How to Make 7 Calendula Recipes for Herbal Skin Care

Below are 7 calendula recipes for skin care uses. If you want to learn more about the particular uses for this herb, check out Calendula for Skin.

I just love herbs that can be used in so many ways, for so many reasons! There are a variety of ways to use this sunny herb.

I use the flower mostly; though I like to use the leaf as well, it is not commercially available. But if you grow it feel free to use both. If I wanted to use it as a hair rinse for lightening blonde hair or as a dye, I would just use the flowers.

When making alcoholic extracts of calendula, it is necessary to use a high percentage of alcohol as calendula is resinous and resists extraction at lower amounts. The calendula recipes for tinctures below make an approximately 65% alcohol base. Grain alcohol is hard to come by in many states however.

Organic Calendula Flowers are a beautiful golden-orange color, which means they were dried correctly and retain their medicinal properties (herbs should retain their natural color when dried; if they are brown when they shouldn’t be, this means they’ve lost their properties).

The best place to buy fresh calendula is from this shop.

So, Here Are the Calendula Recipes!

Dried Calendula Flower Tincture

Ingredients:

1 cup flowers, packed
2 oz distilled water
8 oz grain alcohol, 190 proof

Directions:

Break up the flowers by hand or in a mortar and pestle. Put the flowers into a 12 ounce glass jar. Mix the water and alcohol together and pour over the calendula flowers. Shake this daily for 28 days. To strain, use cheesecloth lined in a strainer (old t-shirts work well too!) or a tincture press.

Fresh Calendula Flower Tincture

Fresh is best if you have it! This is so simple to make, LOVE it.

Ingredients:

Fresh flowers and leaves, enough to tightly fill a 16 ounce glass jar. Use about 70% flowers and 30% leaves
~16 oz grain alcohol

Directions:

Break the flowers up by hand. Pour the grain alcohol over the flowers. Shake this daily for 28 days. To strain, use cheesecloth lined strainer or a tincture press.

Calendula-Infused Oil

Ingredients:

1 cup dried flowers
12 oz extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

To make a cold infusion, simply break up the flowers and cover with oil. Be sure to remove air pockets, cover and shake. Allow this to steep for 28 days. Strain using old, clean t-shirts and squeeze out all the oil.

Calendula Salve

Take your calendula-infused oil one step further with this recipe Calendula Salve.

Calendula Wash

Basically this is an infusion (made similarly to a tea!). It can be used as a wound wash, a cleanser, hair rinse or a compress!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons dried or fresh flower and leaf
8 oz water

Directions:

Put the herb in a cup. Boil water and pour over herb. Allow to steep at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours. Strain using reusable coffee filter and use the infusion when cool enough.

A Beautiful Way to Cleanse the Face

This can be a standalone cleanser or formulate a cleansing grain with calendula powder or whole flowers ground up.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons Calendula flowers, powdered
½ teaspoon water, milk or rosewater

Directions:

To use this, just pour the calendula powder into the palm of your hand and add the liquid to make a paste. Rub the paste in circular motion on your face and rinse with tepid water.

Calendula Poultice

This may be the simplest recipe to make- basically just macerate (break apart) the herb and put it on the skin!

Ingredients:

Fresh flowers- enough for the area to be covered

Directions:

Grind fresh flowers in a blender, food processor or by hand, adding just a bit of water if needed. Take all this mash and apply it directly to the skin, covering with an old t-shirt or layers of cheesecloth. Wrap firmly and keep in place with a safety pin. This can be removed after a few hours and the skin washed off with some cool water.

If you cannot grow your own for the above uses or you prefer to purchase rather than make, consider purchasing calendula products from here. Their quality and prices are unsurpassed.