Soothing, Healing Lavender Salve Recipe (Easy and Multiple Use) — All Posts Healing Harvest Homestead (2024)

NOTE: This article is for a wonderful recipe for a beginning level healing salve using lavender buds. It smells amazing, and is perfect for small wounds, bug bites, and minor skin issues. It’s safe for everyone, too! This is a base recipe you can apply to many others, so you can get creative with it.

**This article has been updated from several years ago from when I lived in the Mojave Desert for 50+ years:

Fields of lavender….Doesn’t that vision conjure up complete joy and relaxation? I love looking at pictures of lavender flowers growing in fields, and maybe one day I'll get to see that in person. I live in a desert with some truly heinous soil, and growing lavender is just a dream in my mind.

BUT!I sure can make lavender salve! It's a lovely, soft salve with tons of uses, and it smells heavenly. Keep reading for my easy recipe and ways to use this salve for beauty and health!

Edit: If you’ve been reading our journey here at Healing Harvest Homestead for a while, then you know we’ve moved to N. Idaho! I’ve met a few lavender farmers up here, and one farm I just love is Running Springs Ranch in N. California. Stephanie sells beautiful artisan lavender essential oil, and this is where I get mine now. It’s seriously the BEST quality lavender oil I’ve ever experienced.

Anyhow, now that I’m out of the desert, I can go see all the lavender I want, and I’m also even growing it in my healing garden!

Now! On to the lavender salve recipe!

FTC Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links, and if you click through and make any kind of purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How to Make Lavender Salve

Ingredients for Making Lavender Salve:

1) Lavender flowers---about a cup or so.

2) Organic olive oil or sweet almond oil, about two cups

3) Beeswax pellets---you'll need 1/4 cup for each cup of fully infused oil

4) Lavender essential oil

5) You'll need containers to hold your salve. I use either amber glass jars or Mason jelly jars in a four ounce size. You can also use a two ounce jar if you prefer. The four ounce jars are also GREAT for any salt or sugar scrubs you might want to make as well!

Directions for Making Lavender Salve:

Step 1) Infuse your Oil

To make a lavender flower infused oil, there are two best ways to go about it. There is a long way and a short way.

Personally, I prefer the long way because more of the plant chemicals seem to get infused into the oil, and it's just stronger that way, in my opinion.You can find out more about making herbal infused oils in this article, with more details.

How to Make Lavender Infused Oil: The Long Way

Using a quart Mason jar or other jar about that size, place 1 to 1 1/2 cups of Lavender buds in the jar. Pour your oil of choice over them to within an inch of the top of the jar. Place a lid on top, and shake well. Put this jar in a sunny window, shaking daily, for about a month. You'll have lovely infused oil to use!

How to Make Lavender Infused Oil: The Short Way

Personally, this is a more violent way to treat your flowers, and I have actually burned them before, infusing oils the short way. However, if you don't have time to infuse your oil the long way, then this is your next best option.

Using a pan with a heavy bottom, add your oil and flowers. Turn the heat as low as you can, and allow the oil to gently warm up. Your flowers will infuse in this oil for up to several hours.

Then there’s the crock pot method for the short way, and it’s not as hard on the flowers, but takes just a wee bit longer. Follow the directions above except place a cloth into the bottom of the crock pot first. Add you water, place the jar of oil and flowers on the cloth, and set the crock pot to warm. Let this infuse for up to three days, replacing the water as it evaporates. I also put a lid (not screwed on) on the jar to make sure no water gets into the jar.

Here's the thing about the Short Way: It is so easy to get that oil too hot, and you might just cook your flowers without realizing it. Keep a good eye on it, because you don't want to "cook" those flowers. Infusing is supposed to be a gentle process.

OTHER OPTIONS FOR THE SHORT WAY:

Since I wrote this article, I’ve discovered less violent short ways to infuse your oil with herbs. You can read about those here.

For both methods, you'll need to strain out the lavender flowers when the infusing is done. You'll be left with a lovely green-tinted oil infused with the plant constituents of the lavender!

