On the face of it, this salve sounds simple. Chamomile, shea, some carnauba wax. Meh. Nothing fancy, right? But… oh. Oh my. It’s so much more than you’d think from looking at the ingredient list. Smokey raw shea butter and silky, nutty macadamia nut oil are infused with chamomile flowers and a hint of bee propolis. Add a bit of glossy carnauba wax and you’ve got a rich, creamy salve that smells incredible and leaves your skin feeling surprisingly silky—there’s no shea butter stickiness or greasiness here. This pretty yellow Silky Chamomile and Shea Salve is so much more than the sum of its parts.
If you’re familiar with unrefined shea butter, you know it has a distinctive smell. It’s slightly smokey, but also shea-y, which I realize is a poor description, but once you’ve smelled it, you’ll know what I mean. It’s a smell that can carry through to end products, and that’s not always a welcome addition, which is why I sometimes strategically choose unrefined, deodorized shea butter. Here, however, I wanted to use unrefined shea butter for maximum skin healing goodness, so I had to work with that smell.
I’ve always found it best to try to work with a smell rather than cover one up, so I chose nutty macadamia nut oil as my partner in crime. Macadamia nut oil is utterly lovely here for two key reasons, which makes it hard to replace (so… please don’t…). Reason #1: it smells nutty and fantastic, and that nutty smell blends so well with the smokey shea scent. It’s a bit sweet and smokey and mysterious and swoon. I think this may be favourite new natural ingredient scent combo (after coconut oil and cocoa butter, or course).
Reason #2: macadamia nut oil is beautifully light with a lightning fast absorption speed. Since shea butter is notoriously thick and has a slow absorption speed, pairing it with a lightweight liquid oil helps speed up the overall absorption speed of the concoction, and that’s super fantastic. This pairing solves the shea-is-too-greasy problem I’m sure any shea user knows, and it solves it very gracefully. Mmm.
Anywho; I infused the lovely shea/macadamia mixture with calming chamomile and healing bee propolis. You can leave the propolis out if you want, but I really like it. Propolis is a pretty cool cloddy dirt-looking substance made by bees. Inside the hive, propolis is used for many things. It’s used to patch small holes in the hive and reduce vibration. If something large crawls into the hive and dies (like a mouse or a lizard), the bees will mummify it in propolis so it doesn’t rot in the hive.
Propolis is made from the trees and flowers that the bees visit on their pollen and nectar rounds, and its composition understandably varies by what’s available near the hive. Once the propolis is harvested from the bees, it’s also very useful to us humans. Its strong antibacterial properties make propolis a fantastic healing ingredient for nicks, cuts, scrapes, and all other kinds of miscellaneous boo-boos.
Once the infusion is done all that’s left is thickening up the mixture with a bit of glossy carnauba wax (but not too much, because I wanted it to be soft) and adding a single drop of German chamomile essential oil for extra chamomile-y goodness without overriding the awesome shea + macadamia thing we’ve got going on. Mmm.
The final salve is downright addictive. It smells great, but in a pretty low-key way so dudes and people who don’t like super fragrant things will like it. It leaves my skin silky soft but not at all greasy, and is brilliant for minor abrasions, eczema, or other kinds of irritated skin. You should make this Silky Chamomile and Shea Salve. It’s awesomesauce.
Silky Chamomile and Shea Salve
10g | 0.35oz macadamia nut oil (read the pre-amble re: substitutions)
23g | 0.81oz unrefined shea butter
0.2g | 0.007oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)1 tsp dried chamomile flowers
1/2 tsp raw propolis3g | 0.11oz carnauba wax (can substitute candelilla wax)
1 drop German chamomile essential oil
Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the macadamia nut oil, unrefined shea butter, and vitamin E oil into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or 250mL (8 fl oz) beaker. Measure the chamomile flowers and propolis into an empty disposable tea bag, and tie it off. Place the tea bag into the measuring cup/beaker with the oils to infuse; I used a rubber band to hold the string up out of the water bath so it didn’t wick water into the solution.
Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through and let the chamomile/propolis mixture infuse. I left it over medium heat for about an hour, and then left it overnight before reheating the mixture the next day. An hour is probably fine, but it’s nice to know that if you forget about it or run out of time one day, the next day is also ok!
Pull the tea bag out of the oil mixture and press it with the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much oil as possible, taking care not to rupture the tea bag. Weigh the carnauba wax into the measuring cup, and place the cup back into your water bath to melt the wax through, stirring with a flexible silicone spatula to thoroughly blend everything together.
