Natural DIY Neosporin Salve Recipe
There are several OTC antiseptic ointments to choose from at the local market, which are normally applied directly to the wound. They are meant to prevent infection from developing. While these options often work and the products have some helpful ingredients, they also have some unnecessary ingredients, so they can be mass-produced.
Fortunately, there is an alternative for those of you who choose to live a more natural life, without the unnecessary added ingredients to everyday products. This isn’t about saving money, because to be honest, the ingredients are not necessarily inexpensive for the initial purchase. On the other hand, they will last a very long time and make several batches of antiseptic. Or, you can share by making this for family and friends who also want to benefit from a purer approach to healing.
Making the Ointment
The recipe we are sharing is packed with anti-germ properties, which will aid in keeping a minor wound from becoming infected. It will also help in reducing any possible scarring.
The ingredients are well-known for their healing tendencies, as well as their effectiveness at fighting off infections. So, combining them into a natural homemade ointment to have on hand just makes sense.
Here is the list of ingredients you will need:
- 5 oz beeswax (pellets melt quicker)
- 1 cup almond oil (could replace this with olive or coconut oil)
- 0.5 tsp tea tree oil
- 25 drops vitamin E oil
- 20 drops of lavender essential oil
- 10 drops of lemon essential oil
But, before we discuss the steps in making this ointment, it’s good to know why each of these ingredients is important:
- Lavender Essential Oil: Lavender not only soothes, but also works as a pain reliever, antibiotic, anti-viral, anti-fungal, and antibacterial.
- Tea Tree Oil: This oil is known for its anti-fungal, anti-viral, antibiotic, and anti-bacterial properties.
- Lemon Essential Oil: Lemon oil acts as an antibiotic, anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial.
- Vitamin E Oil: This oil aids in healing the skin and reducing any scarring that might occur from a minor injury.
- Almond Oil: Some people have found that almond oil has helped heal breakouts of various skin conditions.
Now that you know how each ingredient contributes to making this ointment work, here are the easy directions to putting them all together in creating a healthy and useful antiseptic ointment:
Step 1. In a small pot, melt the beeswax and almond oil on a very low heat setting.
Step 2. Once that has melted, take the pot off the heat source.
Step 3. Add the tea tree oil, vitamin E oil, lavender oil, and lemon oil, stirring with a wooden spoon.
Step 4. After the mixture is blended, pour it into a small and sterilized container, and let it cool.
Step 5. When it’s cooled down, store in a cool and dark place.
That is all there is to it – a very simple way to make an ointment for minor wounds. If you experience a minor cut, scratch, or abrasion, dab a little bit of this ointment on the wound a couple of times a day until it is healed.
This ointment has a shelf life of about five years.
On a side note, for those who do not like the smell of lemon or lavender, you can substitute either one, or both. Lavender can be replaced with chamomile essential oil, and lemon can be replaced with fir essential oil.
You may also like:
How To Make Tea Tree Oil To Treat Infections
The 10 Medicinal Seeds You Should Plant for a Complete Backyard Pharmacy (Video)
Nice! I’ll be making this one for sure!
I do not have beeswax, but I have Cocoa Butter wafers. May I use them instead and get the same result for the neosporin like ointment?
Thank you so much for the printable version!!!
Is the lettuce leaf recipe for topical use or to ingest? How should it be used?
Have you thought about adding honey which heals wounds?
Heating honey will kill its healing properties, for the most part. It’s raw honey that’s needed to heal wounds.
In addition, honey will crystalize in the salve over time, which gives a horribly gritty texture. I’ve learned this over many years of experimenting while making plant based medicines.
If you’re wanting to use honey for healing, simply keep a jar of pure, raw manuka honey on hand. You’ll get the best results while retaining the honey’s healing properties this way.
You’re free to add whatever you want to your medicines, but that doesn’t necessarily result in a quality product.
My son has a reaction to lavender oil. He breaks out in large whelps anywhere it touches his skin. Also, the scent of it gives him a headache. Is there a substitute I can use in this recipe in lieu of the lavender oil, that will maintain efficacy?
