Monday, February 4, 2013

Muscle Salve - that REALLY works!

Last fall, as I was starting to make potions, my husband informed me that everything was "girly."  I found this awesome recipe for sore muscles by an essential oils friend, Peggy, at Essential Living/Caring Oils. She tweaked a hand salve recipe she found over at Camp Wander. This got the husband nod as a manly enough product to give to manly men.

Let me tell you, this stuff works! Sometimes, though, I am still a bit of a skeptic. I know that in theory it works and that there are amazing testimonies from strangers about how essential oils have changed their lives to back up that theory. But, part of me still wonders...does it really work? Big chunks of that skepticism disappear every time someone I know tells me, "Yup it really worked." This gets me all giddy because, well...IT WORKED!



Case in Point:
My dad is a hard worker; a maintenance man by day and a do-it-all-himself-er by the rest of the day and night. For Christmas, I gave him some of this muscle salve. One day, shortly after receiving the salve, he was doing yard work and had a sore shoulder. My mom told him to try the muscle salve, which he did, and it worked! It took the soreness out of his shoulder. This past weekend, as he was pruning trees, he began to experience pain and soreness in his shoulders; which prompted him to call it a day. As he states it, he can't "multitask" his symptoms, pain or soreness are okay but not both. Once again, my mom suggested that he try the muscle salve. He did and within 10 minutes the soreness was GONE and he was back out working on projects. His day was salvaged. AMAZING!!




Muscle Salve
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
4 Tbsp beeswax pastilles
30 drops of Deep Blue doTERRA oil blend*
10 drops of Frankincense essential oil
small jars or tins






Place a glass jar in a saucepan with water, preheat until it's warm enough to melt your ingredients. Add the olive and coconut oils and beeswax to the jar, stir occasionally, until melted.








When it's all melted, removed from the water bath, add your essential oils and stir. Pour salve into jars or tins (this is what I used) and let cool completely before sealing. 



This recipe made about three 4-ounce containers worth of salve; adjust for your needs


*I used Deep Blue, a doTERRA proprietary essential oils blend, which is a soothing blend for inflammation, alleviating pain and reducing soreness. Many companies have their own version of a muscle blend. Here is a post by Nourishing Treasures listing different essential oils for muscle pain {click here}, which you could substitute in place of Deep Blue.
Previously I suggested using Wintergreen, but I have found it listed by sources as a hazardous essential oil to be avoided and therefore removed the information regarding using it in this recipe. Deep Blue proprietary blend contains wintergreen, camphor, peppermint, blue tansy, blue chamomile, helichrysum and osmanthus.

I hope this helps you or someone you love have a better day!

This post has been updated to reflect new information I have learned - you may find things omitted that were previously there. In recipes, I have crossed out the old amount and added the new. 12/2013