Guest post by Virginia Miner
Long ago I parted ways with most store-bought lotion and baby products, and this salve does the job of many products quite nicely.
This shea butter-based lotion is infused with the incredible properties of the plantain and calendula plants, and is awesome for pretty much everything. It also uses an infused oil, which Jessica recently showed us how to make.
At my house it probably gets most use for diaper rash. I have even used it with cloth diapers and it doesn’t seem to cause a problem. It is also a good all-purpose body lotion and because of the mild SPF of Shea butter (about SPF 6, according to Mountain Rose Herbs), it can be used as a sunscreen as well.
I use calendula and plantain in my infused oil for their skin-healing properties and lavender and frankincense essential oils for their muscle relaxing properties.
Calendula flowers and plantain leaves grow wild in a lot of parts of the country, so you can forage these if you want. I got mine in dried herb form from Mountain Rose Herbs. If you are dying to try this out and don’t want to bother with infusion or essential oils, you can get at least 80% of the effectiveness using Shea Butter and olive oil alone.
Here’s how you do it!
Plantain & Calendula-Infused Lotion
To infuse olive oil:
Get about 1 cup of good olive oil and 1tbsp each of calendula and plantain.
Now you can infuse it using either heat or time… If you have time, just throw them in a jar together and come back to it in a couple of weeks. If you want to heat infuse your oil, read Jessica’s post to get the lowdown.
To make the lotion:
Use 1 part infused olive oil to 2 parts Shea butter by volume (i.e. use 1/3 cup olive oil to 2/3 cup Shea butter to get 1 cup final product).
Gently melt in a double boiler over low heat until it is all liquid. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes and then add 5-10 drops each of lavender and frankincense essential oils.
Pour it in a jar and let it sit for a day or two. It will take a little bit of time for it to reach its final texture.
Use for all kinds of skin-related ailments, and enjoy!
Notes:
- The smell of shea butter is probably unavoidable here, so be aware in case you’re averse to that particular scent
- If you prefer a different final texture you can play with the proportions to get your preferred thickness
- I discovered that if you stir some activated charcoal and bentonite clay (about 1tsp each per 1/4 cup of Shea butter lotion) you get a good “drawing salve”, great for bites and stings to draw out the toxins
Laura
Hi…. Love this recipe because it doesn’t require beeswax… That said this was my first attempt and wondering why its taking so many days, 6 days so far and its still not completely solid.. Any suggestions?
We also threw in some dried lemongrass and confrey, it had the most amazing scent while heating but after cooling that seemed to go away, any idea why?
Hoping to experiment and do more soon…Thx!
Michaela Evanow
This is wonderful! Thank you! 🙂 I’m so glad you let me know on IG!
Kariane
I make a similar skin salve that uses shea butter and avocado oil as a base, along with a little bit of beeswax to keep it firm in my [non-air conditioned] house during the summer, and a slightly different blend of essential oils. I love it! I find I especially love it during the winter when things here are so dry.