Stiff Joints? Try this Herb for Relief

I was delighted to find an herb that not only relieves pain, but actually repairs tissues.

Comfrey

Comfrey is well-known in folk medicine as “knitbone”.  Now scientific studies have verified that comfrey, when applied topically, penetrates so deep into the tissues that it can even heal bone fractures.

Comfrey owes its healing powers to allantoin, a compound that stimulates the regeneration of connective tissue, and rosmarinic acid, which reduces inflammation at the cellular level.  As a result, comfrey heals bruises, pulled muscles, and torn ligaments in addition to relieving the pain of those conditions.

Infusing herbs

Comfrey also has many applications for rejuvenating and protecting skin. In addition to its tissue-regenerating powers, comfrey contains collagen-stimulating vitamin C and anti-aging antioxidants. It  heals scars, hydrates skin, reduces fine lines, and protects skin from irritants.

Comfrey can be dangerous if taken internally.  It is banned in the U.S. and many other countries for internal use due to alkaloids that can cause liver damage.  It also should not be applied to broken skin. Comfrey can heal so quickly that it can seal an infection into a wound.

At Golden Age Wellness, we use comfrey in our Joint Repair Warming Salve. It contains essential oils that warm up stiff joints and shea butter to moisturize skin.

Aloe Vera: A Must-have Herb for Skin and Hair Care

One of the most beneficial plants for skin and hair health is aloe vera. Easy to make your own and inexpensive to buy, aloe vera gel should be a key component in every skin and hair care routine.

Benefits of Aloe Vera

The plentiful benefits for skin and hair arise from aloe vera’s many nutrients and therapeutic properties:

• Smooths fine lines by stimulating collagen production—vitamins A and C

• Softens skin by preventing moisture loss—vitamins B12 and E

• Promotes healthy skin cell growth and recovery—vitamin B12

• Improves the elasticity of skin—antioxidant properties

• Unplugs blocked skin pores—salicylic acid

• Reduces dandruff—selenium

• Eases an itchy, flaky scalp—anti-inflammatory properties

It is easy to make your own aloe vera gel if you have a plant and I give directions to do that below. One of the limitations of a home-made gel is the short shelf life. Once the gel is exposed to air, the oxidation process starts and nutrients start to lose potency. It lasts only about a week in the refrigerator and up to two months if you add a preservative. It’s a lot of work to go to for a daily routine, so if you’re not into that, purchasing a high-quality gel is the best option.

Use caution when selecting a commercially-produced aloe vera gel, as the gel you find in most stores has a low percentage of aloe vera and has added alcohol to preserve it. Look for high quality aloe vera in health food or vitamin stores or online that is at least 90% aloe vera. The other 10% of the ingredients will be antioxidants that help preserve the gel and add to its benefit.

I add a touch of aloe vera gel to most of my skincare products, but the product that features it most prominently is Lavender Mousse, made with lavender-infused jojoba oil and aloe vera gel. Lavender is a classic skin herb that calms inflammation and stimulates collagen production, while jojoba is so close to our own skin’s sebum that it is readily absorbed and acts as a protectant and cleanser. In addition to being a lovely face cream, it can also be used for sunburn relief, as aloe’s anti-inflammatory properties helps to cool minor burns.

DIY Aloe Vera Gel

To make your own aloe vera gel, follow these steps:

1. The plant should be a few years old before you harvest the leaves. Choose thick leaves from the outer sections of the plant and remove no more than four leaves at a time.

2. Cut the leaves close to the stem. Most of the beneficial nutrients are at the base of the leaves.

3. Wash the leaf, removing any dirt.

4. Cut off the tip of the leaf and stand it tip-side-down in a cup or bowl for 10-15 minutes to drain the latex-containing resin which is irritating to skin.

5. After draining, wash off any resin that remains on the outside of the leaf.

6. Cut off both of the leaf’s serrated edges, then using a small knife or vegetable peeler, peel off the thick outer skin on one side of the leaf.

7. Scoop the gel out of the leaf, being sure not to include any pieces of the skin.

8. If you want a smooth gel, blend it until frothy and liquified. It will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

9. To keep it for up to two months in the refrigerator, add a preservative—either powdered vitamin C or E. For every 1/4 cup of aloe vera gel, add 500 mg of powdered vitamin C or 400 iu of powdered vitamin E directly to the blender.

Sources:

Gladstar, Rosemary, Medicinal Herbs: A Beginners Guide, 2012

Healthline.com, “How to Make Aloe Vera Gel”, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-make-aloe-vera-gel, 2019

Beautiful Skin with Calendula

Do you want to reduce wrinkles? Soothe an itchy rash? Calm sensitive skin? Then look to Calendula, the best herb for skin that is virtually unknown to many people.

Calendula is a cheerful flower with bright yellow and orange blooms that grows enthusiastically in Northern Wisconsin and throughout the world. It is my favorite herb because of its beauty and its bountiful benefits.

