One of the Network who had been sharing images of her oil infusions over the course of the year and who had kindly sent out little pots of healing daisy ointment for arthiritis for the other sufferers in the group agreed to run a little session on making balms. Others brought their recipes to the session to share, for example, a 'dryness balm' to combat vaginal dryness and menopause.
17/05/2021, 19:48
We made a daisy 'bruise balm' at the garden last summer (ok the summer before lockdown) and learnt that daisy's are healing for bruises 'inside and out'
12/07/2021, 19:17
I've been infusing daisies in oil for the past 4 weeks. Planning on making an ointment from them
12/07/2021, 19:18
That’s a dreamy meadow scene in that bottle. What oil are you using?
12/07/2021, 19:21
Oh lovely!! Is this all you need to do? Just the heads? I know there are some other women in this group with arthritis who might like to give this a go. Hope your hip will enjoy this daisy balm
12/07/2021, 19:22
I made a ointment from calendula flowers a couple of years ago. Infused the flower heads in olive oil for a few weeks , drained, strained and then gently heated with bees wax from my bee hives . It’s an amazing cream fir dry skin
12/07/2021, 19:22
I still have a jar! I love it sooo much. I sometime use it as my special hair pomade!
12/07/2021, 19:23
I’ll have to strain and them mix with bees wax … I’ll let you all know how it goes. I think I’ll need more than daisys for my hip… judging from the X-ray I had last week:((((
12/07/2021, 19:24
Maybe I should get into making hair styling products
12/07/2021, 19:25
So sorry to hear that
12/07/2021, 19:28
Thank you…. Bring on the hip replacement 🤣😂
12/07/2021, 19:29
🙏🏼 hope you get seen for one asap!
12/07/2021, 19:30
Oh so sorry to read that! Sending much love
12/07/2021, 19:30
Me too!! Got mountains to climb
20/09/2021, 18:00
Good evening. How are you?
20/09/2021, 18:01
V good thank you, how are your balms and lotions coming along?
20/09/2021, 18:01
They’re doing their thing in jars on the shelf
18/10/2021, 19:48
How you getting on with the salve?
18/10/2021, 19:52
Thanks it's wonderful. I use it every night before going to bed. I massage on my wrist and finger joints I think it's helping with stiffness and pain thank you very much xxx
18/10/2021, 19:53
That’s wonderful news!!
18/10/2021, 19:53
My pleasure 🙂
18/10/2021, 19:54
It smells quite mild and nice. I was expecting very strong smell but it's quite good
18/10/2021, 19:54
It’s just got a slight Rosemary smell
18/10/2021, 19:55
Yes lovely rosemary smell
18/10/2021, 19:56
I’m going to start using it on my thumb joint see how it goes
18/10/2021, 19:59
That's good.
Good luck i think it will work very well even if it doesn't work atleast it hasn't got any side effects purely natural herbs
18/10/2021, 19:59
Love this. Feeling a bit teary thinking about someone from the PGN making and sending you the balm and it helping
01/11/2021, 18:04
However, we are going to bid you all farewell from this WhatsApp group in a few weeks so before we go, I wanted to check in and see if there was anything else you'd like to learn or share beforehand?
01/11/2021, 18:05
I was so moved by sending her soothing balm to another arthritis sufferer that I would love to do a little session on how to make a balm.
01/11/2021, 18:05
Yes that would be great
01/11/2021, 18:06
Hi to all sisters this is a good idea ..
01/11/2021, 18:08
She is an excellent balm maker. I have one precious pot of her calendula balm left. It’s magical stuff (and really good as hair wax 😂😂😂)
01/11/2021, 18:10
Would like to try the balm
01/11/2021, 18:13
Nice! Okay let's definitely do one session on balm. We can learn about her particular balm but also how to make balms in general and perhaps some others in the group have other recipes/versions to share too
01/11/2021, 18:33
Initially for the balm you’ll need Virgin Olive oil, and herbs for this we can use Rosemary or lavender. And a jar for the infusion
01/11/2021, 18:34
What kind of jar? Can we just use an old pickle jar for instance if it's been well cleaned?
