DIY Topicals, Lotions, Creams. Salves

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
Is anyone doing this? Found an article on Leafly that describes the process pretty well. can pick up everything i need, except the medicine, on amazon.

i think after my next harvest, i might give it a try.

Would love to hear your experiences, recipes and success stories.

thanks
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
here is the recipe for the salve and then more additions to turn it into a cream

https://www.leafly.com/news/strains-products/how-to-make-diy-cannabis-topicals

Ingredients:
  • 7-10 grams of ground, dried cannabis
  • 1 ½ cups of coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup olive oil (optional)
  • 1/3 cup beeswax
  • 1 baking sheet
  • 1 saucepan (or double boiler)
  • 1 jar
  • 1 cheesecloth
  • A few drops of essential oil (your choice)
Preheat your oven to 240 degrees Fahrenheit and spread your dried ground cannabis on a baking sheet. When the oven is preheated, decarboxylate your cannabis in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

While your cannabis is in the oven, place your coconut and olive oil in the saucepan or double boiler over low heat and stir continuously.

Remove your decarboxylated cannabis from the oven and mix it into the coconut oil. Maintain a low heat and continue stirring the cannabis and oil mixture for 20 to 25 minutes.

Note: Keep the heat very low, especially when using a saucepan and not a double boiler–if the heat gets too high, you’ll scorch the cannabis and burn off the THC, decreasing the oil’s potency. This is especially pertinent if you’re using olive oil in your recipe, as olive oil has a lower smoke point than other oils.

After 25 minutes, remove from heat and pour the mixture through a cheesecloth into the jar. Set aside.

In the same saucepan or double boiler, add the beeswax and heat until it is melted. As the beeswax melts, slowly add the infused coconut oil.

You can also add essential oils to your mixture–we recommend lavender, peppermint, or tea tree oils. Just a few drops will do.

Once the beeswax and coconut oils are thoroughly mixed, remove from heat and transfer into containers for your infused salve.

How to Make a Cannabis-Infused Lotion or Cream
In order to make your salve into an infused lotion or cream, add:

  • 1 cup aloe vera gel
  • 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
  • 2 tablespoons shea butter or cocoa butter
To increase the fluidity of your cream, increase the amount of olive oil (or any other kind of oil–we recommend vitamin E oil or almond oil) in your mixture.

Keep in mind that your lotion will still be fairly thick, so we don’t recommend trying to put it in a lotion pump.

If you’re not sure what containers to use, many containers used for cannabis flower can also be used for topicals and lotions. Our personal favorite is the classic 4 oz. glass canning jar, easily bought in bulk and useful for a number of purposes.

And there you have it!

Your cannabis salve won’t last forever, but storing it in a cool, dark place will help preserve its longevity. Just rub salve on the affected area, and sit back and relax while the activated THC works magic on your aches and pains.
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
and since something like bengay, tiger balm or icyhot have that warming, soothing feeling, i want to add the ingredients to the DIY cream.

the following oils are needed for this:
  • Peppermint oil: natural painkiller (analgesic); muscle relaxant; cooling properties; stimulates blood circulation
  • Eucalyptus oil: natural analgesic; anti-inflammatory; vasodilator (opens blood veins to improve circulation)
  • Clove oil: natural anti-inflammatory agent; stimulates blood circulation
  • Ginger oil: natural anti-inflammatory agent; analgesic
  • Black Pepper oil: warming, stimulating, improves circulation

And hell, i was stoned off my ass when i created this thread. the recipe only calls for 7-10 grams of cannabis, i am pretty sure i can handle that before another harvest, LOL :bigjoint:

so far the ingredients total up to $75 on amazon and that sounds outrageous, but the amounts are large enough that i can make this many, many times times.
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
After reading up even more on homemade warming rubs it might be better to go with the following for the warming agent rather than black pepper oil which did not get good reviews

Camphor oil
menthol oil
Wintergreen oil
Cayenne Pepper


i am going to read a bit more and come up with a unique THC/CBD infused muscle warming recipe.