Packed with Collagen-Stimulating Vitamin A

Calendula is known as a “nutritive herb” because of its high amount of vitamin A—100 times more vitamin A (by weight) than a sweet potato! Consuming calendula through a tea or tincture can improve your eye, bone, and skin health as well as boost your immunity. Topically, vitamin A stimulates collagen production, reducing fine lines and plumping sagging skin.

Good for Sensitive or Irritated Skin

In addition, calendula contains powerful anti-inflammatories, making it the perfect herb for itchy skin, irritations, and rashes. Calendula is a member of the daisy family, however, so anyone with allergies to daisies should avoid it.

Calendula blooms in the dehydrator

Growing Calendula

Calendula grows from seed planted in the cool months of spring. It reseeds itself readily, so you should get a bountiful crop every year without having to replant. It is also drought-resistant, so requires little maintenance other than weeding to achieve those beautiful blooms. The only problem I’ve had is bugs that eat the leaves and flowers. I use the hose to knock them off and encourage beneficial insects to come eat them by not using pesticides. (I would also not be able to use the plant if it was treated with pesticides or herbicides.)

Calendula Products

Wrinkle Reducer takes advantage of the collagen-stimulating abilities of the vitamin A packed into calendula’s flowers. I infuse the flowers in jojoba oil, the oil that most closely resembles our own skin’s sebum, then combine it with thyme-infused jojoba oil. Thyme has large amounts of Vitamin C which also stimulates collagen production and lightens dark patches. I add a dash of skin-loving lavender essential oil for scent.

Calendula Mousse highlights calendula’s anti-inflammatory properties in this cream for sensitive skin. It also works well for those experiencing itchy, irritated skin, including babies with diaper rash. Once again, I infuse the flowers in jojoba oil, then combine it with hypoallergenic candelilla wax and shea butter to create a creamy consistency.

Sensitive Skin Lotion consists of three ingredients: calendula, jojoba oil, and aloe. It is designed for those with extremely sensitive skin that would not be able to tolerate the candelilla wax and shea butter in Calendula Mousse.

Calendula Soap for sensitive skin is created using calendula-infused olive oil. Calendula’s anti-inflammatory properties combined with emollient-rich olive oil soothes sensitive skin and keeps it soft and moisturized.

If you would like to make your own calendula-infused oil, see my article on making an infused oil.

The Most Important Herb in Your Garden: Dandelions!

Your lawn holds a gold mine that can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in skin care lotions and creams. I’m talking about the lowly dandelion, which most people regard as a weed, but was brought to the new world intentionally as a medicinal herb.

Dandelions can grow strong and healthy without herbicides

While this article focuses on skin care, dandelions are an herbal pharmacopia from root to flower—the roots work as a liver tonic and the leaves provide a kidney detox when made into a tincture, vinegar, or glycerite.

Dandelions offer so many health benefits

 Dandelion flowers promote healthy skin.  They contain a significant amount of vitamins A, C, and D and are antioxidants as well. That means you are boosting collagen production, supporting skin cell regeneration, reducing oxidative damage, and preventing itchy, flakey skin.

a bountiful harvest

It is simple to pick the bright yellow blooms of the dandelion, infuse them in oil, and create a nutritive, moisturizing salve or cream that will do wonders for your skin. 

Freshly-picked dandelions in the dehydrator

 To make an infused oil:

 1)     Pick flowers:  Pick the bloom off the stem, including the bract. You can use the flowers fresh or dried, but fresh flowers have water content that will introduce spoilage.  Spoilage can be countered after infusion by adding antimicrobial essential oils, keeping the oil in the refrigerator, or using it within a year.

2)     Add oil:  Pack a mason jar halfway with dried blooms or all the way with fresh blooms.  Push them down to make sure they are packed tightly.  Add an oil of your choice to the top of the jar and store in a warm place out of sunlight for two weeks.

3)     Strain:  Place a cheesecloth or piece of muslin over a measuring cup and pour the dandelion mixture through the cloth.  A piece of muslin will strain all the tiny bits out of the oil, so is more effective than cheesecloth, but will take a longer time to strain.  A measuring cup is the best receptacle because of its spout for pouring the strained oil into its final bottle.  Label the bottle with the contents and date.

dandelion blooms ready to be infused

 An infused oil works well as it is, but if you prefer a different consistency, you can make a salve or cream.

To Make 5 Ounces of Salve: 

1)     Melt 2 tablespoons of beeswax or a plant wax in a double boiler.  I usually put a glass measuring cup in a large pan of water.

2)     Add 4 ounces of your infused oil.  Stir until completely melted.

3)     Remove from heat and stir in essential oils if desired. 

4)     Pour into glass jars and allow to cool before capping the jar. Keeps for about a year.