01/11/2021, 18:35
I use any jar that’s clean and doesn’t smell of old pickle
01/11/2021, 18:35
A jar with a good lid on it
01/11/2021, 18:35
Thank you for that. Will make nice presents too x
01/11/2021, 18:35
okay pickle 😘
01/11/2021, 18:36
I love a picked onion
01/11/2021, 18:36
Same
01/11/2021, 18:41
The balms will need beeswax so I’ll look up suppliers for next week
01/11/2021, 18:49
It's quite easy to buy in London at beauty supply stores and hardware stores, would that be okay quality or does it need to be something specific?
01/11/2021, 18:50
This is from "Beauty World" on Electric Avenue in Brixton
01/11/2021, 18:50
It’d be good to find a supply of organic wax as some beekeepers use chemicals in the hives
01/11/2021, 18:50
PGN Riffat Batool: Hi everyone
01/11/2021, 18:50
Ah okay 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
01/11/2021, 18:51
❤️ hello 👋🏼 we are talking about making balms and bath salts
01/11/2021, 18:51
We're going to do a session on these next week, if you've got any recipes...bring them!
01/11/2021, 19:05
Phew ! Just caught up … looking forward to balms, baths, potions, lotions, stories & spells … will see what I can root out
04/11/2021, 19:21
For those wanting to make balms "live" on Monday, here are some ingredients you might like to have to hand:
- organic beeswax, recommends https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274442785393 and https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393541432776 as suppliers who do small amounts, 100g should be fine
- a jar for infusing in, a preserving jar would be great but otherwise any completely clean unpickley jar you have
- oil for infusing (enough for the jar) uses virgin olive oil but sesame seed or almond oil would work too
- any herbs you'd like to experiment with including in your balm, there's not loads of fresh herbs around at the moment so is going to try with rosemary and lavender
- if you want to speed up the process with heat to get to the balm quickly, you will need a bowl you can suspend over a saucepan of hot water
- something to filter the oil with (coffee filters or muslin)
- something to store your balm in, recommends these cutie little pots https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324342678225 but you could equally use for example those diddy hotel-size jam jars
04/11/2021, 19:23
If you don't happen to have the ingredients to hand or are not able to order them for Monday but you'd still like to make a balm or salts, fear not as a little final package will be winging its way to you later this month 🙏🏼
08/11/2021, 18:06
Do you want me to start talking about making ointments?
08/11/2021, 18:07
Yes please
08/11/2021, 18:08
I’ll do it in chunks with images i took when I made nettle & Rosemary ointment .
08/11/2021, 18:08
Then if anyone has questions they can butt in
08/11/2021, 18:09
Is that ok?08/11/2021, 18:09
Yes
08/11/2021, 18:09
First of all We start by infusing herbs in oil. These oils can be used as massage oils or topical rubs or you can make them for ointments and creams.
I use olive oil to infuse my herbs but you can also use sesame seed oil or almond oil.
08/11/2021, 18:13
You can use both fresh herbs or dried herbs and the list is pretty endless as to what you can use, here are a few suggestions, ones that I’ve used:
CALENDULA FLOWERS, can be used to relieve many types of skin conditions that may cause dry, itchy, or irritated areas. It soothes skin experiences symptoms of eczema, dermatitis, and dandruff.
DAISY FLOWERS It has similar properties to Arnica.can be applied topically for bruises
COMFREY LEAVES. used as a topical herbal remedy for bruises, sprains and strains painful muscles and joints
LAVENDER. can help to calm nerves, ease stress, reduce inflammation, soothe skin irritation, eczema, burns, bites, scars, rashes,
NETTLE LEAVES & SEEDS. It’s anti-inflammatory effects, means that it can be used for treating arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
08/11/2021, 18:15
These are the nettle seeds. I dried the seeds on the stalks then removed them wearing gloves.
