Calendula is one of my favorite flowering herbs to grow, it’s super easy and the more you pick, the more it flowers. This cheerful flower will even flower in the fall after frosts, making it a long-lasting garden herb.
Every summer we harvest, dry calendula petals for calendula oil to make salves and lotions. Calendula makes an excellent addition to a herbal remedies garden.
Calendula cream from the store often comes with unwanted preservatives. I know because I was using calendula cream for our babies and diaper rashes and read the ingredients. That’s why I prefer to make our own organic calendula lotion.
This calendula lotion recipe is inspired from Amy Fewell’s new book ‘The Homesteaders Herbal Companion’ which I was offered to review.
How to Make Calendula Lotion
I adapted this calendula lotion recipe from the basic lotion recipe in the Homesteaders Herbal Companion book. This is a slight variation to make a calendula cream lotion. You’ll want to infuse calendula oil for this recipe. but you can also buy calendula oil.
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- 0.5 oz beeswax pastilles or grated beeswax bars
- 4 oz calendula oil You can use grapeseed, sweet almost oil or olive oil if you wanted to make this basic lotion recipe instead
- 4 oz water, herbal tea, or hydrosol You could steep calendula petals into a herbal tea.
- 10 drops Vitamin E
- 15 drops essential oils (optional) I only add 5 drops of lavender essential oils when making baby calendula cream.
Ingredients
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- Weigh the beeswax and oil of choice in a wide-mouth mason jar
- Place the jar in a small saucepan that has been filled with a couple of inches of water. Bring the water to a boil and melt the beeswax in the oil.
- Remove the jar from the pan and allow it to cool to room temperature. The wax will begin hardening, making the oil cloudy-looking. If you waited too long melt it down again.
- Stir the water, vitamin E and optional essential oils together in a separate container.
- Slowly add the water mix to the oil/beeswax mix while using an immersion blender to whip it to a thick and creamy consistency.
- Store in a closed container at room temperature for about two months. Longer if refrigerated.
The first time I made this recipe I had a lot of calendula oil and make 3 batches. I kept it in the fridge for many months but we really didn’t need so much! The cream will change consistency in the fridge and become harder.
I made calendula lotion but din become soft , it’s as hard as candle, what do I need to add, pls reply
Hi! Is recipe supposed to be 1/2 pound beeswax? Unit is missing. Thanks.
Sorry Cary! It’s supposed to be in oz. I’ve fixed it now, thank you for bringing that to my attention.
This homemade lotion can be a best option to use in skincare routine as calendula has healing anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties which can be helpful to treat various skin problems. I have used its face mask which helped me to get rid of acne and scars. Thanks for sharing.
Hello. Thanks for this GREAT recipe. I absolutely love it! If it becomes discolored, is it moldy? Should it be stored in the fridge even if only a couple weeks old? Thanks.
Hi I have water droplets in my cream. What can I do to prevent that?
You can’t, oil and water don’t really mix. I have made this several times. All of them have gotten moldy because of the water. So im gonna make another batch and I purchased some all natural preservative that I am gonna but and see what happens. Any recipe with water will most likely grow mold.