Cayenne & Ginger Salve Recipe

If you have constant pain with some of your muscles, you may want to try this Cayenne & Ginger Salve recipe  that I found on the blog The Adventures of a Rural Housewife.  The Rural Housewife originally saw the recipe on the Learning Herbs website and became intrigued to try it because a friend of her had constant pain with some of her muscles.  Her chiropractor told her to apply warm, moist head to the area a few times a day.  So she thought she would give this recipe a try by making some changes to the recipe.

Cayenne and St.John's Wort Salve Recipe

Suffer from the occasional aches and pains associated with activities like biking and hiking?  What about stiff joints faced with the chill cold weather?  Here is a classic topical formula from The Mountain Rose blog that can help ease these occasional aches and pains.  The recipe is called Cayenne and St. John's Wort Salve and it is great to keep this healing ointment handy during the active summer months and throughout the wintertime for these very reasons.

How to Make Cayenne Salve

I am signed up to receive a newsletter from Herb Mentor News.  In a recent issue there a great article about Cayenne.  Did you know that
Cayenne is famous for reducing many types of pain?  I did not know that.  It works by effecting your nervous system. Substance P is a neurotransmitter that relays information and results in what we call pain. Capsaicin, a major constituent of cayenne peppers, blocks substance P and therefore reduces pain. When cayenne is used topically it can relieve many different types of pain, from diabetic neuropathy, shingles, migraine headaches, back aches, arthritis, menstrual cramps and bruises.

The article included an interesting recipe by Rosalee de la Forêt on How to Make Cayenne Salve. It seems to be a very simple recipe and you will only need the following items which seems you can get at your local supermarket: 

1/2 cup olive oil
Two heaping teaspoons of cayenne powder (or 15 grams),
1/2 ounce of beeswax (Available at Mountain Rose Herbs, along with cayenne)

The equipment you will need: Double boiler and Cheesecloth

The directions are really simple. First you want to b

egin by infusing the cayenne into the olive oil in your double burner. Then heat the oil and cayenne until it is warm, turn off the heat and let it sit (warmly) for about 20 minutes, then turn the heat on again. Rosalee recommend doing this for at least one hour to a couple of hours, you could do it for 24 hours if desired. If you are afraid of infusing the oil for this long of period of time, you may want to consider doing this in a small crockpot.  Once the cayenne and olive oil have been infused, strain off the powder through a cheesecloth. Reserve the infused oil. Heat the beeswax until it is melted. Stir in the infused oil until the beeswax and oil have been thoroughly melted together and combined.Immediately pour this mixture into jars or tins. Let it cool and then label it.

Now that you have finished making this salve you are wondering how to use it? It can be used on aches and pains, from sore muscles and joints to bruises and even nerve pain. It is best for closed wounds and may sting a bit on open wounds. Even on closed skin you may feel a bit of burning or heat in the area where it is used. It should be applied externally only and used within 6 months for the best results.If using it for arthritic pain it may take up to a week or two to see results. In this case you want to use it daily to decrease chronic pain.

There is one word of caution. When cayenne comes in contact with your mucosal membranes or eyes it will burn! Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after touching cayenne or use gloves to apply the salve to the desired area. If you are using the cayenne salve on your hands, consider applying it at night and then sleeping with gloves on.

Mango Avocado Balmy Salve Recipe

The combination of butters (cocoa, avocado, mango), jojobo oil, tamanu oil make a love salve recipe. If you love the idea of this combination you many want to try this recipe from The Soap Queen. The recipe which is called Mango Avocado Balmy Salve appears on her blog Soap and the Finer Things in Life sounds absolutely delightful. You may not like eating avocados, but using avocado butter in a salve recipe does not sound so bad.

Soothing Salve Recipe

What is a salve? According to Alison Kontur of Bath Body Supply says s salve is an oily, adhesive substance for application as a skin barrier. Salves are her preferred topical treatment when the weather gets cold and skin has a tendency to be drier and more receptive to oil-based products. Now I wonder what the difference between a salve and a body balm is? Does anyone out there know? At any rate if you would like to make Alison's Soothing Salve recipe check out her blog DIY Skincare.

Hand to Heal Softening Salve Recipe Demonstrated on Martha Stewart Show

Today I happened to watch the Martha Stewart Show on the Hallmark Channel because she was dedicating the show to people who are creative entrepreneurs who have parlayed their passions into successful businesses. What cuaght my eye in the preview was a beautiful picture of bars of soap. And as a person whose hobby is soap making and bath/body products I was interested in that particular segment. Actually, the guest for the segment was Brenda Brock of Farmaesthetics who creates her own body products and sells them. Brenda demonstrated in this segment how to make her Hand to Heel Softening Salve which so happens to be appearing in this month's Whole Living magazine from Martha Stewart.

If you would like to know the extact recipe for the Hand to Heel Softening Salve, I have found it on Martha's website. You may want to print it out and watch the repeat airing of this demo tomorrow (4/7/11) at 1 pm (pacific) on the Hallmark Channel. Check your local listings for the correct channel number. In the San Francisco Bay Area it is usually on Channel 80 or 185 if you have Comcast Cable.

Herbal Salve Recipes

If you are looking for some Salve recipes to try, I found some you may want to try. If you have a recipe that you would like to share, please let me know.

http://herbs.lovetoknow.com/Herbal_Salve_Recipes

http://www.pvsoap.com/recipe_gardeners_salve.htm

http://www.soluscandles.com/basicsalve.htm

http://www.paganspace.net/profiles/blog/show?id=1342861%3ABlogPost%3A676668

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1210923/a_recipe_for_makeing_your_own_drawing.html