Homemade Drawing Salve

This homemade drawing salve is a must for your home apothecary. Salves are such a potent tool, that you might be stunned at how easy they are to make from home.

Two salves we have always made sure to keep on hand are healing comfrey salve and black drawing salve.

To be fair, the comfrey salve is our most used – by far – because it’s perfect for minor wounds, cuts, bruises, burns, etc.

But when you need drawing salve, it may not happen as frequently, but nothing else will do.

The charcoal and clay help draw out venom from bug bites and bee stings and bring splinters or an infection to the surface. As a mom, it’s a key tool in my med kit.

Ingredients for homemade drawing salve

• Olive oil infused with a combination of plantain, comfrey, and calendula flowers
• Coconut oil
• Beeswax (or a mix of wax and shea butter)
• Activated Charcoal
• Bentonite or kaolin Clay
• lavender essential oil (optional)

If you look at the ingredients, you may notice that it’s essentially the same as any healing salve, with the simple addition of charcoal and clay. These two ingredients and the plantain-steeped oil act as an astringent and help draw out toxins.

Many other drawing salve recipes, add honey, tea tree oil, vitamin E oil, sweet almond oil, etc. These are all good additions, but I would stick to adding one or two at a time, knowing that there is a lot of overlap between the ingredients, so you don’t need them all. 

How to make an oil infusion oil before making salve

Steeping your oil to make an herbal infusion is essential for making a salve that genuinely benefits your skin. These herbs lend their healing properties to the oil and make the salve more than just a means for drawing out foreign objects.

This is a simple process of adding dried herbs to oil and letting them emulsify for 10-14 days.

Some who routinely make herbal remedies keep a jar of herbs and oil on their shelf and strain off a bit when needed.

When I make a salve, I usually do so in small batches; however, I steep herbs as needed.

For this particular diy drawing salve, I add about 1/4 cup of olive oil to a jar, with 2-3 teaspoons each of dried plantain, comfrey, and calendula.

If you grow your herbs, you will want to dry or at least wilt them before adding them to the oil to remove excess moisture and help the emulsifying process along.

You can speed this up from two weeks to just a few hours by gently heating the oil until it’s hot to the touch but not steaming. After about two hours, the oil should have darkened somewhat and be ready to use.

Considerations for making homemade drawing salve

Charcoal is messy, and it will stain things. Keep this in mind when you choose your tools, clothes, etc., as you work with it. Even just scooping charcoal out of the jar somehow gets charcoal stuck to the bottom of the jar in a ring.

That said, more importantly, you may be wondering where to find some of the ingredients listed.

I noticed that Hobby Lobby carries calendula, charcoal, and bentonite clay in their soap and candle-making section.

For ordering online, Mountain Rose Herbs and Bulk Apothecary are both good places to find supplies.

However, Amazon is probably the easiest place to go, as it allows you to compare prices and reviews from different brands and order in one place.

How to Make Homemade Drawing Salve

1. Steep Olive oil and herbs together using one of the methods outlined above
2. When ready to make the salve, strain 3 Tablespoons of oil off
   
3. Heat gently with coconut oil and beeswax until fully melted. You can do this in a double boiler or in a heavy-bottomed pan over low heat. 
4. Remove from heat and stir in charcoal, clay, and, if using, lavender oil
   
5. Pour into a 4oz. glass jar, and let it cool
6. Store in a cool place, out of direct light

More Home apothecary recipes for you

• Homemade comfrey salve
• Homemade goat milk soap
• Magnesium butter
• Homemade Lip Balm

How to use homemade black salve

This salve can be used on most minor cuts, abrasions, burns, stings, etc. This salve is excellent for insect bites.

Simple dab a bit of salve on the desired area with a tip and cover with a band-aid to keep the salve from rubbing off.

A great way to use it with kids is to apply the salve to the bandaid and then put the bandaid on the kid. This helps keep the kids from rubbing the salve off or getting tired of you messing with them between touches.