Gardener’s Hand Salve with Lavender
Gardener’s hands need a little hand salve to preserve them through the gardening season. A regular hand lotion isn’t enough for those cracked, painful cuticles and the gritty, inflamed knuckles that ensue after a day in the garden. Do gardeners really keep their gloves on all day? I know I don’t. There are just some jobs that you need to feel with your fingers. Sifting through the dirt for hours can really desiccate your hands.
But palm calluses and dry skin are a small price to pay for fresh, organic vegetables fresh, organic vegetables, herbs, and fruit. But gardeners don’t have to suffer in exchange for free food. This hand salve has the double benefit of lavender blossoms and lavender essential oil to deeply restore those hardworking hands.
Lavender not only calms the emotions and the nerves. It also calms the pain. It is useful as an anti-inflammatory for painful, inflamed skin, burns, cuts, and scrapes. Anywhere that there is dryness and a burning sensation lavender will help. Lavender is antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiseptic. Useful when you have your hands in the dirt all day. Lavender also soothes minor burns just as well as aloe vera gel.
This is a soothing, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial hand salve that can be used as a moisturizer for dry, damaged skin. Use it on bug bites, scrapes, cuts, eczema, and hives. Scratched up gardening hands will find relief with this comforting hand salve. Lavender salve is also useful for sunburn and chaffing, sore knees and for those that garden barefoot, use this hand salve to soften up and repair your hard-working feet, too.
As a bonus, lavender also repels mosquitoes, although it’s not as effective alone as when used in combination with other essential oils such as lemongrass, rose geranium, and eucalyptus.
Lavender Hand Salve for Gardeners
Yield: 2 ounces
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons dried lavender petals
- 2 tablespoon raw shea butter
- 20 drops lavender essential oil
Directions:
- Make a double boiler using a glass measuring cup and a saucepan.
- Combine the coconut oil and dried petals in the glass measuring cup.
- Simmer the water in the saucepan over low heat for one hour to infuse the lavender petals in the coconut oil. Turn off the heat.
- Allow the oil and lavender to infuse until the oil is cool enough to handle but still liquid. Strain the lavender petals from the infused oil while it is still warm.
- Return the oil to the glass measuring cup. Add the shea butter. Simmer the mixture in the glass measuring cup/double boiler just until the shea butter melts. Remove from the heat.
- Add the lavender essential oil and spoon into a sanitized two-ounce jar. Label and date. Use within 6-8 months.
Notes:
The hand salve takes a few hours to become solid at room temperature. In a warm climate, it may not completely solidify. It melts on skin contact so it is soothing to dry, inflamed skin. Let this lavender hand salve soothe the pains and insults of spring gardening.
Use this hand salve for:
- Dry skin
- Cuts
- Scrapes
- Minor burns
- Callouses
- Scratches
- Swollen joints
- Cracked cuticles
- Ingrown toenails
- Cracked heels
- Mild rashes
- Broken Skin
- Sunburn
Do you grow your own lavender yet?
Find out how to grow lavender even if you live in a cold spot in this article.
Do you use solid or liquid coconut oil??
I came here by way of your comfrey article. I can’t use lavender so would I be able to replace the lavender with a little comfrey and lemon or orange mint? Lemon also helps repel mosquitoes and lemon oil is readily available as is orange.
Thanks,
Nancy
Lemon balm could be used instead of lavender. Lemon essential oil isn’t a good choice in a skin care product where the skin is exposed to the sun. It can cause blistering with sun exposure. Sweet orange essential oil could be used though.