How to Make Lavender Salve

Making herbal lavender salve is easier than it sounds. They look so sophisticated in their perfect round tins, but they’re simple make! The list of ingredients can become long, but here I’ll show you how to make an easy lavender salve recipe.

Lavender  not only smells great but it’s relaxing, promotes sleep and fights stress, headaches and migraines. It also great for almost any skin issue. I bought a ginormous bag of lavender because I use so much of it. It’s my #1 go to herb!

There are several ways to infuse your oil, but I prefer the crockpot method. You can also do a solar infusion and place the jar in a warm sunny place for a few weeks, or you can heat them in a double boiler. The double boiler is faster, but it’s easier to burn. Also, it’s winter so there aren’t many warm sunny spots right now. So the instructions for lavender salve here are for a crockpot.

How to Make Lavender Salve

Lavender salve ingredients:

• Vitamin E (optional)
• Lavender
• Oil (olive or coconut work well)
• Beeswax
• Metal tins or small glass jars
• Canning jars, bands and lids
• Crockpot

Lavender salve recipe

1. Fill a jar full of fresh lavender or halfway with dried lavender. The dried herbs will really expand, so you must give them room. I also like to do several jars at once, so I’m not running a crockpot for 1 jar.
   After your herbs are in, fill the jar with oil. Olive oil or coconut oil are good choices. I like coconut oil for it’s antibacterial and healing properties. It helps to preserve the salve and offers significant skin benefits.
2. Line the bottom of your crockpot with a small towel. This prevents the glass jars from breaking.
3. Screw the lids and bands on your jars and place in the crockpot. Fill with water to the tops of the jars and turn on to warm, or the lowest setting.
   Heat the jars for three days, adding water as needed to replace what’s evaporated. Be sure to pour the new water into the crockpot water, not on the jars, or they may break!
4. After three days turn the crockpot off and allow the jars to cool a bit. Once they’re cool enough to handle strain the herbs out with cheesecloth, an old clean t-shirt, or a fine mesh seive. Be sure to gently squeeze all the oil out of the herbs!
5. Transfer the infused oil to a double boiler. You can also put a bowl on top of a pot. Heat the oil until warm, but not simmering.
6. Now for the beeswax. I like to use about 3 Tablespoons  of beeswax per pint of oil. Add a few tablespoons per pint and gently stir until melted. To test it, dip a spoon in the oil and then place it in the fridge for a few minutes. Once it’s set, you can feel the salve and see if you want to add more beeswax. It should be hard enough as to maintain its shape and not slosh around the container, but soft enough that it can be easily scooped out.
7. Add the vitamin e and gently stir. This helps to further preserve the salve and provides additional skin benefits. I like squeezing in 3-5 large capsules per pint of salve.
   Pour the warm mixture into your container(s) and let cool, uncovered, at room temperature.

To Use: This can be used by everyone as much as needed. Rub into the temples or back of the neck to help relieve a headache. Spread onto stretch marks, scars, cleaned burns, infections and scrapes. Use for chapped lips. Put some on the upper lip or directly under the nose for aromatherapy that combats stress and anxiety.

To Store: Keep in a cool, dry place. If exposed to extreme heat this will melt, but still be just as usable. If it’s too cold, it will harden and be difficult to scoop out.

Don’t have time to make it? Find herbal healing salve for skin here.