My son has weird hands. No one can figure out exactly why but every winter the skin gets very dry (only the backs) and actually start to crack and bleed! It's been happening for about 7 years now. It finally occurred to me to make him an herbal salve from Calendula and his hands have been healing up quite nicely!
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) has marvelous skin healing properties and I've had him soak his hands in cooled Calendula tea which has helped soothe it a bit, but never quite healed completely.
This happens to him every winter and it lasts until spring, then it miraculously goes away. Weird I tell you! About the only lotion that worked without burning was that Working Hands stuff from the store, but it's loaded with chemicals.
I finally decided that since the tea helped a little, I needed to find a way to keep the Calendula on his hands and I would have to make him a salve.I love using the herbs I grow to make things! I had already made Calendula oil from flowers this summer so I just had to come up with a way to use it on his skin. I decided to add beeswax to thicken it and coconut oil as a moisturizer, plus a dash of Tea Tree essential oil since it has such great healing properties.
This recipe doesn't make a very big batch, but it's enough to last him all winter...and I use it for my hands in summer since all the washing and scrubbing garden dirt off dries them out so badly. It's also amazing on dry/cracked heels!
I don't tend to use big batch recipes though, because I like to make this as I need it so it's always fresh. Since homemade salves and body care products do not contain added preservatives, then tend to go bad after awhile. By making only small batches I use them up before they go bad!
