Calm and comfort irritated skin with this comfrey healing balm. Made with shea butter, soothing oils and a pop of peppermint essential oil, this all-natural herbal balm is fantastic for treating bumps, bruises, chaffing, rashes, burns and so much more. Perfect for active families.

Bruises. Bumps. Scrapes. Stings. Rashes. Aches. Pains.

These are all pretty typical around the homestead. Especially during the summer months when I am out tending to the garden, storing firewood for the winter, building some new project or just completing the daily duties around the property.

I am sure you can relate. Even if you don’t have a homestead. Do you have kids? Then you can definitely identify with the occasional minor injury.

Back before I became an herbalist, if I had a cut, I’d just slap a bandaid on it press on. Or if I got an itchy rash from pruning the zucchini, I would endure the irritation and wait it out for relief. Little did I know that all I needed was to use was a few common plants from my yard to reduce the pain and obtain relief faster. Nowadays if I get stung by a bee, I slap some plantain on it, bandage it up and wait for the herb to draw out the poison.

As an herbalist, I absolutely love creating new natural body care products such as soaps, salves, lip gloss or lip balm. If I can find a way to infuse an herb into an item, I will. This summer I successfully grew a few comfrey plants. In fact, they were such a success, they overtook my herb garden. I have been harvesting and drying the large comfrey leaves and even making a tincture. With the enormous amount of comfrey in the yard, I wanted to find more ways to use this powerful healing plant instead of just letting it all go to waste.

Comfrey healing balm was an excellent solution.

Homemade Healing Balm

This herbal balm recipe is ideal for healing your skin. It soothes rashes, chaffing and burns and can even moisturize dry areas on your body. Comfrey pairs well with the classic yard weed, plantain, in this DIY healing balm recipe. Pair these two wondrous herbs with tamanu oil and you have a trifecta powerhouse of skin repairing abilities. I love adding in unrefined shea butter for its capability to treat skin afflictions. Lavender essential oil makes a great addition to this balm recipe while the peppermint provides a cooling sensation to irritated skin.

What is Comfrey? 

Comfrey also known as symphytum officinale or knitbone is a superstar herb! If you think that calendula is a superb medicinal herb, then you will love comfrey! Comfrey is a large prickly plant with enormous leaves and light purple flowers. It loves to spread out so don’t make the mistake, like I did and stick it in a small space. Comfrey is well known for soothing irritated skin, reducing inflammation, healing broken bones and wounds and it can even stop bleeding.

Herbal Balm Recipe

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Craft a tin of this healing balm using superior ingredients like shea butter, tamanu oil, dried comfrey and essential oils. The balm is an exemplary natural remedy for everyday bumps, cuts, rashes, dry skin and a variety of other skin conditions.

Makes: 2 ounce container

Healing Balm Ingredients

1 1/4 cup (263 g) sunflower oil
1/3 packed cup (4 g) dried comfrey
1/3 packed cup (12 g) plantain leaves
1/2 Tbs (7 g) tamanu oil
1/2 Tbs (9 g) shea butter
1 Tbs plus 1 tsp (11 g) beeswax
13 drops peppermint essential oil
4 drops lavender essential oil

How to Make an Natural Healing Balm

To begin making your comfrey and plantain healing balm, you will need to infuse the comfrey and plantain into sunflower oil. Place the herbs into a mason jar. Slowly pour the sunflower oil over top of the leaves. (If the leaves are not completely covered, push them below the oil with a spoon.) Cap the mason jar with a lid, place within a paper bag and sit on the sill of a warm, sunny window. Shake the jar daily. If the herbs have soaked up a lot of the oil within the first few days and are beginning to float on top, push them below the oil and top the jar off with a little extra oil until the herbs are completely covered again. Within 7-10 days, the infused oil will be ready to use to create your homemade herbal balm.

When the oil is ready, strain the herbs out of the oil using a fine mesh strainer. Place 1/4 cup (52 g) of the infused oil into a pint size mason jar. (Store the leftover oil in the fridge for future batches of this herbal balm.) Add the shea butter, tamanu oil and beeswax. Set the jar into a saucepan with a few inches of water over low heat until the beeswax has melted.

Turn off the stove burner. Remove the jar from heat and cool for 3-5 minutes. Stir in the peppermint and lavender essential oils. Place the jar into the fridge for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to create a spreadable balm.

Scoop the finished balm into an airtight container such as a mason jar, metal tin or amber glass jar. Store in a cool, dark place for several months.

How to Use Healing Balm

To use the herbal healing balm, rub into your sore joints or muscles, onto skin rashes or burns or just any external skin affliction that needs a little extra care. Repeat as needed.

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