Here's an article about making herbal infused oils.

Step 2) Melt your Oil & Beeswax Together

You'll need a double boiler of some type for this part. What I do is place a quart Mason jar into a pan of cool water that's about 1 1/2 inch deep. No more than 2 inches, because you don't want that jar floating.

For a perfect salve, use 1 cup of oil to 1/4 cup of beeswax. You can adjust the total yield up or down accordingly. For example, if you want to make more, you could use 2 cups of oil to 1/2 cup of beeswax, and vice versa if you want to make less!

**And, if you want a harder salve, you can add more beeswax. If you want it softer, then add less. This recipe ratio is a perfect middle ground.

Pour the oil and the beeswax into your double boiler. Set the heat to low-medium, and allow the beeswax to melt into the oil.

Step 3) Remove from Heat/Add Essential Oil

Once the beeswax is completely melted, just remove the mixture from the heat and let sit for a few minutes to cool it down a bit. The heated oil is not the best for essential oils, and although you'll need it to remain liquid for this part, you don't want it cooling down and beginning to solidify.

Add your essential oil: I use about 50 drops per cup of oil. This is an approximate 1% dilution. If you’d like a stronger salve, you can use 100 drops for a 2% dilution, or even 150 drops for a 3% dilution.

You can add more or less essential oil, and lavender is very safe. Although I don’t recommend this ever, many people use it neat (without dilution) with no adverse effects.

You can tell how strong it will be somewhat by smelling as you add and stir in the essential oil. NOTE: The strength of the scent will decrease a bit as the salve hardens, so keep this in mind.

Step 4) Pour the Oil Mixture into Containers

Carefully pour the oil mixture into the containers you choose to use. This part is where some patience comes in because now you'll need to leave it completely alone while it sets up and hardens.

Trust me: You don't want to move it around as it's setting or you won't have that nice smooth surface that make a salve so pretty before it gets used! Wait til it's completely hardened--usually a few hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Step 5) Enjoy!

This salve is wonderful and simple to make! It smells great, is soothing to use, and great for gift giving too! You could actually gift this salve along with a handmade Lavender salt or sugar scrub too. For complete directions and ideas, see these articles: How to Make a Juniper/Rosemary Salt Scrub and Sugar vs. Salt: Which is Best for Making a Scrub?

Ways to Use Lavender Salve

There are many uses for Lavender salve, due to the properties of Lavender. Lavender is soothing, softening, and also has anti-microbial qualities. Here are some of my favorite ways to use my lavender salve:

1) To soothe bug bites and small cuts

2) To shorten the healing time of sunburn

3) Rub on temples for immediate feelings of relaxation

4) Use on temples, chest, and neck to help improve your sleep

5) Rub a small amount behind your ears to sooth motion sickness. Ginger works well for this too.

6) Helps to alleviate allergy symptoms. Just use on your neck and near ears.

7) Just use it to moisturize your skin and enjoy the lovely scent! I often rub a small amount right into my hands, arms, and the rest of my body because it's so good for your skin!

8) Lavender is wonderful for headaches too! Use it on your temples and forehead.

Final Thoughts About Lavender Salve

This is such an easy salve to make! The most difficult thing about it is being sure you have your infused oil ready to go! I recommend keeping several infused oils on hand all the time so you are ready to make different salves and medicinals.

Have you ever made a salve? Do you like to use them? I'd love to know your ideas, experiences, and anything I may have left out! :-) Leave a comment in the comments section!

You may also be interested in reading:

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How to Make Herbal Healing Salve (St. Johns, Comfrey, Plantain),

Hugs, Health,& Self-Reliance,

Heidi

P.S. If you haven't done so yet, I hope you'll sign up for our Newsletter! You'll never miss a thing, and you'll get free eBooks too! :-) The eBooks currently are "How to Use Herbs & Oils to Relax," and "Essential Oil Diffuser Blends."