Once the mixture is melted through and uniform, add the single drop of essential oil. Stir to combine and pour the liquid mixture into a 45mL/1.5oz glass jar and leave it to set up—this will take about half an hour. And that’s it! Enjoy your lovely Silky Chamomile and Shea Salve.
My brother has eczema and the doctor has prescribed a salve and recommended that he use “Dove” soap in the shower. Is there a recipe for homemade soap that would be a better moisturizer than “Dove”?
Dove is mostly a syndet bar (synthetic detergent bar), not a real soap, so that may be what the doctor is looking for; the pH will be closer to that of the skin. I don’t have any recipes for such a thing on my blog, but Susan has tons! I have been experimenting with them and they’re really fun 🙂 Highly recommended!
Hi Marie, Thanks for your great recipies, I want to try this recipe, I have not got any Propolis, but I do have Bee Pollen, do you think I can use it? Thanks again! Also I am looking for a crunchy shampoo alternative…But I don’t want to put yogurt, coconut cream, banana or other food stuff in my hair. I can’t find a crunchy recipe that is not like a smootie or a chemical project (acv and bicarb) I have almost given up and I am now looking at either making a hair shampoo bar with sodium cocoyl isethionate….Yeah perhaps it is not “crunchy” but I belive that ditergents are better for hair than soaps…, then I found your website and I though you might know. The other thing I was thinking of was natural sufricants like quinoa water or soapnuts…What are your thoughts? This company seems to make shampoo with rather simple ingredients …..
https://www.100percentpure.com/collections/shampoo/products/burdock-neem-healthy-scalp-shampoo-13oz?variant=36540657550
Thanks so much Angela Marie
How much beeswax would I need to use as a substitute? I have chamomile infused sunflower, and that is a YUMMY smell too so thinking I will try this !!
More—maybe 20% more? Happy making 🙂
So making this for my son who has baaad eczema! Thanks Marie!
PS: every Monday and Thursday morning the first thing I do when I wake up (before I even get out of bed) is to go to your blog to see what new, awesome recipe is waiting for me. And of course, my “humblebee and me to do projects” list is getting longer and longer…
I know! My HB&M project list thankfully isn’t too long as I have already made a lot of them already. I’d love to take a peek inside Marie’s brain and figure out how she comes up with all these very different recipes.
Great recipe I love my (refined!) mac nut oil in everything in the summer for an amazing dry touch finish! Have you played with apricot kernel oil? Summer+apricot oil+evening primrose+a wee nip of mango butter+ water+green tea (liquid) extract+silk+vitamins+allantoin= drool face lotion!
Thanks for this recipe Marie!
I hope it helps your son! It makes me so happy to hear my blog has become part of your weekday morning routine 😀 Thank you so much for reading and supporting!
I actually made this and let my friend, whose daughter has even worse eczema than my son, try it on her kid…and it’s gone, she loved it so much that she asked me to keep it. I didn’t use propolis because I didn’t have it on hand and used candelilla wax instead but I don’t think it affected the final product as it turned out nice and silky and maybe a bit on the hard side, but awesome nonetheless! Thanks a billion. Gotta whip up another batch for my little one now. I have been using your oat dream cream I made a few months back and that has helped a ton, his prickly, dry, patchy skin healed wonders and he hasn’t had a flare up since then. I love that thing!!!
Ah, this is all so wonderful! Stories like this give me all kinds of warm fuzzies 😀
Hiya! Love your blog! Hey, I get the “hardness factor ” factor of the wax and alternative wax your suggesting to use but I’d like to know the reason. Beeswax too greasy, making it vegan? Or does the Candelila wax absorb faster or leave a “coat”…Also, could this be great whipped, with or without the wax? Thanks!!! I’m so trying this one! <3
I wanted the silky thin-ness of the vegan wax, and not the sticky thickness of beeswax 🙂 I do think it would harden up quite a lot post-whipping, so I’m not sure how much whipping would be worth it, but hey—it’s DIY. Do whatever you want lol.
Thank you, I have been wanting to make a salve for gardener’s hands. I am wondering if you ever use wild chamomile (also known as pineapple weed…in your concoctions. I have plenty of it…was thinking I could use it in this recipe…your thoughts?
I haven’t! I’ve never even heard of it, or seen it for sale, so I really don’t have any opinions there.