I've got OCD when I start researching something, soon after i am making it or building it, lol...
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
ok, there is a butt load of research i can do on essential oils, which i will do, but with some very quick research i have the prototype recipe. :bigjoint:

Salve Ingredients

  • 7-10 grams of ground, dried cannabis
  • 1 ½ cups of coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup beeswax
  • 1 baking sheet
  • 1 saucepan (or double boiler)
  • 1 jar
  • 1 cheesecloth
  • 50 drops Peppermint oil
  • 50 drops Eucalyptus oil
  • 20 drops Camphor oil
  • 20 drops Menthol oil
  • 2 T Cayenne Pepper
  • 20 drops Copaiba oil
  • 20 drops Juniper Berry oil

Ingredients for thinning to lotion


  • 1 cup Aloe Vera gel
  • 100 drops Almond oil
  • 2 T Shea Butter or Cocoa Butter


we obviously all understand the benefits of decarb'd cannabis

THC(pain relief)
CBD(anti-inflammatory)

the many oils and pepper in this will also play roles

Peppermint oil - natural painkiller (analgesic); muscle relaxant; cooling properties; stimulates blood circulation
Eucalyptus oil - natural analgesic; anti-inflammatory; vasodilator (opens blood veins to improve circulation)
Camphor oil - natural solution for pain relief, anti-inflammatory; fights infection, and boosts skin health, warming properties
Menthol oil - natural antiseptic,pain relief, anti-inflammatory, cooling then warming properties
Copaiba oil - natural pain relief, warming properties
Juniper Berry oil - natural warmth and muscle soothing
Almond oil - skin health and used for thinning in this recipe
Cayenne Pepper - natural solution for pain relief, fights infection, and boosts skin health, warming properties



just gotta pull the trigger at amazon and all ingredients will on the way. i already have the weed, cayenne pepper, coconut oil and olive oil :blsmoke:
 
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Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
well today i made the salve. i learned a lot of things not to do, lol.

i did this in my garage and that was mistake number 1. this should be done in a climate controlled area. the reason is simple, once the bees wax is added and removed from the heat it starts to solidify. the race is on at that point.

next mistake, filtering through coffee filter without first filtering through a stainless mesh strainer first. the websites i read did not suggest this, but i would like to suggest it. the result here with just the coffee filter was too slow on the filtering before wax started to solidify. i learned it was better to filter the big stuff out through the strainer first.

i also started filtering into jars that were in pans of a inch or two of water, almost boiling to keep things warm enough to filter. when filtering straight on to a jar sitting on the cabinet, the salve was solidifying in the jar and the coffee filter.

also, use rubber bands to hold your coffee filters in place.

long story short, i lost at least 6 ounces worth of salve through the mess and learning. because of losing almost half, i reduced the oils to half before putting into little 2 ounce jars.

so far, i will be honest, i am not that impressed with the warming properties of this mix. for one thing, the 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper really did not do much from what i could tell. at the point of making it where it was only coconut oil, cayenne pepper and olive oil, i rubbed some on my skin, no warming at all. so i will leave the cayenne pepper out next time i make it, which will change the color from the reddish color to something more white or light green.

it does smell pretty nice. you can smell a little weed :bigjoint:, and the camphor and mentol oils pretty well. the peppermint and eucalyptus are noticeable slightly, but don't notice the other oils in the aroma that much.

recipe needs a little more tweaking and i need some a sore muscles or joint pain to see how the THC/CBD's affect it. usually happens later at night i will try it and see if it loosens things up. i used about 10 grams of Sour D, decarb'd at 225 for 30 mins.

while the weed was decarbing, i filled a pan with an inch of water and put a 2 cup measuring cup in it, like a double boiler. i put 1 cup of Coconut oil (recipe called for 1.5 cups, but i didn't have it), 1/3 cup of oilve oil and 2 T of cayenne pepper in measuing cup and heated it, stirring every 5 mins or so.

i added the decarb'd weed and continued the double boiler cooking for another 25 mins.

next i added 1/3 cup of bees wax and fully melted it in. next time i will filter out the weed before adding the bees wax.

at this point, take my word, you need another pan with an inch of water and 2 jars. one needs a coffee filter and rubber band. quickly take your 2 cup measuring cup out of the pan and pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into jar #1. dump contents of strainer and pour jar #1 into jar#2 through coffee filter.

that is the cleanest and quickest way to do it. i made a mess, having to reheat, re-pour, etc...

any way, once coffee filter is mostly drained, i pulled the coffee filter and poured the contents back into my measuring cup (for its ability to pour cleanly), after i had cleaned the measuring cup and returned it to the double boiler. it is at this point i added all my oils, mixed well and poured into little containers.

i really don't see the need to thin this anymore unless it gets really hard. the consistency is fine for applying topically.

here are a few pics. oops, and i just touched the corner of my eye with a finger i had just cleaned up a jar with and there are some warming properties :bigjoint: probably the mentol and campor.

cooking.jpg filter.jpg finished.jpg
 

Wunderwi

Active Member
well today i made the salve. i learned a lot of things not to do, lol.

