Calendula salve makes a thoughtful gift and a useful addition to a medicine cabinet. Here's how to make a simple calendula salve at home and how to use it for irritated skin, acne, burns, and other skin conditions.
Jump to:
- What is calendula salve good for?
- Calendula salve uses and benefits
- Calendula salve ingredients and supplies
- How to make calendula salve
- Combining oils for a healing calendula salve
- 📖 Recipe
- How long does it take to make calendula salve?
- How long does homemade calendula salve last?
- What carrier oil is best for calendula salve?
- Is calendula salve good for skin?
- Can I use calendula salve on my lips?
- Is calendula salve safe to use on open wounds?
- 💬 Comments
What is calendula salve good for?
Calendula salve has a wide range of applications, but it's generally useful for helping to heal wounds and relieve skin conditions.
While calendula oil and calendula tea offer a host of other uses, calendula salve is traditionally used to heal cuts, treat bee stings, and treat a range of skin irritations. Increasingly, there's research to support those traditional uses. Recent studies have shown that calendula extracts can help relieve yeast infections and diaper rash, hemorrhoids, burns, and skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis.
Calendula's natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties make calendula salve ideal for soothing irritated skin. Perhaps its most practical use is simply for healing cracked or dry skin.
Calendula salve uses and benefits
Calendula salve can be useful as a moisturizer, a healing balm, and a lip balm.
In the winter, calendula salve is excellent for healing and preventing cracked hands and feet. If it's made with a skin-friendly oil (like coconut or almond oil), calendula oil and calendula salve are also ideal for hydrating skin and relieving symptoms of eczema and psoriasis.
Multiple studies have also found calendula extract to be useful in combatting acne. This would make calendula oil a fantastic facial cleansing oil. For salves, it also means that a soft calendula salve could be a great moisturizer for acne-prone, dry skin.
Finally, this recipe can also serve as a shea butter lip balm or olive oil lip balm. For that, you would just need to adjust the ratios of calendula infused oil and beeswax until it's as soft or hard as you would like. You can also add essential oils for fragrance-- I'm partial to peppermint for lip balms.
Calendula salve ingredients and supplies
The ingredients you'll need are calendula infused oil, beeswax, and shea butter or cocoa butter. Vitamin E oil is an optional ingredient; as a natural component of a healthy skin barrier, it's extra useful for rejuvenating dried out skin. It can also help to extend the shelf life of oils like coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil.
For supplies, you'll just need a double boiler (or a makeshift alternative) and tins or jars for the finished salve.
The key factor in making any kind of salve is getting the ratio of oil to beeswax right-- and that's entirely subjective. For this recipe, I've used 17 parts oil to 1 part shea butter to 8 parts beeswax by volume, with a "part" being a tablespoon. (Those ratios by weight will vary, depending on what type of oil you use.)
For an 8 oz. yield, that comes out to:
- 1 c + 1 tablespoon calendula infused oil
- ½ c beeswax
- 1 tablespoon shea butter
- ¼ teaspoon vitamin E oil (optional)
This recipe makes about 8 ounces of calendula salve. I store it in either two four-ounce Ball jars or three two-ounce tins.
How to make calendula salve
Making calendula salve only takes about half an hour, plus an hour or so of cooling time. To start, all you need to do is heat the beeswax, calendula oil, and shea or cocoa butter in a double boiler. (In lieu of an actual double boiler, I like to use a metal bowl and a small pot.) Keep this over low heat until all of the ingredients have melted.
At this stage you can test the salve's consistency by dipping a metal spoon into the mixture and moving it to the freezer for a couple of minutes. The completely hardened salve you're left with is a good indicator of what you'll get from the final product.
This recipe makes a relatively firm salve, as I find very soft salves to feel a bit greasy. But if you're using coconut oil (as opposed to extra virgin olive oil or sweet almond oil) you might find that the salve is too firm. For a softer salve, simply add more oil. For a firmer salve, add more beeswax.
Once you've found a consistency you like, remove the mixture from the heat and add the vitamin E oil, if desired. Vitamin E oil is entirely optional, but it adds a nourishing element and can help extend the shelf life of your salve.
Finally, pour the salve into tins or clean, dry jars and leave it to cool. Beeswax can crack when it cools too quickly, so I recommend leaving the salve to cool on the counter. Once it's hardened, store the salve in a cool, dark place to extend its shelf life.
Combining oils for a healing calendula salve
Calendula oil is often mixed with plantain infused oil or comfrey oil for a skin healing salve or ointment. I have another recipe for an all-around healing salve for my hands and feet in the winter, but you could also just adapt this recipe to incorporate other oils.
