Last month a friend came to visit.
Meet Dez everyone...
Well, we hadn't seen eachother in over a year so this visit had to be good. And, it was! We are long time friends from our high school days and both have husbands and two kids each now. Needless to say.. we had lots of catching up to do. Well, both of us have been looking into a more natural, safer, domestic ways of living. Part of my mission to be fully self- sufficient started here. Dez showed me how to make a homemade lotion and heal all salve. This was so much fun to make and let me tell you... they work AMAZING!!!
It started like this... a couple of lotion bottles, ointment containers, and a trip to the herb store for all of our supplies. First, we started with the lotion. This lotion was customized for my families EXTREMELY sensitive/dry skin. Great for the treatment of Eczema. Of course looking into different herbal properties you can customize a lotion to meet your personal needs. For my lotion I used oatmeal, lavender, comfrey, calendula, aloe vera, glycerin, vitamin E, olive oil, essential oils and bees wax.
Once you have the necessary ingredients start with placing 1-2 oz. of herbs in a jar, pour boiled water over herbs seal the lid and let sit for approx. 1 to 1 1/2 hours. About 10 to 20 minutes before herbs are ready measure out 3/4 cup oil (olive or jojoba) into a glass measuring cup or glass jar, add the bees wax and set the jar into a pan of water creating a double boiler effect. Stir occasionally. In the meantime, strain the herb water until you have one cup of herb water measured out. Add water to a blender. Once the wax has melted remove from water and allow to cool until it starts to harden. Add wax to blender while running on low speed, stop and scrape sides occasionally. As it sets it will solidify.
Pour into lotion bottles and use as often as you would like. Enjoy!
The homemade heal all salve is made using most of the same ingredients and a few more. For my heal all recipe I used lavender, oatmeal, st. johns wart, comfrey, peppermint, plantain, calendula, 20 drops tea tree oil. I made a small container of this for my mother-in-law whom suffers from fibermialgia and arthritis. She swears by this stuff now! She rubs a little into her knees or sore muscles and says it helps her aches in her joints. Sounds good to me! No promises though. ;)
To make this ointment put one cup oil and 1-2 oz. of herbs into a crockpot and cook on low for 3 to 5 hours. Strain herbs to save infused oil. Make a double boiler effect using a jar and a pot of boiling water. Add infused oil and 1 oz. bees wax to jar. Test with a popsicle stick to test for proper consistency. Once consistency is reached pour into containers, let the oil solidify. Keep in fridge or cool place. Lasts approx 6 months to 1 year in fridge.
Use the ointment in place of neosporin, I have used to clear up cold sores, stings, bites, cuts, rashes and any other irritant. As I stated earlier sometime just massaging it into your aches can be of help from this salve.
Let me know if you try any of your own combinations.
Enjoy!