Dandelion salve

To Make 6 Ounces of Cream:

1)     Melt 1 tablespoons of beeswax or a plant wax in a double boiler.  I usually put a glass measuring cup in a large pan of water.

2)     Add 3 ounces of your infused oil and 2 tablespoons of a solid oil such as shea butter, coconut oil, or cocoa butter. Stir until completely melted.

3)     Remove from heat, pour into a blender, and let cool to room temperature.

4)     Pour 2 ounces of room-temperature water, and essential oils if desired, into the blender and blend until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  You can substitute a hydrosol, liniment, or gel for water.

Note:  to avoid separation, add the oil mixture to the blender first, then the waters, and both should be room temperature.

pouring cream into jars

Create an Herb-infused Oil in Five Easy Steps

A simple salve is made of oil and wax, and is a lovely moisturizer on its own, but add some healing herbs to the mixture and you have a pain treatment, a sedating balm, or a rash-clearing ointment.

To create a healing salve, you first need to make an herb-infused oil to use in the recipe. Here’s how:

Step One:  Choose an herb

Excellent herbs for infusing into oil to calm itchy, rashy skin include Calendula, Heal All (aka Self Heal), Lavender, Lemon Balm, Plantain, Roman Chamomile, and White Clover.  For topical pain relief look to California Poppy, Catnip, Comfrey, Cramp Bark, Meadowsweet, St. John’s Wort, and Valerian.  Valerian and Catnip also have sedating properties.

Fresh Calendula flowers

Step Two: Harvest fresh or use dried herbs

An herb-infused oil will keep longer if made with dried herb, but fresh herbs extract the most medicine.  Introducing moisture from fresh plants will increase the risk of spoilage, however, so dried herbs are generally used for oils.  Milky oat seed, St. John’s wort, and motherwort are nearly useless when dried and should always be used fresh. 

Calendula flowers on a hydrator rack

 You can dry herbs yourself, or purchase dried herbs.  See the purchasing information at the end of this article if you are looking to buy dried herbs.

 The equipment you will need includes two jars, a strainer, a measuring cup, and  a square of muslin or coffee filter.  In addition, if using dried herbs to make your infused oil, you will need a grinder (a food processor or blender will work), kitchen scale, and 100- to 190-proof vodka.

Step Three: Infuse the herb into the oil

  Maceration method for fresh herbs:

• Loosely fill a jar with fresh herb and cover with the oil of your choice (see the carrier oil descriptions at the end of the article). 

• Label the jar with the herb and the date.

• Put the jar on a shelf for two weeks, shaking the jar or stirring it daily. You can put a cheesecloth lid on the jar to allow moisture to escape, just be sure to stir it every day.

Weighing dried herb on a scale

Alcohol-Intermediary technique for dried herbs

(From “Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies” by Maria Noel Groves)

• Grind herb coarsely and weigh it on a kitchen scale.   Choose the size of the jar based on the amount of herb:

1 ounce of herb              8-ounce jar

2 ounces of herb            16-ounce jar

3-4 ounces of herb         Quart jar

•  Add 1/2 ounce of 100- to 190-proof alcohol (vodka works best because it is odorless) for every ounce of herb and stir or shake to mix it thoroughly with the herb.  Cover tightly and let sit for about a day.

• Pour the prepped herb in a blender or food processor and add 7 ounces of oil (see the carrier oil choices at the end of the article) for every ounce of herb. Blend for about 5 minutes.

Straining herb-infused oil

Step Four: Strain Oil

Place a strainer over a measuring cup. Make sure the measuring cup is large enough for the amount of oil you are going to strain. Line the strainer with a square of muslin or a coffee filter. This allows the tiniest speck of herb to be strained out of the oil. It will take an hour or longer for the oil to strain, so get comfortable. After all the oil has been strained, pick up the muslin or coffee filter and squeeze out the last little bit of oil. (Have a hand towel ready—your hands will get oily!)

Step Five: Store the Oil

Pour the strained oil into a clean glass jar. Label the jar with the type of oil and date, cover it tightly, and store in a cool, dark place.  The cooler the temperature, the longer the oil will keep.  Dried herb oils can keep for a year or two.  Fresh herb oils will last several months to a year.

 Dried herb purchasing information:  Purchase from local organic sellers first, then look to the Internet.  Raven Moon Emporium (https://ravenmoonemporium.com/) and The Grower’s Exchange (https://thegrowers-exchange.com/) are two online producers that I have used.

 Carrier oils:  Good skin oils readily available from your local store include avocado oil, fractionated coconut oil (that is an oil at room temperature rather than a solid), olive oil, and sunflower oil.  If ordering online, the best oil for your skin is Jojoba, which closely resembles your own skin’s natural oil and is readily absorbed.  Apricot oil and grapeseed oil are also good choices.  Coconut oil, jojoba oil, and olive oil have indefinite shelf lives, so are preferred for long-term uses.  I avoid almond oil because of the California almond industry’s misuse of water resources.