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Cuticle Salve Recipe

Filed Under: Lotion

Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 10-20 minutes
Yields: 12 pots

I’m totally loving the weather right now – windy, rainy, and super cold, perfect weather for an active toddler who would love nothing more than to be outside. Woo hoo! Puddles! Honestly though, I love the fact that the cold weather has created an opportunity for me to develop this all-natural cuticle salve recipe. See what I did there? See how I turned that around? #SilverLining. Ahem. Bring it on winter!

Cuticle Salve

Recipe:

1.3 oz White Beeswax

1.0 oz Olive Oil, Pure

0.7 oz Shea Butter

6 mL Vitamin E Oil

3 mL Calendula Extract (oil-soluble)

3 mL Carrot Extract (oil-soluble)

3 mL Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil

2 mL Rosemary Essential Oil

12 Non-Stackable Clear Lip Butter Pots

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5 on a plate

ONE: In a heat safe container, combine the Olive Oil and Beeswax and microwave until the Beeswax has melted. Be sure to use an appropriately-sized container; Beeswax has a high melting point and if you’re using glass, it will get quite warm (and as I found out a few years ago, possibly explode!).

Mixing Oils and Wax

TWO: Once the Beeswax has melted, add the Shea Butter and stir until melted. If the addition of the Shea Butter dips the overall temperature below about 145 degrees, stick the mixture back in the microwave for another 30 seconds or so, otherwise the beeswax will start to harden up again.

Adding Shea Butter

THREE: Add the Vitamin E Oil, Calendula Extract, Carrot Extract, Lavender Essential Oil and Rosemary Essential Oil to the mixture. Stir until well incorporated.

Adding Fragrance Oil

FOUR: Line up the Lip Butter Pots (sans lids) and pour the mixture into the pots. Allow the mixture to cool completely, then twist the lids on. Toss one in your purse or car for quick and accessible cuticle relief!

Pouring into Pots

What a quick and easy idea for a gift, or maybe just keep it for yourself. =)

Click here for a printable PDF of this tutorial.Pamper Yourself!

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37 Comments

  1. I am thinking of making this as part of a gift basket for a driend. She is allergic to lavender what can i use in place of the lavender.

  2. I have 2 questions: First, what benefits to the cuticles do each of the ingredients have? I want to know in case I switch any out – I don’t want to omit something vital to its usefulness 🙂 and Second, would this salve be firm enough to decant into lip balm tubes for easier dispensation? I haven’t experimented with making my own products but my sister has, and I’m hoping to get her to help me make some cuticle product in a twist up tube. Thanks for your help 🙂

    • Hi Elissa!

      Happy to hear you are considering giving this recipe a try! If you are looking for more foot care recipes, keep your eye on the blog next week…we have some fun things coming up! 🙂

      Both Olive Oil and Shea Butter are incredibly moisturizing and skin loving. The beeswax helps give this balm a nice firmness; while we have not tested this product in a twist tube, my guess is that it would be firm enough to work. If not, you can add a little more beeswax to firm it up 🙂

      Carrot Extract is high in vitamins A and E and beta carotene. It is an anti-inflammatory, soothing chapped and uncomfortable skin. Calendula has been used to sooth sensitive or irritated skin as well. If there is a different extract you’d like to use, you certainly could 🙂

      Let me know if you have any more questions!

      -Amanda with Bramble Berry

  3. Hello
    I’ve tried making this salve and it keeps coming out hard. I’ve followed the recipe to the T and lessen the amount of candelilla wax but nothing has changed. I’ve tried adding more oil olive in one batch and more shea butter in the next and nothing has change. I would love to get this recipe down pack, but my only downfall is the hardness. I have not tried it yet with beeswax. Do you think that the wax would make a difference? Please help me.

    • Good morning, Akeisha!

      We are sorry to hear that you are having a bit of trouble with this recipe, and are here to help you troubleshoot. Candelilla Wax is actually the hardest wax to use in bath & body products and that is probably why you are experiencing that extreme hardness in your cuticle salves. I would actually try using Beeswax and see if that makes a difference for you.

      One way to test your salves and balms before they harden is with the frozen spoon trick. All you need to do is stick 1-2 spoons in the freezer about 10 minutes prior to melting your ingredients. Once all of your ingredients are melted, you pull the spoons out of the freezer and stick the tip of it in your melted mixture. It will immediately harden up and be the texture and consistency it would be when your recipe has hardened. It is a super easy way to adjust your recipe before you’ve poured it in your containers!

      You can see the trick in action in this Soap Queen TV episode: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lip-products/how-to-make-infused-lip-balm-on-soap-queen-tv/

      I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions. =)
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

      White Beeswax: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lip-products/how-to-make-infused-lip-balm-on-soap-queen-tv/

  4. I just made this today and it is amazing! The only changes I made were to half the recipe and use a blend of lavender with a small amount of lime essential oils. Not only is it working really well on my hands, but also on my toes which I noticed were really dry. I love this stuff and will probably force my friends and family to try it!

    • Hi Ashley!

      This is a great salve recipe and the oils are so skin-loving — I actually used this one all winter long. If you were able to get any pictures of your fun salves, we’d love to see how they turned out. You can share them with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page:

      https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

      P.S. Just as a warning, you will want to be careful whenever you are using citrus essential oils in a leave-on product as they can potentially be a photosensitizer.

