.
Salve Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons comfrey, calendula and plantain infused olive oil (see instructions below)
- 2 teaspoons shea butter
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoons Beeswax
- 1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
- 2 Tablespoons Activated Charcoal Powder
- 2 Tablespoons Kaolin Clay
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 20 drops (or more) Lavender Essential Oil
Salve Instructions
- Before making the salve, it is important to infuse olive oil with comfrey, calendula and plantain. You will need 1 tablespoon of each of the herbs, finely powdered in a food processor or blender, and ½ cup olive oil. It can be infused in one of these two ways:
- Powder the herbs and place in a small jar. Pour oil over the herbs. Leave in jar for 3-4 weeks, shaking daily, and then strain through a cheesecloth for use.
- Heat the herbs and olive oil in a double boiler. Leave on low/medium heat for about an hour until oil gets strong smelling and darker. Strain through cheesecloth for use.
- Personally, I keep a big jar of olive oil with plantain, comfrey and calendula in my herb cabinet and let it constantly infuse for use in salves and lotions. When the oil is used, I discard the herbs and begin the process again.
- Combine infused olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, vitamin E oil and honey in a glass jar in a small pan of water.
- Heat the water to a simmer and carefully stir mixture in the jar until all ingredients are melted.
- Remove from heat and add activated charcoal, kaolin clay, and lavender essential oil and mix well.
- Quickly pour in to small jars or tins and let sit until hardened (several hours).
- Store in airtight container and use as needed on cuts, splinters, etc.
How to Use Black Salve
Make sure area has been cleaned well. Put a generous amount of black salve on the wound or splinter and cover with gauze or a large bandaid.
Leave at least a few hours or overnight to allow it to draw out the infection or object. Some things (like glass… in my experience) may take a day or two and several applications to draw out an object.
This salve is a wonderful natural remedy but it is not a replacement for medical care when needed. Consult a doctor before using if you have any health conditions or concerns.
Ever made a salve? How did it work? Share below!
Comfrey…..leaf or root?
Ditto this question.
Leave, fresh if possible (but not wet with dew). Dry well work too, though.
You should warn your readers that some products labeled a Black Salve are very dangerous: https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/do-not-use-black-salve-dangerous-and-called-many-names
It would be leaf.
Wow! This will smell so much better than the kind I’ve been using for the last 20 years. Thanks for the recipe!
I have made a good deal of what I called my “Black Magic salve” (I was only able to find black wax at the time) over the years. It need not be hard, however. I put all of my infused ingredients in a food processor with the whipping blade. Then with the processor turned on slowly start drizzling the melted wax into the the processor until it is like creamy butter. Once it is the consistency you like turn off processor and put in jar. It came in handy for the farm cats that would get into scrapes with each other.
Hi there, I have started reading your blog a couple of months ago and I have been trying to make changes little by little. I was looking into starting to take supplements, since my family and I don’t take any right now. Do you think it is ok to start everything at once or what would you do?
I just love your blog! I am putting a large order in at Mountain Rose… to start making my own toothpaste and other things. Keep the recipes coming! I do live vicariously through you… as I am slowly but surely adding your “things” to our lives.
Question… do you think this SALVE would be good to put on warts? My son has one on his leg. Just wondering if you’ve heard.
It might… let me know if you try it!
Try a slice of raw garlic set on the wart with a bandaid to keep in place; do this overnite.
Yes, it can stink, but the antiviral components of the garlic will dispatch that wart.
It worked for me on large wart making its home on a finger joint and a cluster of warts on my daughter’s elbow.
Could I use essential oils of the herbs? If so, how much should I use? That way, I could make a batch very quickly when needed.
Hi, Sue, I don’t know if I’m much too late with my reply (no dates on the comments section!) but no, I really wouldn’t! For quite a lot of reasons actually. Essential oils can be rough on the skin, and if used in excess can create sensitivities. Also, the parts of the plant that you will get infused in an oil or water are different than those found in essential oils (oddly enough). Fresh or dried herbs infused in oil are quite different than essentials.
The good news is, if your oil infusion contains no water (use dried herbs to be absolutely certain) then it will keep for a while. As long as everything is strained out and you don’t have more then an inch of air in the top, then it should keep in the fridge for up to a year. You might even be able to keep it unrefrigerated, but I would do more research! Good luck!
This is one of the worst things you can ever put on your body. Please NEVER use this.
Why do you say that?
Could you please expand.
If you soak a cotton wool ball with apple cider vinegar and apply to the wart with a bandaid/sticking plaster and leave for a day or two, the wart will dry up and disppear in about a week or so, just as if you had it frozen off. My kids use this, it really works.
What is a cotton wool ball?
Cotton wool ball is simply a piece of pure wool rolled into a pad or a tiny ball. You can buy a piece of wool about the size of a small scarf just for this purpose at the health food store (usually sold with castor oil.) Wool has wonderful drawing properties. If a wool cloth is drawn around the neck for sore throats with castor oil, it draws out impurities. Same thing if you put it on other areas of the body for pain or infection. Castor oil kills parasites and draws out impurities as well. If you use a small cut piece of wool, fold into a pad and put some drawing salve on it. Apply to skin with adhesive tape or bandaid. The infection gets drawn out and into the cloth. You can discard or wash and sterilize to use over again. Preferably use a natural off white color wool that has not been dyed. You can also use natural organically dyed wools.