To make a healing calendula salve with comfrey or plantain, simply split the amount of oil added between each type of infused oil. This can really be done any way you like-- odd amounts of different oils will do, as long as they add up to 140 g (for this recipe.) If you don't have enough calendula oil to make this recipe, you could make a quick batch of comfrey oil, plantain oil, yarrow oil, or rosemary oil to top it off.
📖 Recipe
Calendula Salve Recipe
A moisturizing, healing salve that can be used on dry skin, chapped lips, or acne-prone skin
Ingredients
- 1 c + 1 tablespoon calendula oil (140 g)
- 1 tablespoon shea butter (10 g)
- Heaping ½ c beeswax (56 g)
- ¼ teaspoon vitamin E oil (optional)
Instructions
- Combine shea butter, beeswax, and calendula oil in a double boiler
- Heat over low until ingredients have melted together
- To test the consistency, dip in a metal spoon and place it in the freezer for two minutes. For a firmer salve, add more beeswax. For a softer one, add more shea butter or oil
- Remove from heat and add vitamin E oil
- Pour into clean, dry tins or jars and leave out to cool
- Store in the fridge or another cool, dark location. Should keep for up to two years.
Notes
- Carrier oils that work well for calendula salves include coconut oil, sweet almond oil, extra virgin olive oil, sunflower seed oil, jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil
- This yield stores well in either two four-ounce Ball jars or three two-ounce tins
How long does it take to make calendula salve?
This recipe only takes about 20 minutes, though it can take another 30 minutes to an hour for the salve to set.
If you first need to make the calendula oil, that will add another two to four hours of infusing time, minimum. Solar infused calendula oils can take up to a month and a half to make, but in a pinch you could also add calendula essential oil to a carrier oil.
How long does homemade calendula salve last?
Homemade salves can last for a couple of years, but best practice is to replace them annually. How long your salve lasts will depend on a few factors: where you store it, what you store it in, and what type of oil you used.
For the longest shelf life, make your salve using a freshly opened carrier oil. When you're melting the ingredients together and transferring the salve to its final container, be careful not to introduce any water to the mix. And finally, salve will keep longer when it's stored in the fridge or a similarly cool, dark place.
Adding vitamin E oil can also help a salve to last longer. For a recipe yielding about 8 ounces of salve, I use roughly ¼ teaspoon of vitamin E oil. Vitamin E oil is also a natural component of a healthy skin barrier, so it's a fantastic addition to any healing salve or balm.
What carrier oil is best for calendula salve?
What carrier oil you use depends on what you intend to use the salve for. For example, a calendula salve for eczema should absorb easily into the skin and be heavily hydrating. A calendula salve that's going to serve as a facial moisturizer should be non-comedogenic. And a salve that's going to be used on dry hands and feet can use an oil with a stronger scent.
Here are the carrier oils I recommend using for different applications:
- Extra virgin olive oil is great for a salve to be used on dry hands and feet, as it's deeply moisturizing, affordable, and absorbs well.
- Sweet almond oil is ideal for salves to be used on the face, as it's one of the least comedogenic carrier oils and is rich in fatty acids.
- Coconut oil is fantastic for salves to be used on lips. Its high freezing point of 76º means it keeps it shape well in a tube.
- Virgin Sunflower seed oil, coconut oil or sweet almond oil would be great for salves intended to relieve symptoms of eczema or psoriasis, as they all contain anti-inflammatory compounds. Note that olive oil can actually exacerbate skin irritation in those with eczema or psoriasis.
Is calendula salve good for skin?
Calendula salve is fantastic for dry skin and acne prone skin. It's also useful as a moisturizing, healing ointment for dry or cracked skin, including for those who are breastfeeding.
However, if you have a ragweed or chrysanthemum sensitivity, calendula salve might cause irritation. Instead, try a healing rosemary salve or comfrey salve.
Can I use calendula salve on my lips?
Calendula is safe to use in homemade chapstick and lip balms-- it can even be used to make a tea. As it's rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, calendula oils and extracts are fantastic for repairing minor skin damage, scavenging free radicals, and soothing irritated or chapped lips.
Again, calendula is a member of the same family as ragweed and chrysanthemum. Those with a sensitivity to either of the above might be better served by using another skin healing herbal salve.
Is calendula salve safe to use on open wounds?
While calendula offers an impressive array of benefits for our skin, healthcare professionals generally warn against using herbal salves on open wounds. In addition to the risk of introducing bacteria, herbal remedies that encourage skin to heal can sometimes have the unwanted effect of healing the outer layers of skin before an internal wound has resolved. This can create a hospitable environment for unwanted bacteria, and it's a particular concern with deep wounds like puncture wounds.
As always, I encourage you to do your own research and consult a doctor if you have any concerns about using calendula salve.
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