How to Make a Headache Salve

I’ve mentioned it before (in my ‘about me‘ info, for example) that I’m one of those people who is prone to headaches. When the weather changes, when I eat too much processed foods, for my hormonal cycles, when I’m dehydrated, when it’s allergy season, when it’s too sunny, when my eyes are strained, when I’m stressed….yep, I get headaches for pretty much everything. It used to be pretty bad. In fact, I would have more days in a month WITH headaches than without. 

However, as I wrote in my ‘15 Herbs for Headaches‘ post, I’ve found some amazing natural solutions that have made it so that I have very few serious headaches anymore. It’s not just herbal remedies, but it’s also things like eating Real Food, living a more stress-free lifestyle, and exercising. I also keep my natural medicine cabinet stocked with Feverfew tincture for any bad headaches or migraines.

When I DO get a headache, I prefer to use every possible natural remedy/option possible ASAP. I would rather try everything at once than just try one thing at a time. I HATE headaches and I want them gone quickly before they ruin my whole day. So I was pretty excited to find this recipe for Peppermint Pine Headache Salve. I don’t know why I didn’t think about making a headache salve before! Now when I get a headache, I can grab my Feverfew tincture, make a pot of Herbal Headache Tea, and put this salve on my forehead and neck. Brilliant. I found this DIY headache salve in a book called 101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health, and Home by Jan Berry.

101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health and Home by Jan Berry

A fellow blogger, Jan Berry, aka The Nerdy Farm Wife, asked for some reviews of her newest book, 101 Easy Homemade Products for your Skin, Health, and Home. I am usually wary of doing book reviews because I want them to fit my gardening niche. However, she’s called The Nerdy Farm Wife for a reason: she wrote her book about how to make products for your home from things that grow on your farm/land. Score! 

Many of the recipes in Jan Berry’s book contain herbs and flowers that belong in everyone’s garden/yard. This includes: calendula, chamomile, dandelion, lavender, lemon balm, mint, plantain, roses, rosemary, sage, thyme, and violets. I’ve honestly never thought about using roses in my DIY projects before, but this awesome book has recipes using roses such as: lotions, face masks, bath soaks, and body scrubs. Pardon me a minute while I rush to the garden store to buy roses! 🙂

This is easily one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen. The photos are SO PRETTY, and the instructions for the DIY projects are easy to follow and simple. Jan includes recipes for skincare, salves and balms, lotions, bath soaks, body scrubs, hair care, natural remedies, pet care, non-toxic house cleaners, homemade soap making, and more. I am very excited about the soap making information. It’s always been a bit daunting to me, but the recipes in this book are both pretty and they have easy-to-read instructions, and now I’m super excited to try making my own soap. 

Okay, time to focus on this Peppermint Pine Headache Salve recipe. I’ve always used mint for my headaches, since it can help with inflammation. However, I was very intrigued that this headache salve includes pine needles. I did not know that pine has mild pain-relieving properties. I love learning new things like this! Also, crazy coincidence: my hubby was JUST cleaning the yard and asked if he could dump all of our pine needles in the compost. The same day, my book came in the mail with this awesome Peppermint Pine Headache Salve recipe in it. Looks like I found a good way to use up some of the pine needles in our yard! 🙂

Peppermint Pine Headache Salve

Recipe from The Nerdy Farm Wife

Ingredients:

**2 tbsp. dried mint leaves, crumbled

**2 tbsp. dried pine needles, crumbled

**2/3 cup sunflower oil or olive oil

**1 tbsp. tamanu oil (optional)

**1/2 ounce beeswax

**20-30 drops peppermint essential oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Infuse the mint leaves and pine needles into the sunflower oil or olive oil. There are many ways to infuse oils. If you have time, you can infuse the traditional way, by placing the ingredients in a glass jar, and put it in a cool and dark place (like a cupboard) for 4-6 weeks, shaking occasionally. You can also infuse your ingredients the quick way like I did with my DIY Sore Muscle Salve on the stove. Read the instructions in that post, basically, you simmer gently on the stove for a few hours.
2. Once the infused oil is ready, strain it (and keep the oil NOT the used up herbs/pine!). This infused oil, by the way, can be stored for almost a year, so you can make it in advance.
3. Combine 1/2 cup of the infused oil with the tamanu oil (optional: you can just add more of the infused oil if you want) and the beeswax in a glass measuring cup or bowl. Place your bowl/measuring cup in a saucepan with a few inches of water (aka it’s double boiler time). Simmer gently and stir constantly until your beeswax is completely melted.
4. Remove the measuring cup/bowl from the heat. Add peppermint essential oil (optional) if you want a stronger mint salve. Stir, and carefully add to your tins or jars. These are my favorite salve jars.
5. Store your jar(s) of headache salve in a cool and dark place, where it will stay good for 6-9 months.

Notes:

**If you like a firmer salve, add more beeswax, if you like a softer salve, use less beeswax.

**I’m a not a doctor, this is just a suggestion, be safe, go to a doctor if headaches persist, etc.

Love this recipe? Click the book here to purchase:

For further reading:

**Read about Herbs for Headaches

**Learn more about Feverfew here

**Try these herbal tea recipes for headaches

**Don’t forget to check out The Nerdy Farm Wife for more awesome reading pleasure!