Cannabis Salve Recipe with THC or CBD + Benefits (2024)

Features

• An easy recipe showing you how to make cannabis salve at home
• Multiple different infusion options to choose from
• Don’t want to make your own? Purchase a cannabis salve or a CBD salve stick here!

Why You Will Love This Recipe

Cannabis topical products are getting a lot of buzz in my Well With Cannabis Community, and for a good reason!

A salve is an ointment that can promote skin healing and pain relief or be applied as a protective barrier.

A cannabis salve is a salve made with flowers from the cannabis plant, along with other nourishing ingredients, to help moisturize and protect our skin from further damage.

They can be applied directly to the affected area to provide immediate relief from a range of conditions.

In this guide, I will show you how to make a cannabis salve at home in a few simple steps, with multiple infusion options, and show you the many different ways you can customize this recipe to your own personal preferences!

Ingredient Notes

• Beeswax – I recommend using organic beeswax when possible
• Cacao butter – not to be confused with cocoa butter! You can get cacao butter right online.
• Cannabis oil – you can use homemade cannabis oil, store-bought cannabis oil, or . See the alternative infusion section below for details.
• Essential oils – Feel free to use any combination you enjoy. Just be sure to use skin-safe organic essential oils!
• Optional ingredients – Feel free to add optional vitamin E oil or preservatives like potassium sorbate. You can also add camphor or a method for a cooling effect.

Note: a complete list of ingredients with amounts and printable instructions islocated in the recipe cardbelow.

Step-by-Step Instructions

• Step 1 – If you haven’t already, the first step is to choose your infusion method of choice. You can find many infusion options listed below. If needed, prepare your cannabis oil ahead of time.
• Step 2 – Prepare adouble boilerwith water in the bottom pan and place it over low heat.
• Step 3 – Once the water is boiling, add thebeeswaxandcacao butterto the top portion of the double boiler and allow them to melt completely.
• Step 4 – Once they have melted, add in theprepared cannabis oil mixture and essential oils. Stir until all of the ingredients are well combined.
• Step 5 – If you are planning on adding a or any other additional ingredient, stir it in now and mix until everything is well combined. Then turn off the heat.
• Step 6 – Carefully transfer the hot liquid salve to asmall glass jaror storing vessel of choice. You can use a pipette to make this easy.
• Step 7 – Allow the salve to cool to room temperature and then cover tightly with the lid.
• Step 8 – Store your salve in a cool dark place until ready to use.

Note: complete step-by-step printable instructions arelocated in the recipe cardbelow.

Storage Instructions

Many factors can affect the shelf-life of natural salves, including how you infused the cannabis oil and the additional ingredients that you used.

While this may last a long time stored in a glass jar in a cool dark location, it’s best to use it up within a couple of weeks.

If you can’t use it that fast, you may consider refrigerating it to prevent mold.

Alternate Cannabis Infusion Options

As with all things cannabis, there are numerous ways to reach the final result.

For this salve, there are many different infusion options you can choose from to make a product with the best results for you and your needs.

Homemade Cannabis Oil

My salve recipe uses this floral cannabis-infused oil recipe as the base, which allows you to infuse in many other botanical ingredients that contribute to a great final product.

You can choose to use a THC flower, CBD flower, or CBG flower to get the benefit of each particular cannabinoid.

You can also use homemade CBD oil, CBG oil, or CBN oil, depending on the effect you are looking for.

You can easily swap the carrier oil in your homemade infusion. Popular carrier oils include:

• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• MCT oil
• Avocado oil
• Jojoba seed oil or organic jojoba oil
• Sweet almond oil
• Safflower oil
• Hemp seed oil
• Grape seed oil

Store-Bought Cannabis Oil

You can easily make this recipe with high-quality store-bought cannabis oil like the ones for sale in my shop.

They come in a wide variety of strengths, so it might take some experimentation to find which product works best for your needs.

With this method, you can make a salve with your desired cannabinoids like:

• THC oil
• CBD oil
• CBG oil
• CBN oil

Cannabis Concentrate

Having access to raw cannabis flowers is not always possible, which is why I included the option to infuse this salve with cannabis concentrates.

CBD concentrate is legal in most states and can be purchased online, and THC concentrate can be purchased at a dispensary in a legal state.

Concentrates can come in many different forms, including full-extract cannabis oil, also known as FECO.

In a small syringe, you will get anywhere between 500mg-1,000mg of activated CBD or THC in just a small 1mL volume.

This allows you to create a stronger salve without the excess volume of carrier oil.

If you choose to use a concentrate for your salve, I still recommend making the floral-infused oil, with or without cannabis, as this allows you to infuse in more botanical ingredients.

Benefits of Cannabis Salve

Cannabis topicals have many potential health benefits.

These salves are a great alternative to products containing harsh chemicals or prescription medications, which may have unwanted side effects.

Cannabis salves provide quick, localized relief for pain, soreness, or swelling.

The topical application of cannabis, for external use only, can help:

• Skin disorders like eczema or psoriasis
• Relieve chronic pain from inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis
• To soothe sore muscles, muscle aches, and joint pain
• Soothe menstrual cramps

What Conditions Can It Help?

Homemade cannabis salve may help to relieve some of your most unwanted symptoms, like pain, dry skin, itchiness, and more.

Arthritis

Arthritis is caused by inflammation in the joints and often causes pain, swelling, stiffness, and soreness.

Arthritis usually appears in people over the age of 65 and can limit your range of motion, making it difficult to do things you once loved.

Some studies showthat topical cannabis can help to relieve these symptoms¹.

Cannabis Salve for Skin Conditions

Millions of people in the US are affected by skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.

Though the causes of these conditions are still not well-understood, some medical professionals believe that they are an immune system reaction.

Cannabis is thought tohelp bolster our immune system, protecting us from disease while at the same time suppressing unnecessary immune reactions present in auto-immune disorders².

Minor Injuries

Scrapes, burns, abrasions, and insect bites are an annoying but inevitable part of life.

The itchiness, stinging, and soreness associated with these minor injuries aren’t life-threatening, but they can be distracting.

Cannabis is now being studied for itswound-healing properties, which means cannabis salve may help relieve your discomfort from minor injuries³.

Frequently Asked Questions

Making topicals can be brand new to even the most seasoned cannabis consumer, so here are some of the most common FAQs I get asked about the process from my Well With Cannabis Community.

More Topical Recipes

Learn how to make your own cannabis cream, cannabis lip balm, and more with these recipes: