Lanolin and Beeswax Salve
This recipe is beyond easy to make and to find the ingredients wouldn’t be(e) too hard either.
Here is what you need:
20 grams of pure Lanolin (Wool-wax, Wool-fat, Wool-grease)
70 grams of organic virgin olive oil (the best you can find)
10 grams of organic pure bee’s wax (not reused)
Put everything in a pot
Melt carefully on low temperature.
When melted, take of the heat and pour into jars. This recipe will be around 100 ml of salve.
To think about:
You can make salve with the plain olive oil, but you can also use Herbal infused oil. Read more about how to make an infused oil here.
If the mixture reaches too high temperatures some of the healthy properties in the ingredients will be lost. The lanolin has a melting point at 40 degrees and the bees wax at about 60 degrees, just remove it from the heat from time to time and stir, see if it melts, put it back for a little while and then remove again and so on. You can also use a hot water bath to melt everything, it’s easier not to get the mixture to warm this way.
If you want to add essential oils 1-2 ml per 100 ml of salve is a ratio one could start with, experiment how much you want and what you like. Some oils are stronger and some are milder, just be careful because it easily becomes too much. Add the essential oil after everything is melted and have begun to cool down, if the mixture is too hot the oils will evaporate. Only use high quality pure essential oils, organic is preferable. The cheaper ones, often meant to use with aroma lamps or diffusers, are most likely adulterated.
Pour into jars while the mixture is still runny for a nice and smooth look in the jar
Bee’s wax can be tricky because often its reused, they melt it down and often add paraffin to make the batch bigger and earn more money. Make sure its organic non-reused bees wax that you have.
I would not recommend other vegetable oils other than pure organic cold pressed (virgin) olive oil. Most other oils on the market (rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil…) are highly processed industrial products that is not good for anyone. If you are interested to hear more about this you can listen to why here and here.
This site here has a lot of good information about beeswax and liquid oil ratios, and also a lot of other information. I don’t agree what she says about most other vegetable oil, as I said above, I would strongly suggest to avoid all industrial seed oils.
Some can be allergic to Lanolin, you can test some on your skin before making the salve If you get any reactions. There may be, as one of our commenter said, that the sheep wasn’t “organic” and that its the chemicals they use on the wool that you are sensitive about.
I really hope that you will try it out, there is nothing like knowing exactly what you are putting unto and into your body!
/Tova
Watch the video tutorial here
