How to make a dry skin salve with essential oils!

Dry skin is no fun.

It’s one thing to keep your skin moisturized and nourished. But if your skin gets really dried out and chapped—for example, around your elbows or knuckles—then it’s not always easy to reinfuse moisture into the area and soothe that “cracked desert” feeling. You need a good dry skin salve.

Palmarosa essential oil is on the case!

In my book, The Heart of Aromatherapy, I imagined that Palmarosa . . .

“wants to learn everything it can about how to care for skin, and then put that knowledge into practice. That’s why Palmarosa runs a research center in India [where a lot of Palmarosa grows!], studying skin and creating nourishing body products.”

I love the way Palmarosa essential oil helps to rejuvenate damaged skin. It’s just so nourishing!

Blending the essential oil into a dry skin salve is a great way to experience its therapeutic effects. A rich, thick salve tends to linger on skin longer than a liquid carrier like jojoba or aloe vera gel. This means the essential oil gets to spend more time with your skin, helping it heal and restore.

Here’s a Palmarosa dry skin salve recipe from The Heart of Aromatherapy that can help in this way. (You can tell by the recipe’s name that it offers a lot of moisture!)

Palmarosa’s “Super Soaker” Dry Skin Salve

This recipe makes 5 oz (140 g) of a slightly firmer balm. You can use three 2 oz (60 ml) glass jars.

Ingredients

• 1 oz (28 g) beeswax (Cera alba)
• 1 oz (30 ml) jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis)
• 2 oz (56 g) cocoa butter (Theobroma cacao)
• 1 oz (28 g) coconut oil (Cocos nucifera)
• 19 drops Palmarosa essential oil (Cymbopogon martinii motia)
• 15 drops Myrrh essential oil (Commiphora myrrha)
• 13 drops Ylang Ylang essential oil (Cananga odorata)
  
  

Directions

1. Set up the “Stovetop Melting Method” by placing a Pyrex measuring cup in a soup pot that’s ¼ full of gently boiling water. This is your makeshift double boiler!
2. Melt the beeswax in the Pyrex measuring cup.
3. Add the jojoba and remelt. You can stir gently with a glass stirring rod or the handle of a spoon, if you like.
4. Add the cocoa butter.
5. Add the coconut oil.
6. Stir gently until all ingredients are melted.
7. Remove the blend from the heat, add the essential oils, and stir gently.
8. Pour the blend into the glass jars and cover.

Keep this blend around and use it as a dry skin salve as needed. It’s especially good for cracked knuckles and heels!