Chamomile was the alternative listed for lavender. I don’t know if there are other options, though
There are many alternatives to lavender. Most with better skin healing properties. Carrot seed (Daucas caeota), German Chamomile (matriearia chamomila), Calendula CO2 (Calandula officinalis) are all amazing skin healers, Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii), and Frankincense CO2 (Boswellia frereana or others) also are good skin healers and have antiseptic properties. I added the botanical names as there are many herbs that share a “common name but have different healing properties (There are about 30 different “types” of lavender out there and some can be very irritating to the skin and so have little to no antiseptic properties. They should really be using the botanical names in these recipes so people know what they should be and not be using!!! )
Wow William…you seem to be well versed on this. Thank you so much!
I have used calendula petals in salves for years . Love them At times I add Lavender or Rosemary.
Very helpful William. Thanks & Happy trails
Rosemary & yarrow work extremely well for healing wounds. Use either infused oil or essential oils. Whatever you have on hand.
You can also add plant infused oils like plantain, mullein etc. Just do a little bit of research.
Hi,
Wondering if you used bitter or sweet almond oil? Or can either work? Thanks.
Not Bitter Almond! It’s very caustic to skin and must be diluted much more.
Definitely NOT bitter almond. It’s an essential oil that has almost a cherry type smell to it. Absolutely not suitable for this application.
Where can I buy the vitamin E oil?
I buy mine at Amazon.com. I made this recipe 3 years ago and all the jars just sat around until a few months ago, and it seems to work exceptionally well. Everyone who has used it exclaims about how well it works on anything topical (but no open wounds). From bug bites to rashes its helped dozens of people. The difference in the OG recipe and mine, is a bit more beeswax in the coconut oil and I used lemon/eucalyptus essential oil in place of lemon. Thank you for these recipes as I’ve used them a great deal to help people.
My daughter gotten head lice 3 times within 2 month twice we used the store bought stuff and it did a number on her hair and the school nurse told me to use Tee tree oil for head lice 1/2 a bottle for long hair it smelled bad and super strong leave it on for about 25-30 minutes then rinse out with warm water and shampoo, now shampoo will not lather up that’s ok but it will kill all head lice and eggs Comb hair to get dead eggs out and the benefit of it it will leave your hair smooth and silky from that point we do this once a week and she never got head lice again and our hair is shiny and healthy!!!
Hi Melanie,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.
We really appreciate it.
God bless!
1/2 bottle of tea tree sounds like a lot to me and you did not mention what size of a bottle do I use
You didn’t indicate but I wanted to add that one should never use tea tree or any other oil for that matter, undiluted. Always use carrier oils!
I have some family members that are allergic to bees/ beeswax. What would be a good alternative?
Hi Lela,
You can use Soy Wax, Candelilla Wax or Olive Wax.
God bless!
Would this ointment be okay to use for ulcerative colitis? I have a family who been struggling this disease for sometime now….
Thanks,
Dawn
That’s an excellent idea Dawn! When my son has a flare of UC he applies essential oil infused with jojoba oil with a roller ball application but this salve would be easier. We use peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus and lemongrass (although if he’s really hurting I will put a few drops of lavender directly into his navel for more immediate relief)
Hi Nicole, thank you the willingness to share your knowledge with others. I enjoy reading you emails. I love the Immunity Boosting shot, which I’ve been making that for my family using your recipe. It really works.
Hi Hovis,
Thank you for your feedback.
We are glad you enjoy reading our emails.
God bless!
I will be trying this for sure thank you for sharing
Thank you! Can’t wait to try this!
What is a natural pain killer looking into seeing what is out there I’m putting opiates into my body would like to try and eliminate them that’s why I asked what are natural pain killers thank you
If haven’t tried this myself but I did find on page 146 in ‘The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies’ Wild Lettuce which is also called opium lettuce but only it is not opium but it does provide pain relief. Also, Google foods that naturally reduce inflamation in the body. Inflamation causes pain so eat foods to reduce it. I don’t know what your health issue is, but Gut health affects EVERYTHING in the body because the stomach is where foods are digested and vitamins and minerals are released and absorbed into the body but if we do not have a good balance of good bacteria in our gut then we are not able to absorb the nutrition we need to heel and maintain health. See the comment i made to someone else today regarding gut health for more information. Best wishes and blessings.
