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Calendula salve is one of the best homemade skin care remedies to have on hand. It is simple to make and has powerful benefits for the skin. It is gentle enough for the whole family to use, yet highly effective! Learn how to make this homemade calendula salve for dry skin, rashes, bug bites, minor cuts, scrapes, and burns.
Calendula Benefits
Calendula officinalis is a beautiful orange flower that has powerful anti-inflammatory and wound healing benefits. It is also anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, and astringent.
Due to all of these properties combined, calendula is one of the best plants that you can use to make an herbal salve! It is a favorite herb of many herbalists for this reason.
You can also use calendula flowers in creams, lotions bars, and soaps.
Calendula is easy to grow and one of the best herbs to have in your garden!
Learn more about growing and using calendula in this post: 10 Reasons to Grow Calendula for your Garden, Food, and Health.
How to Make Calendula Salve
Homemade calendula salve is one of the easiest herbal remedies to make. I always make sure that I have some on hand, as we go through quite a bit of it!
Make the Calendula Infused Oil
The first step to making this salve is to make calendula infused oil.
It is best to use dried calendula flowers when making the infused oil. If you are growing your own calendula you can easily dry them on homemade drying screens.
If you don’t have access to calendula flowers, you can buy dried calendula from Mountain Rose Herbs.
When making the calendula infused oil, first think about how much salve you would like to make. Since we go through so much, and since I also use calendula oil for other things as well, I tend to use a quart jar.
If you only need a smaller batch of salve a pint or half-pint jar of calendula oil may be all that you need.
Put the dried calendula flowers into the jar about 3/4 of the way full. Then fill the jar with a carrier oil (or a blend of oils) of your choice.
Olive oil is a great choice as a carrier oil and is easy to find. I often use a blend of about 50% olive oil, 25% melted coconut oil, and 25% sweet almond oil. Each oil has its own benefits and it’s really up to you which one you’d like to use.
Cap the jar with a lid and let the oil infuse for 4-6 weeks (or more) in a cool spot out of direct sunlight.
You can alternatively use the quick method for making infused oils by heating the oil and dried flowers in a pot on low heat for up to 12 hours, but the infused oil may not be as potent.
Related: 10 Ways to Use Calendula Infused Herbal Oil
Make the Calendula Salve
Once the calendula oil has infused, strain out the flowers from the oil with a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth.
Squeeze the oil out of the calendula flowers in the cheesecloth to get all of that wonderful calendula oil. The oil will be a nice golden or maybe even a gorgeous orange color!
This oil I made had been infusing for several months using homegrown and dried calendula flowers. It was such a deep orange color and smelled amazing!
Heat the oil in a double boiler on your stove. You can create a makeshift double boiler by putting a small bowl or a glass Pyrex measuring cup over a pot with about an inch of simmering water.
Add the beeswax and stir occasionally (a wooden or bamboo skewer or chopstick works well for this) until the beeswax completely dissolves into the oil.
Then remove the oil/beeswax mixture from the heat and add in the optional shea butter, stirring quickly and constantly until it melts. This will make the salve a bit richer if you choose to use it.
Pour the salve mixture into tins or jars.
Let the salve set up for several hours or until it is completely cooled before using.
After the salve is fully set you will have an amazing herbal skincare remedy!
This salve will last for a year or more if kept in a dry place out of intense heat and sunlight.
Not only is this calendula salve wonderful for all different kinds of skin ailments, but it is also beautiful. Definitely, one of my favorite salves to make for many reasons!
How to Use Calendula Salve
Calendula salve is most commonly used on dry skin, rashes, bug bites, minor cuts, scrapes, scars, and burns. It may also be effective in relieving eczema, especially when combined with plantain.
Calendula salve is very gentle on the skin and can be used by the whole family, even on babies and small children. It works well for diaper rash and any small boo-boos that may happen.
(See my herbal diaper rash salve post for an even better recipe that also uses calendula!)
Rub a little bit of calendula salve on any skin ailment and it is sure to help. We use it almost daily in our household. It is perfect for my dry skin and my 4 year old loves using it whenever he can.
It is the perfect herbal remedy!
Want more herbal salve recipes? here are 10 for you to include in your natural skin care routine!
More Calendula Recipes
Here are more ways to use calendula flowers – they are even edible!
- 10 Ways to Use Calendula Herb Infused Oil
- Calendula Lotion Bars
- Calendula Cream
- Diaper Rash Salve
- Calendula Soap
- Herbal Bath Salt with Calendula
- Homemade Calendula Lip Balm
- Whipped Body Butter with Calendula
- Calendula Shortbread Cookies
- Calendula Iced Tea
- Pine Salve
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4.75 from 8 votes
Homemade Calendula Salve
Calendula salve is one of the best homemade skin care remedies to have on hand. It is simple to make and has powerful benefits for the skin. It is gentle enough for the whole family to use, yet highly effective! Learn how to make this homemade calendula salve for dry skin, rashes, bug bites, minor cuts, scrapes, and burns.
Prep Time 10 minutes minutes
Active Time 20 minutes minutes
Infusing Time 28 days days
Total Time 30 minutes minutes
Yield 12 ounces
Cost $12
Author Colleen @ Grow Forage Cook Ferment
Equipment
Ingredients
US Customary – Metric
Calendula Infused Oil
- 1 cup dried calendula flowers
- 1 1/2 cups carrier oil I like to use a blend of olive oil, melted coconut oil, and sweet almond oil
Calendula Salve
- 1 cup calendula infused oil
- 1 ounce beeswax
- 1 ounce refined shea butter optional
Instructions
Calendula Infused Oil
Put the dried calendula flowers into the jar about 3/4 of the way full. Then fill the jar with a carrier oil (or a blend of oils) of your choice.
Cap the jar with a lid and let the oil infuse for 4-6 weeks (or more) in a cool spot out of direct sunlight.
Once the calendula oil has infused, strain out the flowers from the oil with a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze the remaining oil out of the flowers in the cheesecloth.
Calendula Salve
Heat the calendula infused oil in a double boiler on your stove. You can create a makeshift double boiler by putting a small bowl or a glass Pyrex measuring cup over a pot with about an inch of simmering water.
Add the beeswax and stir occasionally (a wooden or bamboo skewer or chopstick works well for this) until the beeswax completely dissolves into the oil.
Then remove the oil/beeswax mixture from the heat and add in the optional shea butter, stirring quickly and constantly until it melts.
Pour the salve mixture into tins or jars.
Let the salve set up for several hours or until it is completely cooled before using.
Notes
- This calendula salve recipe is easily adapted to smaller or larger batches. Simply double it for a larger batch or cut it in half for a smaller batch.
- Olive oil is a great choice as a carrier oil and is easy to find. I often use a blend of about 50% olive oil, 25% coconut oil, and 25% sweet almond oil. Each oil has its own benefits and it’s really up to you which one you’d like to use.
- You can alternatively use the quick method for making infused oils by heating the oil and dried flowers in a pot on low heat for up to 12 hours, but the infused oil may not be as potent.
- This salve will last for a year or more if kept in a dry place out of intense heat and sunlight.