This sounds great Marie, my daughter has eczema and the balm I made with Shea butter is too greasy for her, the slightest hint of oil and spots appear like mad! Bless her, she can’t win Mac nut oil isn’t very easy to source in the UK,I found it online but it’s quite expensive. Definitely going to give it a go though.Also your Anti acne body spray. My daughter doesn’t often agree to try what I make because of the whole oil=spots thing, but she wants to try the spray. So fingers crossed. I love the sound of your face lotion Penny.
Is she allergic to nuts by any chance? My sister has allergy induced eczema and is allergic to nuts. We found I can’t use shea butter in any products I make for her. We are slowly finding out which butters she can and can’t use (as well as herbs) through experimentataion.
Fingers crossed! Other fast absorbing oils for your daughter include rosehip and hazelnut, so perhaps keep an eye out for those as well 🙂 Best of luck!
Could I use Candilla wax instead if Carnubba wax?
Yup!
I’m glad you added the “tempering” step. It took me a year before I learned that you need to temper balms and salves, so the butters, Wax, and oil can get to know one another well enuf, and be uniform, or it will crystalize or become chunky, in a relatively short amount of time. I have ruined many batches by not tempering them! I think an hour is good amount of time to temper, as well. Thank You!
For me it is honestly a result of laziness LOL. Melt, forget, remember… ha! Most graininess is due to the inclusions of butters; I’ve never had a salve made without butters go grainy as its the stearic acid that comes out and creates the grains, so without stearic acid, it doesn’t happen )
Hi Marie! I’m curious – does the propolis just melt into the mix? Could you just use a little honey?
Propolis is like… resinous dirt clods. It doesn’t melt at all, under any circumstances. When you soak it in alcohol you end up with a paste so sticky you could probably use it to glue a small animal to a wall LOL. That’s why it’s in the bag! It infuses, but definitely doesn’t melt.
If you incorporated honey you’d have to modify the production, whisking it in at room temperature, and I’m not sure how that would work with this wax, or how well it would whisk at room temperature, as it’s decidedly solid. You can try! Let me know how that works if you do 🙂
Hey Marie! It’s Gnome Beard! I have a question about the infusion. You said to leave in the water bath for about an hour over medium heat. Isn’t that too much heat for shea butter? At what temperature should it stay for that hour? Just wondering if the shea butter will crystalize if over-heated?
Thanks so much you rock!!
I haven’t had any issues with it, but if you are interested in learning more about shea butter you should check out LisaLise’s book on it!
Thank you…i will definitely consider this book. I’m going crazy trying to get She Butter from crystallizing. I place it in the fridge, no difference. The only thing that helps is by adding a clay or just using mango butter insteqd, but i love the benifits of tbe shea! I just purchased silica microspheres and will be testing this out!
Lise has some other good troubleshooting tips in there that take into account other elements of your formula that might be problematic, so it would likely be a good buy. You can also look at something like ButterEZ 🙂
I have never heard of EZbutter. I will be purchasing this and giving it a try!! I really like this Salve because it is really non greasy. I made a remix of this silky salve as well. I added 8 grams of refined Pine resin. I have been using it on my feet and the results are amazing! The benefits of propolis and pine resin are very beneficial if you have fungus and/or cracked skin. Have you ever worked with pine resin? I’m having a field day with this stuff! I have also added Pine resin to my beard balm and turned it into a mustache wax. So far the only Pine resin I like is the pinyon pine from Jenny’s soaps.
Hmmm. I have a trip to the US coming up soon and I am planning on doing some online shopping and having it sent to my agent so I can get some USA-only things. Maybe that pine resin will have to be on that list! I haven’t worked with it before but I am a total sucker for all things forest scented 😀
Hi Marie
Could I use a propolis extract instead of the raw propolis?
My little bottle says pure NZ propolis 15% w/w in alcohol free base.
Thanks
Debbie
Doubtful; I suspect your extract is not oil soluble. If it is, you can, but if not, it will not incorporate.
Done that before in another salve, it doesn’t work becouse it is not oil soluble
if i don’t want to infuse with anything, how much shea butter and oil should i use? i’ve bought shea butter for the first time and i really don’t want it to be a fail
I’d use the same amounts of everything, though if you live somewhere on the cooler side you might want to reduce the wax by 0.5g. You certainly don’t have to, but your end product might end up being a wee bit firmer than mine was as you won’t be losing any of the oil/butter blend to the infused herbs. Happy making!
as you said, can i increase 0.5 g wax if i live somewhere warmer?