Organic Olive Oil Hand Salve

My handcrafted batches of Olive Oil Hand Salve for gift giving this holiday season.

I CREATED THIS POST IN 2012 AND DECIDED TO REPOST IT. If you are thinking about handcrafting your holiday gifts, this recipe is a great idea.  Enjoy!!! -Shannon

Every year I craft a handmade beauty product for my family and friends.  Last year I made Calendula Healing Salve and my friends and family truly loved it.  This year I made a bigger jar of my Organic Olive Oil Hand Salve.  I ended up making a total of 20 four-ounce jars, but I think I might need more!! I am sharing the recipe with you, and due to popular demand, I have created the recipe using common U.S measurements instead of metric.  My recipe makes enough salve to fill 3 four-ounce amber jars. If you need more, you simply multiple the recipe.

The base of this salve uses three Organic oils.  I chose organic extra virgin olive oil, organic sweet almond oil and organic sunflower oil.  The best price I have found on the olive oil is at Costco. I got the sweet almond oil from Mountain Rose Herbs and the sunflower oil from Whole Foods. 

I thickened the salve with beeswax pastilles from Mountain Rose Herbs. You can order it HERE.

To help keep the oils fresh and avoid them turning rancid, I enlisted the herbal power of Rosemary Leaf Extract and Vitamin E Oil. 

I chose to lightly scent the salve with lavender, eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils. 

Organic Olive Oil Hand Salve
(makes enough to fill three 4-ounce jars)

4 ounces Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 ounces Organic Sweet Almond Oil
2 ounce Organic Sunflower Seed Oil
3 ounces Beeswax Pastilles
80 drops Lavender Essential Oil
30 drops Rosemary Essential Oil
20 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
40 drops Rosemary Leaf Extract (antioxidant)
40 drops Vitamin E Oil

Combine the olive, almond and sunflower oils along with the beeswax in a large glass measuring cup that has been placed in a simmering water bath.  Heat until the wax and oils melt. Remove from heat and stir in the remainder of the ingredients. Carefully pour into the heat-safe glass jars. Cap and cool completely.

Photo of the oils and wax in the simmering water bath.

Carefully pour the hot mixture into the glass pots. I use an oven mitt when pouring the hot salve.

Notice the cracked middle? This is totally fine and happened to about 1/3 of my pots after they cool.  It does not affect the product at all. I am not for sure why this happens, but if it happens to you, don't worry about it at all!!!

I designed these vinyl product labels which fit perfectly on the four-ounce jars. I bought them from Moo.com. I really like that these labels will not smudge and are water-proof.

I found some pretty green fabric and did a quick-sew reusable gift bag and attached my personalized tag with draw string.

All snug in the gift bags and ready to be passed out to my family and friends for the holidays.

There is nothing that I enjoy more than sharing my herbal knowledge and handcrafted gifts with my family and friends!! I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful gifts from Mother Nature!! Green Blessings & Happy Holidays!!!

-Shannon