i did this in my garage and that was mistake number 1. this should be done in a climate controlled area. the reason is simple, once the bees wax is added and removed from the heat it starts to solidify. the race is on at that point.

next mistake, filtering through coffee filter without first filtering through a stainless mesh strainer first. the websites i read did not suggest this, but i would like to suggest it. the result here with just the coffee filter was too slow on the filtering before wax started to solidify. i learned it was better to filter the big stuff out through the strainer first.

i also started filtering into jars that were in pans of a inch or two of water, almost boiling to keep things warm enough to filter. when filtering straight on to a jar sitting on the cabinet, the salve was solidifying in the jar and the coffee filter.

also, use rubber bands to hold your coffee filters in place.

long story short, i lost at least 6 ounces worth of salve through the mess and learning. because of losing almost half, i reduced the oils to half before putting into little 2 ounce jars.

so far, i will be honest, i am not that impressed with the warming properties of this mix. for one thing, the 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper really did not do much from what i could tell. at the point of making it where it was only coconut oil, cayenne pepper and olive oil, i rubbed some on my skin, no warming at all. so i will leave the cayenne pepper out next time i make it, which will change the color from the reddish color to something more white or light green.

it does smell pretty nice. you can smell a little weed :bigjoint:, and the camphor and mentol oils pretty well. the peppermint and eucalyptus are noticeable slightly, but don't notice the other oils in the aroma that much.

recipe needs a little more tweaking and i need some a sore muscles or joint pain to see how the THC/CBD's affect it. usually happens later at night i will try it and see if it loosens things up. i used about 10 grams of Sour D, decarb'd at 225 for 30 mins.

while the weed was decarbing, i filled a pan with an inch of water and put a 2 cup measuring cup in it, like a double boiler. i put 1 cup of Coconut oil (recipe called for 1.5 cups, but i didn't have it), 1/3 cup of oilve oil and 2 T of cayenne pepper in measuing cup and heated it, stirring every 5 mins or so.

i added the decarb'd weed and continued the double boiler cooking for another 25 mins.

next i added 1/3 cup of bees wax and fully melted it in. next time i will filter out the weed before adding the bees wax.

at this point, take my word, you need another pan with an inch of water and 2 jars. one needs a coffee filter and rubber band. quickly take your 2 cup measuring cup out of the pan and pour the mixture through a mesh strainer into jar #1. dump contents of strainer and pour jar #1 into jar#2 through coffee filter.

that is the cleanest and quickest way to do it. i made a mess, having to reheat, re-pour, etc...

any way, once coffee filter is mostly drained, i pulled the coffee filter and poured the contents back into my measuring cup (for its ability to pour cleanly), after i had cleaned the measuring cup and returned it to the double boiler. it is at this point i added all my oils, mixed well and poured into little containers.

i really don't see the need to thin this anymore unless it gets really hard. the consistency is fine for applying topically.

here are a few pics. oops, and i just touched the corner of my eye with a finger i had just cleaned up a jar with and there are some warming properties :bigjoint: probably the mentol and campor.

View attachment 4059033 View attachment 4059042 View attachment 4059044
I've made basically the same. What I found works best. Make the coconut oil first. Then add water. Put in fridge. All the crap will sink in the water. Oil sits on top.
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
I've made basically the same. What I found works best. Make the coconut oil first. Then add water. Put in fridge. All the crap will sink in the water. Oil sits on top.
cool, might just give that a try. sounds logical.
 
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Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
ok, so i have tennis elbow in both arms and recently discovered swelling and pain in my knuckles. rheumatoid arthritis runs in the family, so i am self diagnosing.

typically the tennis elbow usually only bothers me at night trying to sleep. the arthritis is come and go. i did start to feel the arthritis a little last night and went ahead and applied the salve to my left hand and left elbow and shoulder. i had no pain in that arm. but i also had very little pain in the right arm, so i don't know if it was just a good night or if the salve helped.

i do believe the swelling was reduced and the joints felt much less stiff.

will keep up with my trials, but first reaction is this is not something shockingly warm like ICYHOT, but more slightly warming, soothing and slower reacting, but longer lasting.
 

raggyb

Well-Known Member
super cool. thanks for the recipe and all the info. so can we use this and since it doesn't go in blood it would not effect a drug test?
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
super cool. thanks for the recipe and all the info. so can we use this and since it doesn't go in blood it would not effect a drug test?
thanks and i just googled "cannabis topicals drug test" and it seems that is correct.

since it doesn't enter the bloodstream you should be good. works with the nervous system only.
 
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