  5. Would I be able to use Candelilla Wax, Golden Jojoba (or Avocado) Oil, and oat extract instead? That’s all I have on hand and my cuticles are getting really torn up with the constant weather change in NJ! Example: .65 oz. Wax, 1 oz. Jojoba or Avocado (Or a combo), .7 oz Shea, 6 ml Vit. E, 6 ml oat extract, and 3 ml lavender, 2 ml Rosemary. Thanks you guys are the best! I absolutely love your blogs and your site! (By the way, your soap bases are the best I’ve found!!!)

    • Hi Rachel!

      You can switch out the Beeswax for Candelilla Wax, but be aware that the Candelilla is going to much much harder then the Beeswax and you will want to use less of it in this recipe. A great way to tell what the final consistency of your salve is going to be is to use the frozen spoon trick. The frozen spoon trick is a super easy way to test if you like the consistency of the lip balm you are making before it hardens up.

      All you need to do is stick 1-2 spoons in the freezer about 10 minutes prior to melting your ingredients. Once all of your ingredients are melted, you pull the spoons out of the freezer and stick the tip of it in your melted mixture. It will immediately harden up and be the texture and consistency it would be when your recipe has hardened. It is a super easy way to adjust your recipe before you’ve poured it in your containers!

      You can see the trick in action in this Soap Queen TV episode: http://vimeo.com/26122357

      With the rest of your substitutions, you should be just fine for this recipe. Also, I’d suggest making a small batch and testing it, so you know you like the consistency!

      I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. =)
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  6. Does the Shea butter make it grainy? I have heard of that happening if it doesn’t cool properly?

    Thank you!

  7. This is perhaps a silly question, but how exactly do you use this? I just made this recipe, and it turned out a lot firmer that I expected! How do you actually apply it? It looks and smells wonderful….I just need to figure out how to use it!
    Any guidance would be greatly appreciated 🙂

    • Hi Carrie!

      You should be to just rub on to your cuticles to help moisturize them. If you are finding that it is a little too hard, you could remelt them and add a small amount of Olive Oil or Shea Butter to help it get a bit softer. 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

      • So the consistency should be such that you can dab a fingertip into the salve and have some on it to apply to your cuticles, correct? I remelted mine and added an additional 1.5 oz. sweet almond oil. It is still too hard and I can’t get any of the salve out, unless I kinda scratch the surface of it with something hard (like my nail).
        Or am I misunderstanding the process of applying this? Do you “dab” some onto your cuticles, or are you supposed to put your fingertip into the jar to rub your cuticles around in the salve?

  8. Hi –
    I don’t have Calendula extract, but I do have almond oil that I infused with Calendula. Think I can sub that? Also I have Carrot essential oil, so can I use that for the carrot extract??
    Love your recipes, saves us so much trial and error!
    Going to put these in the 25 gift baskets I have to make for Christmas orders!!

    • Hi Dawnia!

      The extract and the oil are two separate things, but if you wanted to, you could substitute the calendula-infused Almond Oil with the Olive Oil in this recipe. If you have any other extracts, you can use them in place of the Calendula and Carrot Seed Extracts. I hope this helps! 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  9. Hi!
    I have been playing all day trying to decide what recipes I want to make first, what ingredients I want and adding and deleting from my cart constantly. Then I had an idea! I don’t know if it is possible, or how hard it would be to do this. But I thought how great would it be if you could add an option to you site where we could save recipes to, being able to choose items from your site and add them in the quantities we want, with a little notes section we could write in would be handy too.

    Then later when we want to buy all the items for that recipe, we can add it directly to the cart. Kind of the same idea that you do here on the soapqueen blog, but our own personal little section in the account spot. Just a thought!
    Thanks so much I love you all a whole bunchies!

    Hugs!
    Tracy

    • Thanks for the suggestion! Have you checked out Bramble Berry’s wishlist feature? It’s a handy list that’s separate from your cart, but works in a similar way. It doesn’t let you sort by recipe, but it does allow you to add to/keep a list of favorite items and only add to a cart what you’re ready to order when you’re ready to order it. I’ll pass your suggestion along to the website development team, but in the meantime the wishlist might be helpful to take advantage of! 🙂

      -Kristen with Bramble Berry

      • Ooo I do have to say that sounds like a pretty nifty idea! There are always so many ideas and recipes I want to try on here but I always forget later why I wanted those items.

    • With some modifications, this would make a great lip balm recipe! Our Calendula and Carrot extracts have not been confirmed as lip-safe, so you’d want to leave those out. Also, replace the Lavender and Rosemary Essential Oils with a lip-safe flavor oil. Bramble Berry has a wide selection of lip-safe flavor oils! Check em out here:

      https://www.brambleberry.com/Flavoring-Oils-C177.aspx

      They’re all great on their own, or you can mix and match for a custom blend. Have fun with it! 🙂

      -Kristen with Bramble Berry

  11. If I cut this recipe exactly in half to make only 6 pots, would it turn out just as good? Thanks so much!

  12. That looks like a wonderful remedy. Question about the recipe. The carrot extract that you carry has water in it. Would you have to use a preservative then?

    • Hi Tanja!

      Thanks for keeping us on our toes! Our carrot extract is actually now oil soluble and no longer contains water. We recently made the switch from water to oil soluble and hadn’t updated the website yet. Thanks again for the catch and we will be updating that today! 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

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