April 15th, 2020 | Posted By: Magdalena Wszelaki | Posted in DIY, Recipes

Moisturizing Hand Salve for Chapped, Dry Hands

Soothe dry, cracked hands with my simple and natural hand salve recipe. This is a great salve to use if your hands are prone to losing moisture and cracking, which can be pretty irritating. You’ll just need three ingredients and 10 minutes to get started, plus this recipe keeps for an entire year.

What is Lanolin?

Lanolin is one of my all-time favorite natural ingredients. It is the wax secreted by wooly animals and the type often used in skin products comes from sheep. If this sounds familiar, it’s most likely because you’ve seen it used as nipple cream as it protects delicate skin and is safe for babies. Tip: If you have chapped lips, applying lanolin directly to your lips works like magic and is so much better than the generic stuff you’ll find near the cash register.

For this recipe, we’ll be heating lanolin along with castor oil (moisturizing and anti-inflammatory) and shea butter (high in fatty acids and also reduces inflammation, making it very nourishing for your skin).

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Moisturizing Hand Salve for Chapped, Dry Hands
 
Cook time
Total time
 
Equipment: Double boiler
Author:
Recipe type: DIY
Serves: ⅔ cup
Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons unrefined shea butter
  • 3 tablespoons lanolin
  • 3 tablespoons organic, cold-pressed and hexagon-free castor oil
  • 5 drops myrrh (optional)
  • 5 drops patchouli (optional)
  • 5 drops geranium (optional)
How To Make
  1. In a double boiler, add the shea butter, lanolin and castor oil. Heat until all the ingredients become liquid.
  2. Transfer to the jar and cool for 10 minutes before stirring in the essential oils. Cool completely without putting the lid on.
  3. Label (include product name and date). Store at room temperature and use within 12 months.
 

Customize Your Hand Salve with Essential Oils

You can personalize your hand salve with essential oils, depending on the scent and benefits you want. I recommend adding not more than 15 drops total to this recipe. I like to do 5 drops each of myrrh, patchouli, and geranium. However, calming oils like lavender, chamomile and rose would be  great too – the options are endless, so have fun with it.

Where to Find Ingredients

Here are our suggestions for some of the ingredients in this salve.

Unrefined Shea Butter: Sun Potion 

Lanolin: Velona

Castor Oil: Queen of the Thrones

16 Comments to Moisturizing Hand Salve for Chapped, Dry Hands

  1. Can you use bees wax in place if lanolin? It’s not an ingredient I have readily at home during this time.

    • In place of lanolin, you will want to find something that is highly moisturizing. Their are lots of options out their that you can play around with (for example, Jojoba oil). Beeswax would not be a good option as far as a moisturizing component.

      Healthy Regards,
      HB Team

  2. What can I use in place of lanolin? I have pure shea butter and castor oil and various essential oil, cedar wood, or lemon grass or
    lavender?

    • In place of lanolin, you will want to find a highly hydrating/moisturizing oil (for example Jojoba).

      Otherwise, you could play around with the recipe and try it without lanolin (in which case you may want double up on the Shea).
      I have not tried the recipe this way, but would love to hear how it turns out!

      The essential oils you listed sound like wonderful additions. Just be sure to stick with adding no more than 15 drops of essential oils to this recipe.

      Healthy regards,
      HB Team

    • HI Daniel, We haven’t tried that with this recipe, but you are welcome to try it. Let us know how it works. Jennifer @HB Support

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