Herbal First Aid Salve
One of my favorite and most used herbal preparations, a first aid salve, affectionately known in my household as “boo boo balm”. You can easily switch up the herbs used to suit your personal preference/needs/availability and i'm going to list my favorite options and their unique contributions below so you can get some good ideas and decide on your own formulation! Follow along the tutorial video to use fresh or dried herbs using the heat infusion method or you can infuse dry herbs with a liquid carrier oil and the “folk method”. I have been absolutely loving using tallow as the base for my healing salves and that is what is shown in this video but feel free to use another base recipe or carrier oil of choice. Enjoy!
Calendula:
Calendula is a powerhouse of healing but is also extremely gentile and often included in baby formulations. Anti inflammatory, antiseptic and antimicrobial, calendula can be used both internally and externally. Make sure to harvest the entire flower head, including the green base beneath the petals as this part contains many beneficial resins! Calendula soothes and speeds healing of just about everything… Seriously, look into it and you will find someone using it to speed healing and provide relief for almost anything you can think of. Externally used for cuts, burns, bruises, rashes, acne, bug bites, pink eye, itchy scalp etc… And internally for UTI, sore throat, canker sores, thrush, regulate menstrual cycles, reduce fevers and more!
Comfrey:
Comfrey, Symphytum officinale, is another powerhouse plant used externally in poultices and salves for impressive healing. Using comfrey internally is a bit controversial but externally everyone seems to agree, it is an incredibly powerful tool to have in your medicine chest! So powerful in fact that you should use caution when applying to open wounds as it heals so quickly that you can easily trap bacteria and debris, leading to a trapped infection. So make sure you clean wounds very well before applying comfrey! Astringent, anti-inflammatory, demulcent, expectorant, & vulnerary.
Used for wound healing, scar prevention/fading, broken bones, bites, stings, rashes, burns, ulcers, respiratory conditions, urinary health, musculoskeletal pain, nerve pain, sprains, strains, and just about any other pain. It’s astringency also helps to stop bleeding.
Chamomile:
A very well known tea, has a lot more to offer than your average soothing evening beverage! A soothing but powerful plant, it is antispasmodic, anti inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant and much more! Topically it is helpful in healing just about anything, burns, bites, stings, rashes, cold sores, sunburn, dark spots and scaring to list a few.
Plantain:
Astringent, antimicrobial, and high in vitamin K, calcium and other vitamins and minerals. Plantain is used to draw out toxins and venom from bites, stings, and infections, stop bleeding, soothe irritation, prevent infection and accelerate healing overall.
St. Jons Wort:
Though most people know of St Johns wort, Hypericum perforatum, as a treatment for depression, the flowers also have skin-healing properties. Wonderful for general wound care, joint pain and I especially love it for healing burns!
Yarrow:
Achillea millefolium, used as an antiseptic, to quickly staunch bleeding, promote wound healing, soothe insect bites, hemorrhoids, burns, and bruises.
Chick Weed:
In salves, we use chickweed to treat itchy and inflamed skin resulting from eczema, psoriasis, nettle stings, and rashes (especially wonderful for diaper rash!).
Lemon Balm:
Lemon balm leaves are typically utilized topically to treat viral infections such as herpes, shingles, and cold sores. It has potent antiviral activity and can cut down the healing time of a cold sore by up to half!
Cayenne:
Capsicum frutescens is a phenomenal plant to grow in your medicinal garden. In salves, it works to increase blood flow to an area and the capsicum works to affect the pain receptors to provide relief. Wonderful used as a sore muscle rub or to relieve rheumatic and arthritic joints. Since it is very warming it should not be included in formulations intended for use on burns or other “warm” injuries.
Tallow:
I have been choosing home rendered tallow as the base for all my salves lately, I am loving it! It is a great single ingredient base, no exotic oils or beeswax needed, it absorbs into the skin very quickly, and boasts many healing benefits of its own! High in Vitamin A, D, E, K, and CLA, tallow not only soothes and repairs damaged skin but also helps prevent damage! Wonderful for soothing and healing eczema, rashes, bites, burns, acne etc… Make sure to source 100% grass fed beef tallow to reap all its many healing benefits and if you want to make it extra economical and know exactly what is in your tallow, you can learn to render your own!
