A 'Ranger" Salve and Brainstorming Projects

[herbcraft]

nothing online as a course that I do. You best first bet would be to to join herbmentor.com; it's way cheap for the amount of content provided, and the content in generated by very well respected herbalists - it's education/empowerment based and not tied to a product line that's being sold (there are numerous online offerings that are)...

[Eärendur]

Well, I finally gathered all the materials and made some of this up last night.

First impression: That's a LOT of cayenne! Which, being granular, does not dissolve in the oil, and is too heavy to be suspended while the oil is liquid (hence the instruction to stir regularly while it solidifies.)

This leads me to wonder, is it the capsaicin in the cayenne that's giving the main benefit here? (That's the chemical that causes peppers to be hot). Because there are many other peppers - jalapeno, habanero, ghost pepper, scorpion pepper - where the fresh juices, or a smaller amount of powder, could easily add equal or greater "heat."

[brownl_91]

Tulsi Tea can be mixed with honey to past on wounds. Could you extract oil from the tea? Its a good anti bacterial and antifungal.

[herbcraft]

Well, I finally gathered all the materials and made some of this up last night.

First impression: That's a LOT of cayenne! Which, being granular, does not dissolve in the oil, and is too heavy to be suspended while the oil is liquid (hence the instruction to stir regularly while it solidifies.)

you usually strain the herb out after infusing it in the oil... the oil won't dissolve the powder, but the oil soluble constituents in the plant will be extracted into the oil. Straining powders is a pain; several layers of cheesecloth of bandanas will help.

This leads me to wonder, is it the capsaicin in the cayenne that's giving the main benefit here? (That's the chemical that causes peppers to be hot). Because there are many other peppers - jalapeno, habanero, ghost pepper, scorpion pepper - where the fresh juices, or a smaller amount of powder, could easily add equal or greater "heat."

most peppers will do.

Tulsi Tea can be mixed with honey to past on wounds. Could you extract oil from the tea? Its a good anti bacterial and antifungal.

yup; tulsi will infuse nicely into oil. very low heat should be used when infusing the herb in whatever oil you choose to use.

A thought from someone who's made a LOT of salve and uses it in practice:

Don't just focus on antimicrobial as an action. Plants like plantain, yarrow, calendula and comfrey, that heal damaged tissue make more useful salves than those that are predominantly antimicrobial. If these are the base of a salve, the salve will rock.

Also, salves are awesome, but don't put oil based preparations - whether you made them or bought them - on second degree or worse burns, puncture wounds (deep with a small opening), or ulcerations or sores with pus. Even with crazy strong antimicrobials, the oil can still create an anaerobic environment that some bacteria thrive in. Better (and traditional) to use raw honey poultices in such situations: http://www.drgrotte.com/honey-medicine.shtml

[Eärendur]

Thanks for the info herbcraft!

This immediately causes me to wonder: is there any problem with just mixing every herb with healing properties into a "super-salve" that has it all? Because the (over)enthusiastic engineer in me always wants to optimize to the most effective possible solution.

[Ringulf]

I think herbs are alot like tools or weapons, the more things something does generally, the less they do well.
Some combos it seems work well together, but beware the panacea, it is usually snake oil!

[herbcraft]

Thanks for the info herbcraft!

no problem fellow michigander...

This immediately causes me to wonder: is there any problem with just mixing every herb with healing properties into a "super-salve" that has it all? Because the (over)enthusiastic engineer in me always wants to optimize to the most effective possible solution.

well, the technical term for such combinations is "shotgun formula", and like shotguns, they're okay, unless you value precision. Ringulf is totally right on in his comparison to tools and weapons... they're not necessarily better all stuck into one thing. I mean, a leatherman is pretty cool, but if you really just need a screwdriver for the job at hand, it'd be way better to have a $3 screwdriver than a clunky leatherman. Or: you may really like ketchup and you may really like cheesecake, but a cheesecake with ketchup icing might not do it for you.

Putting herbs together in a formula (doing it well, at least) requires a familiarity with the plants individually, so you can tell whether they work right in reality, and that you're not just putting them together because of what you've read. I've made dozens of salves and oils; some are for sore muscles, some for cramps and tension, some for bruises and injuries, some to induce visions, some to draw heat to an area, some to fight infection, some to decongest swollen lymphatic glands... you wouldn't be able to get the same effects by mixing them all together.

[Eärendur]

Ah, I figured it would be something like that. And you're right, a once-size-fits-all solution is never optimum for a particular situation - I think that's true no matter what you're talking about.

So then you would say that one couldn't simply take multiple herbs noted for a particular effect, and combine them? For example, taking the herbs you noted as being good for healing (plaintain, yarrow, calendula, and comfrey) and combining them all would not (necessarily) produce an effect better than any of them individually?

[herbcraft]

So then you would say that one couldn't simply take multiple herbs noted for a particular effect, and combine them? For example, taking the herbs you noted as being good for healing (plaintain, yarrow, calendula, and comfrey) and combining them all would not (necessarily) produce an effect better than any of them individually?

Well, maybe, maybe not.

In my herbal practice, I make custom formulas for pretty much everyone I work with, and I pretty much always use combinations of herbs.

But if I wanted to make a formula and have it really kick ass, I have to know the herbs really well, so I can combine them optimally. So let's say I want to make a formula to treat list partum hemorrhage (because I recently did). Rather than just combine together a bunch of herbs that stop bleeding, I want to combine herbs that stop bleeding in ways that compliment each other. So, I might use nettles (which contains vitamin k), and yarrow (which acts on the blood promote clotting), and shepherd's purse (which is both astringent, causing tissues to contract and lessen bleeding and oxytocic, which means it acts similarly to oxytocin, and encourages the uterus to clamp down; akin to stopping bleeding by compression.

Now, if I didn't know these nuances about the individual herbs I might combine four herbs that act solely via astringency, which would maybe be ok, but far less dynamic a formula.

This all to say it helps to know more than "stops bleeding" or "heals wounds" or "antibacterial", ect ect.

And ~that~ said, plantain, calendula, yarrow and comfrey would be a pretty nice general salve...