Homemade Dandelion Salve

I love that so many people want to know how to make the Dandelion Salve.

I wish I had taken before pictures of my daughters hands to show you what a difference this stuff made in just 2 days, but hopefully we won't ever let them get that bad again.

In the next week or so I'll revamp this post and make it all pretty and full of information but for now I just wanted to hurry and type this up so that I could get it to all of you who asked for the instructions. There are two steps to this and I did the fast version of everything because I am the type of person that once I get it in my mind to do something, having to wait can really drive me bonkers and give me enough time to move onto my next project without finishing my first. Anyone else out there like me?

This is a two step process: first you need to make the infused dandelion oil, second you will use that to create the salve.

Dandelion Infused Oil

From all my research there are a few different ways to prep (dry) the dandelions and infuse the oil.

For those of us who want to get in and get this started here is the fast version. 

• Pick those dandelion heads. Just the head not the stem. Make sure that the area you are picking from has not been treated with any chemicals like weed killers. This will end up on your skin so we want clean flowers.
• Let them dry. Dandelion heads have a lot of water so they need to dry out first otherwise the oil will spoil and get gross. 
• Either lay them out in a single layer on a towel in the sun for a few days.
• Or I placed them in a single layer on some parchment paper. At the lowest temperature our oven/toaster oven could go (200) and placed the dandelions in there for 45-50 minutes. I let them sit until the next day where they could finish drying in the sun.

Now it's time to infuse the oil!

• For fast infusion use a double boiler system. You don't need anything fancy, I just used a glass bowl over a pot with a bit of water, it doesn't need to touch the bottom of the glass bowl. With a ratio of 1:2 add 1 C dried dandelions to the glass bowl and 2 C of carrier oil. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
• Heat the water to just before it bowls, heat the oil and dandelions for a few hours, make sure the water doesn't evaporate away while this is going. I did this in the evening for about 3 hours then placed a lid over the bowl to let it sit overnight.
• Strain. I did it twice: once with a mesh kitchen strainer and then again with a terry cloth. But once is fine. 
• Dandelions can be put in the compost. Doing this whole process I didn't have any waste go in the garbage. Another awesome bonus about this salve.

Shelf life is around 1 year.

Dandelion Salve

Now it's time to get your other ingredients. For a very simple salve that I did all you'll need is your Dandelion Infused Oil and Beeswax. If you have any lavender or other essential oils you would like to add for other benefits or even just to add an appealing scent, those can be added as well.

One thing I have realized as I have been making our own homemade items is that the ratios can vary a bit to fit you best. For example lotion bars are great but depending on your location you may need to add more beeswax in warmer climates or less for cooler climates. 

*If making something like soap with lye then those do require more specific ratios.

In a double boiler set up add the Dandelion Infused Oil and beeswax. The ratio I used was 7:1 and this is done BY WEIGHT. 

When I tried it first I did 

1.75 oz Dandelion Infused Oil

.25 oz Beeswax

You can stir or not as the beeswax melts. Once it's all mixed not is the perfect time to add a scent. My daughter like the Apple Jack Peel and I'll admit it smells pretty good. Now pour into your jars or tins. This amount almost filled a 4 oz mason jar.

My next batch was 

7 oz Dandelion Infused Oil

1 oz Beeswax

This filled three 4 oz mason jars.

I typed this up really quick after bedtime. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask.

I added links, because I don't have photos to add, to better help show you what items I used.

Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links. This means if you use these links I may earn a small commission but that price is never added onto the costumer.