08/11/2021, 18:17
It did take some time to pick them
08/11/2021, 18:17
There are different ways to infuse your oil, the simplest is solar infusion. You pack your chosen herb into a glass preserving jar, pour in your oil making sure the herbs are submerged. Place on a sunny windowsill for a few weeks.
08/11/2021, 18:19
Is this all making sense??
08/11/2021, 18:19
Yes good sense
08/11/2021, 18:19
Great
08/11/2021, 18:20
Once the oil is ready you need to strain out the herbs. I first use a colander over a bowl, lined with muslin. Then I strain a second time using a colander lined with a coffee filter paper. Last time I did this it took a couple of days for all the oil to drip through.
You can then decant and store the oil in the empty olive oil bottles out of direct sunlight, use it as it is or make it into ointment.
08/11/2021, 18:22
To make the ointment you’ll need to gently warm the ointment with the setting agent, beeswax or if you’re vegan you can use soy wax.
I use 1g of beeswax for every 7ml of infused oil.
I heat the oil and wax in a double boiler not directly over heat. Once the wax is melted I carefully pour into small metal pots, then leave to set and cool down before putting the lid on.
08/11/2021, 18:24
They honestly look good enough to eat!
08/11/2021, 18:24
The nettle & Rosemary smells delicious
08/11/2021, 18:24
Where did you get the little pots from?
08/11/2021, 18:26
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324342678225
08/11/2021, 18:27
The Daisy ointment I use for bruises. The Nettle & Rosemary I’ve been using on my arthritic thumb joint.
08/11/2021, 18:29
I’ve currently got some comfrey leaves infusing.
08/11/2021, 18:30
gave me some comfrey and wintergreen ointment and we worship the stuff in this house. So good for any sort of ache.
08/11/2021, 18:31
I also like doing the frozen comfrey between paper towels trick.
08/11/2021, 18:31
Comfrey is amazing & I would say it was my first experience of the healing properties of plants
08/11/2021, 18:32
Yeah I’d like to know someone who used in internally with a medical herbalist advice cause I wonder just how powerful that herb can be.
08/11/2021, 18:33
Good evening dear sisters
08/11/2021, 18:33
It’s also amazing good on other plants too. I know a plant propagator who use the leaves to help speed up graft wounds.
08/11/2021, 18:33
Hi 👋🏻
08/11/2021, 18:34
🤗 hello!
08/11/2021, 18:35
They look very healthy well done !
08/11/2021, 18:35
I’ve heard that you have to be really careful taking it internally.
08/11/2021, 18:35
Yeah, me too, but I imagine that means it can do powerful stuff!
08/11/2021, 18:36
Power Plant
08/11/2021, 18:37
It was [deleted] who taught us to make the comfrey and wintergreen balm which she calls 'duck pooh'!
08/11/2021, 18:38
Well we worship her duck pooh!
08/11/2021, 18:38
Wow! Amazing
08/11/2021, 18:38
Duck Poo!!!
08/11/2021, 18:38
She also shared a recipie for 'dryness balm' which is especially brilliant for vaginal dryness and menopause
08/11/2021, 18:39
Oh I liked pooh 😂
08/11/2021, 18:39
Would it be good to share the dryness recipie here as well? It was very popular when we made it at the community workshops
08/11/2021, 18:39
Is that the sea buckthorn one?
08/11/2021, 18:39
Yes
08/11/2021, 18:43
Sooooooo what goes into the magical dryness balm (asking for a friend🤣) ….
08/11/2021, 18:44
Hahaha well funny
08/11/2021, 18:48
Dryness ointment
Ingredients
Infused calendula oil - 300ml
Sea buckthorn capsules - 10
Clary sage oil - 20 drops
beeswax - 30g
Directions
Gently heat the infused calendula oil and beeswax in a bowl over hot water.
Take from heat and cut open and empty the sea buckthorn capsules into the mix
Add the Clary sage oil
Stir well and put into jars.
Cool before putting lids on.
This ointment has some oestrogenic qualities which is partly why it's so great for menopausal dryness but can be used for any needs.
08/11/2021, 18:49
Noted!