Homemade Lilac Salve

Last March, I was laid off from my job for 2.5 months due to the pandemic.

During this time I began to get back in touch with my passion for gardening and using herbs and flowers.

At first, the reason I was drawn back into gardening was not knowing if our food supply would continue to be available.

I wasn’t afraid or anything, but the thought that something could happen so quick to wipe out the systems we have in place for survival was a bit of an awakening that I’d like to be living a more self sufficient life.

This, along with the health benefits of growing your own organic produce, herbs and flowers sent me onto an unexpected new path.

There’s also the fact that the industrial age has made earth pretty ill with polution, dead soils, unhealthy water and more. When much of the world was shut down, we experienced a cleaner, healthier earth for a short time until we got back to the hustle and bustle. I’m in the U.S. and we got back to the hustle and bustle quicker than other countries and it shows. Our cases and death rates from the pandemic are extremely high sadly.

When I was gardening, working on making the soil around my home more healthy by composting, using the plants I grew, learning more about the benefits of fresh organic herbs and plants, I felt very fulfulled and inspired. Inspired to help heal the earth (and live more healthily) by doing this and teaching others what I learned along the way. If we all did this, earth would eventually heal and there would be hope for generations to come. Thankfully, it looks like many people are on to this and it is a movement to homestead, use permaculture, teach, slow down and become more self sufficient and live a more healthy sustainable life.

Then I was called back to work and I was back to the old grind and neglecting my garden due to time constraints and my mom becoming very ill with cancer.

I did manage to get a few things accomplished though and one was a lot of dried lilacs and some lilac infused oil that I found in my cupboard last week that I had forgot about. There are two gigantic lilac shrubs growing on the property that I rent. I’ve rented this house for about 6 years now and each year I look forward to the lilacs blooming because of their heavenly scent. I usually cut some for flower arrangements in the house so I can enjoy the scent inside, but that is all I’ve ever done with them until last year when I was laid off.

I had intended to make a salve from the infused oil.

At least I know the oil is well-infused with the properties of lilac since it sat for 6 or 7 months.

I have read on multiple sites that Lilac (Syringis Vulgaris) is good for the skin. It can tighten pores, tone and heal skin and it is anti-aging. Going on 56, I’m very interested in the anti-aging part, but also pore tightening and healing.

So today, I got to it and made the salve.

First I strained the dried flowers out of the infused oil. To make your own infused oil, simply add completely dry lilac flowers to a jar and cover with a carrier oil such as grapeseed, avocado or olive. I used olive oil because I had it on hand but had read that it can go rancid quicker than others. Thankfully, mine had not gone rancid. To dry lilac flowers simply bundle a bunch and rubber band the stem ends together, then hang them upside down on a nail or from a rack. It helps to bend a paper clip to hook into the rubber band so you’ll have something to hang it from

I then put a glass jar into a pan with simmering water then added 1/2 cup of the infused oil, 1/4 cup of coconut oil and 1/4 cup of beeswax pellets. I bought the pellets on Amazon last year but you can buy any form of beeswax you want as it comes in different forms. I let the mixture heat over medium heat stirring occasionally to help melt the beeswax.

Once everything was melted, I poured the mixture into a container I had. I see many people use small tins – I would have liked that but I didn’t have any on hand so just used a plastic leftover container and lid that was big enough to hold all of it.

As it cools it sets up and is then ready to use. I have applied some to my hands and arms and it has made my skin feel so soft.

Surprisingly, lilac infused oil does not have a scent. The dried flowers don’t have a scent either. But the infused oil does have all the beneficial qualities of the flowers. If you’d like scent in your salve you can add some essential oil of your choice. I chose to not scent it because I was mainly wanting the anti-aging, pore reducing and healing qualities. I’ve also read that lilac is anti-fungal, so this will probably be great for feet too. I plan on putting this on my face every night before bed, on top of using it as needed for dry skin, rashes, cuts or any skin ailments.

My post here is limited on the benefits of Lilac so please do your own research on it while also checking to see if there are any precautions you should take.

If you do not have a lilac shrub gowing in your yard and would like to give cuttings a try for growing your own, I have them available here Plant Cuttings For Sale. These cuttings are from my gigantic Lilac shrubs and freshly cut upon order. Please research how to propagate Lilac with cuttings through Google before ordering to see if it is something you’d like to try. I have not propagated them before since they are prolific here.

Warmly,

Monica