Thank you for the correction..sounds great!
Is there a brand of essential oil you use or do you make your own?
You would need a still to make your own essential oil, which isn’t practical at all for most people. First you’d have to either buy or make a still. Then you’d have to know how to use it. Not to mention have proper glass packaging on hand to store it in.
I personally strongly disagree with this advice.
Hi ,I have Vitiligo and I try this salve on my hand, it has been itching for days and I scratched it. The funny thing is that it tingles, and went num for awhile any thoughts
I have made this recipe for DIY neosporin and it works great. However with the amount of beeswax in recipe it is very firm and difficult to use. Is there any way to amend the made product to make it more pliable? Or do I have to remake it with less beeswax?
Hi Deborah,
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. We will definitely forward this to the author.
As a general rule, making salves is all about simple proportions–the ratio of oil to wax.
– 4 parts oil to 1 part wax yields a firm salve.
– 6 parts oil to 1 part wax makes a soft salve
If you want to repair a too-hard salve, just reheat it and add more oil as needed.
Many blessings and good health!
Very helpful. Thanks
LOL to self. Your salve was my first adventure into salve making. I ordered the supplies that I did not already have and proceeded with the recipe. 25 teaspoons of Vitamin E is over 4 ozs.(75,000 units) and 5 teaspoons Tea Tree Oil is almost 1 ozs. I am glad I checked back on the article to get other comments because I discovered the new measurements. I must say the concoction that I made was AMAZING! Novice Jane
Hi Mary,
Thank you for your comment.
We are glad to hear that you made this salve.
We hope you will have more adventures in making natural remedies with us.
God bless!
I see there are many different options when purchasing Vitamin E oil…as far as the number of IUs. Any recommendations or does it not matter?
Hi Tracey,
Vitamin E 1 IU is the biological equivalent of about 0.667mg.
In creams and salve, any concentration is ok. The stronger, the better.
Vitamin E can be used at around 0.3% – 0.5% to extend the life of your product, as a VERY general rule.
God bless!
I am concerned about this recipe and claiming that it has antiseptic properties. 0.5 tsp (about 50 drops) tea tree oil, 20 drops of lavender essential oil, 10 drops of lemon essential oil This is about 80 drops total. A 2% concentration in the 21oz product you are making would need about 252 drops of essential oils. So, let’s look at each essential oil. Lemon oil has the properties you list but at 40% and above dilution. Below that 40 % mark it really only smells good, What is in this recipe is WAY below 1%! So let’s make this quick, Tea tree needs to be at 25%+, the Lavender needs to be at 60%+ and the Lemon needs to be at 40%+. So with the amounts of essential oils, you have in this total, they will do nothing much than smell good. Also, there are much better and stronger essential oils that can be used at 2% concentrations that would have worked, Thyme, Oregano, Palmarosa, and more that would at low safe dilutions.
I love reading what u write. Do u have a book?
No, I have the training and 30+ years in practice. Anyone with the minimum of 300 hrs of training in aromatic therapies (Aromatic Therapy is the term used to differentiate the “medicinal” use of aromatics from the “smell good” aromatherapy) would know that this formula is off.
I wish there was a response to this as it would really help me. I’ve just purchased the ingredients as my husband working in nature a lot keeps coming home with constant cuts. Thought this could be a solution but now I’m not sure if I’m going to be making something that really works. Or if I should increase the ingredients or perhs add it stronger essential oil. Answer here would really help
Do you think that adding a natural pain reliver like toothache plant would help?
I am new to making my own ointments and salves, but am excited about learning and getting started. We have ten acres, some cleared some wooded that needs clearing, and, we are building our own house, so we are always cutting ourselves on something! This DIY would be a perfect start for me! Where can I buy the beeswax? And good quality essential oils?
Is there a way to print this recipe without the pictures and without having to cut and paste?
Do you have a version of this recipe using the actual herbs and not the essential oils? The essential oils are easy but expensive and quite often with questionable quality. Thank you in advance!