Don’t put anything in the dryer that has had oil on it. There is the possibility of fire. I don’t know how much oil would have to be present, but I would not want to find out.
Sweetie, I don’t know where you’ve been living but a cotton wool ball isn’t actual wool rolled into a ball. It’s literally cotton that’s been made into a small ball. You can find them at the beauty and health section of a supermarket or in a chemist. Google would supply some good images and information if you’re not sure.
Oh dear…this info is massively inaccurate!
Cotton wool is NOT wool like from a sheep (knitted or otherwise) or other animal as you are suggesting. The clue is in the name itself. It’s COTTON wool, meaning that it’s cotton fibres from the cotton plant, teased out so it’s soft and fluffy, then made into little balls, which are really just rolled up lengths of the fibre.
They’re usually used in the bathroom for cleaning off make-up or cleaning the skin when you have a wound, or can even be used as a wound dressing in a pinch, although obviously, there are better products out there for that.
I really don’t know why you would make up such rubbish and mislead people like that. If you don’t know the answer, than that’s ok, but don’t go making stuff up and spreading misinformation to confuse people.
It’s not right!
Oregano essential oil works extremely well and relatively quickly at removing warts.
The other excellent essential oil to use on warts is TeeTree oil.
warts are viruses, the coconut oil is anti virus but the rest is not. a mixture of coconut oil and tea tree oil (used sparingly) will work better. apply once or twice dailey. not too much. be patient. it might take some time.
You can remove any wart (in my experience) with a fresh apple. Just stand the apple (stem up) and cut in quarters from the top down. Rub both sides of each quarter on the wart, and then put the apple back together. Dig a shallow hole in the ground and bury the apple. When it rots, the wart will be gone. I know it sounds insane, but I have used it on myself and others many times, and it has NEVER FAILED me so far. An old Mexican medicine man told me this trick, and I thought he was crazy. But it worked!
Is there a particular type of apple you use or can you use any kind of apple?
AND you end up with an apple tree! Maybe Johnny Appleseed was curing warts?
How long can you store this?
Thirty years ago, my then 11 year old son, had 32 warts on the bottom of his foot. I smeared black salve on the warts repeatedly for three days. Without any pain, he picked at the warts and they all came off, including the white roots.
Duh…just saw that you answered that already…sorry!
Katie, would Betonite clay work in place of Kaolin? It’s used on the skin for its drawing properties, too (and I have it on hand!)
Yep 🙂
Could I omit the shea butter? I’m allergic to latex and react to the small amount found naturally in shea butter.
Yes, you can omit it…
Would you then have to replace with something else? Or is it just easy enough to omit it?
It is the only ingredient I don’t have currently on hand!
I remember my grandma had black drawing salve she bought from a Amish man. She was raised Amish…..it also would draw out a boil.
It does work on a boil. That is the firs use that I ever knew of.
My folks used to make a naptha pollace (from Fels Naptha bars, orange (citrus) peel, sugar and a couple other things. Anyone know the full recipe?
I don’t think we have Amish in Australia, but my grandmother had a jar bought commercially that we used to call the black witch’s brew. We always joked that it could draw a nail out of a fence post. This was early 50’s. Have not heard of it for years. It was magical stuff. And it doesn’t sting.
Itthiol ointment can still buy from chemist
Any latex containing plant is good for warts- dandelion, prickly lettuce, chicory, etc.
What I had in Australia was Bates salve, it came in a block about the size and shape of a pack of gum and you heated it to put it on wound or on a band aid to draw the splinter.
I wonder if it is the same thing my grandma in Peru put on my cheeks when i got the mumps. Then she would wrap me up,
I have everything to make this except the clay- can I use bentonite clay?
yep
Could I use DE instead of the clay?
I wouldn’t substitute diatomaceous earth with the clay since the DE is actually microscopically sharp (fossilized diatoms), and that’s not something necessarily needed in a drawing salve. Also, the DE doesn’t have the full adsorption qualities found in clay.
Can I skip the clay?
I had an issue getting the clay (I used bentonite) to blend in. It clumped for me–any tips? Thanks so much!
I had to dehydrate mine in the oven. The salve is oil based and the water in the clay won’t blend with it.
water in the clay?? NO, there should be no water added to the clay.. just disperse the clay and coal in the carrier oils before doing anything… use a small coffee frother to mix up powders in the oils so there are no clumps, then proceed to melt harder oils only & combine them to the other oils afterwards, so they slowly melt together. You want to do this anyways because shea will get grainy if heated and rushed into mixing….
I had the same problem. No matter how much I mixed… I even used a wisk on the powder before adding it to really break it up, and then tried to wisk it in..it just wouldnt mix. I feel i just wasted alot of ingredients!