Burn Salve

[unmouton]

Hello!

I have never made a salve before, let alone a burn salve. I have ridiculous amounts of hard and liquid oils from soaping and lotion making, as well as dried herbs.

Any suggestions/easy recipes to get me started on making salves, and specifically one for minor burns?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dagmar88]

The standard recipe is
1/3 beeswax
1/3 hard oils & butters
1/3 liquid oils.

The best advise might be not to sell them. Burn salve would be a drug according to the FDA.

 

[unmouton]

Thanks dagmar! I don't plan on selling, it's for personal use (and maybe a few friends.) That's a pretty easy base recipe, I'll formulate one tonight!

 

[dagmar88]

Ah, okay, allright then :wink:
From there you can start tweaking untill it fits your wants and needs.
What are you going to put in there to sooth burns?

 

[unmouton]

I am infusing some olive oil with calendula, lavender, and comfrey right now. So probably that, beeswax, and I have some hard oils on hand like shea butter and cocoa butter that I'll use a mixture of. Oh, and I may put a teaspoon or two of lavender essential oil in there, I figure it can't hurt?

Most of those herbs are things that are recommended for burns, so I think that's a fair start. Depending on how much I like the texture, I'll remelt and adjust. Comments?

 

[Chay]

Sounds like a great place to start.

 

[LotusFlowerSoap]

I think you're on the right track. I sell an After Sun Cream, which is a recipe I developed becuase I had a terrible open sore from getting my legs waxed (TMI? Sorry!) that it actually did HEAL in a matter of a week or so after being there for nearly a year. It's got a lot of the same ingredients (infused oils and essential oils) you're thinking of using. Anyway, I found it worked great on all kinds of bites, burns, scrapes and such.

I don't say it soothes, what I say is that it contains EO's known for their soothing and healing properties, and caveat it with a good old "not intended to treat any serious injury or burn (from the sun or other source), which should always be seen by a medical professional."

I also make a bootie balm (which is a true balm, not a cream) that has some of the same ingredients and label it similarly.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I would go heavy on the lavender oil as just the lavender on its own is a wonder for burns. I hope everyone who will use the ointment, knows to put burn under cold running water for as long as it takes to cool it down before applying anything? :wink:

 

[krissy]

i thought oils would make a burn worse? like how it is an old wives tale to put butter on a burn?

for my kids burns i use a mix of aloe vera gel and lavender.

 

[Lindy]

Actually krissy you're right. The very best thing you can do for a burn is put straight Lavender EO on but if it covers a large area then Aloe Vera Gel or Extract with Lavender EO would be good. Oils/Butters trap the heat inside and causing the burn to continue burning so to speak.... Ice Cold Water is the first thing that should be applied to get the temperature down and stop the burn then apply either the EO or the Aloe EO mix.....

 

[dagmar88]

You really should not use ice cold water; it should be lukewarm. Ice cold water causes severe pain and hypothermia.
When it's a serious burn don't put salves, creams, aloe, lavender or anything but a sterile compress on there and co see a GP right away.

A salve is for tiny, first degree (skin is red, slightly swolen en a bit painful) burns, after you've cooled them down.
I prefer using Betadine Ointment.

 

[Lindy]

Dagmar as a former first responder (read Emergency Medical Responder) unless the burn covers a large portion of the body then Ice is used to cool the burn immediately. If you are at home and the burn is not bad enough to call for an ambulance then you aer going to use water as cold as possible and either make a cold compress or put it under running water to get it cooled down immediately. The only time hypothermia is even going to start to be a concern is when a significant portion of the body (read 50%) is burned and you are putting someone in an ice bath.... ice cold compresses for small areas are going to be your frist response and if the burn is serious enough you should either call for help or get to a GP.....

 

[carebear]

interesting, as a former first responder (EMT), I was taught to submerge it in water (never running water for a severe burn) and never ever apply any oil of any sort. never. ever.

 

[Lindy]

Obviously Carebear our training differs in a whole lot of areas - it's not like you're not going to have the water running full blast - that would just be stupid, but by allowing it to flow OVER the burn (and again we're not talking large area it allows it to cool quicker......

 

[dagmar88]

interesting, as a former first responder (EMT), I was taught to submerge it in water (never running water for a severe burn) and never ever apply any oil of any sort. never. ever.

That is exactly what I was taught in school (tried to become a nurse specialised in infants before I got ill) during first aid classes.