This is an amazingly easy mixture and I will be making some and sharing with my family!
Is there a certain brand of Essential Oils recommended if I choose to buy instead?
My wife suffers terribly with IBS has done so for a long time medics cannot come a definitive cause terrible pain across tummy area she also such pain that travels up side/back so severe that she cannot touch herself let alone anyone else can you please help?
Regards Peter Lhotka
I think the best treatment would be an Organic whole foods plant based diet. A diaily vitamin called My Kind organics would be good too because it will provide the Vitamin B she will need while on the plant based diet and it also has other vitamins that most of us are lacking regarless of what you eat. If she is not used to eating much fiber from plant foods then she will need to GRADUALLY increase her fiber intake to allow the good bacteria in her gut to multiply. The good bacteria eat plant fiber and it gives them what they need to grow, digest fiber and multiply. But if she hasn’t been eating plant fiber then she doesn’t have the good bacteria in her gut to eat the fiber to help her digest her food so eating too much fiber without the good supply built up to digest it for her will make her feel worse so start slowly to allow that good army of good bacteria to accumulate. When we eat unhealthy processsed foods and meat and dairy, the good bugs have a hard time surviving because that is Not what they eat and the processd foods can be toxic enough to kill them. When we don’t have good balance of good bacteria in our gut we are left with the bad bacteria that likes and eats the unhealthy foods. We should have more good bacteria in our gut to have good health and to feel healthy. It’s all about the good bugs. Check out nutritionfacts.org for more information and free videos on the subject and check out Dr. Michael Gregor’s book How Not To Die. Best wishes and blessings.
Have you tried Acupuncture for the IBS? I had it several years ago and after a few months of Acupuncture it was gone. Has never returned!
I see this has been a year now, but I will repy anyways. Cut out all MSG’s. Monosodium Glutamate, and anything autolyzed or hydrolyzed. There are other names also, which you can look up. Those three are my pain makers. It will probably take at least 2 weeks or more before you start noticing a difference. You wife has a more severe case then mine as I could still touch myself. But it sure was painful. I found same type of foods without the msgs. You really have to research. For one example: Campbell soup has msgs; but the Campbell Soup Healthy Request versions do not. You must read all ingredient labels. Even on foods you would not think to look. Read labels on EVERYTHING you eat. Good Luck! Hope you wife is doing better by now!
Instead of using pellets which you buy from some stores ( I found that they were mostly synthetic) I went to a beekeeper and was actually able to buy beewax. It took me less then 15 minutes to make this and it’s fantastic! Not to mention the fact of natural beeswax properties! Thanks for sharing this…grandkids thank you too!
What an excellent idea Sandra! Thanks.
Can I ask how long this recipe stays good what is the shelflife of it. I will be making it.
Same here, I have done it with coconut oil. It’s like a beeswax candle. Any suggestions?
What is the shelf life of this recipe?
I get notifications on this, really glad now! I will amen my written recipe on this in my box. Thank you for the info!
I am not sure of the recipe but what I am sure of is cooking this in a pan with a non-stick coating (that’s what it looks like you are using) is NOT ok. I would only do this in stainless steel or other non-reactive pot. Not to mention these coatings are so unhealthy and leech chemicals into what you are making.
Is there a way I can order all physical books for delivery?
Hi, do you mean lemon peel essential oil?
I have an eczema like allergic reaction to tea tree oil. Is there a subscription for tea tree oil?
Do I have to keep it in the fridge and how long does it last?
Love your stuff. Just saw you on Episode 9 of the End Game docuseries. You are an inspiration!! When you say Tea Tree oil do you mean Tea Tree essential oil? I have Tea Tree essential oil
For the beeswax pellets, is that 5 oz. in a measuring cup, or 5 oz. weighed on a scale? There’s a big difference in quantity depending on which method is used.
My vains on my lower limbs is discolored and infected and painful can I used theses remindes to take out the dark spots it’s like the blood dries up and the area gets dark
I have bought the lost book of herbs how do I print it
I to would like to know how do I print it Thank you