C- Calendula Comfrey oil

Wikipedia

The best thing about herbal folk medicine is how well it works when you really need something for healing skin.  Comfrey speeds skin cell regeneration, reduces inflammation and speeds the healing of bruises and sprains.  No matter how much I pull up in my yard there's more spreading slowly around the edges.  Each spring it comes up with it's wonderful blue flower stalks, softening my heart again and keeping me from pulling most of it up.  It's the impulsive kid in my garden with the charming smile that makes me forget how frustrating it was.

Nutritionist-World.com

Its crinkly fuzzy leaves yield their goodness to oil with just a little encouragement, and mixed into a salve or lotion it works wonders for my own and my friends' minor skin health needs (as always with any illness- take the pledge: If my condition worsens or anything new develops, I will consult a doctor or hospital AND inform them of the herbal preparation I have been using).

I have used jewel weed and comfrey before to make salves especially for swollen rashes, stings and eczema.  I also try to keep a jar or two of comfrey and calendula oil on hand.  Calendula is another astonishing herbal ally: in addition to reducing gastric  inflammation as a tea it yields it's excellent healing properties to skin in a poultice, wash or oil-based skin soothers.

Solid healing salve scented with clove and citrus for the fellas.

Left to Right: goldenseal tincture, comfrey calendua oil, clary sage/geranium/lavender oil, anointing oil.

To make an oil infused with comfrey and calendula- pick the comfrey leaves early and rinse them of dirt in cool water.  Pat them dry and lay them out to wilt on a sheet or screen.  This will remove lots of the water from them and help keep water out of your oil later, where it can breed mold.

Fill a jar half with dried calendula petals and half with very wilted comfrey leaves.  Add almond or olive oil with a few tablespoons full of jojoba for preserving.





Cap with a sterile cap and let steep in sunlight for two weeks in warm weather, or place loosely capped in a pan of hot water just below simmering for 2 hours.  Strain through fine muslin set in a funnel; label with the date and use in 6 months to a year.  Add to salves 1-2 tablespoons per 4 ounces of other oils and wax ingredients.