{This post is sponsored by Flower Child CBD}
Learn how to make a homemade cannabis CBD salve using CBD infused oil. This topical cannabis salve is highly beneficial and has many uses, including reducing pain, inflammation, and skin issues.
What is CBD?
Here is a video that explains more about CBD:
Since cannabis became legal in Oregon last year, we were able to grow a few plants this past summer without any worry. We bought clones from the local cannabis pharmacy that were high in CBD, one of the major medicinal compounds in marijuana.
CBD is different from THC (another highly medicinal compound), in that it doesn’t get you “high,” so is therefore preferred by some people. After harvesting our plants, I made a CBD rich infused oil, which I have now turned into a cannabis CBD salve.
Be sure to read my post on How to Make Cannabis CBD Infused Oil for more info on the legality of CBD in the United States.
This guide from NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) will tell you what the marijuana laws are in your state.
If you are interested in growing your own I recommend buying seeds from Seedsman. They have a large selection of high CBD varieties and ship to nearly everywhere.
Homemade CBD Salve Recipe
Disclaimer: I only endorse you making infused CBD oil and salve at home if recreational or medical marijuana is legal in your state, and you have any required cards and/or licenses to do so!
Before you start this recipe you will first need to make CBD infused oil.
This is basically a version of my herbal salve recipe, but using CBD infused oil as the herbal oil. When you make your infused CBD oil, use any carrier oils that you like. I generally like to do a blend of coconut, sweet almond, and olive oils.
How to Make CBD Salve
This recipe will make approximately ten ounces of salve in total. I used five 2 oz tins to store the salves in.
Make a double boiler by putting a smaller pot or bowl over a larger pot that has a couple inches of water in it. You can also use a glass pyrex measuring cup instead of the smaller pot.
Put the CBD infused oil into the smaller pot or pyrex and bring the water to a gentle simmer.
Add the beeswax to the oil and stir often. A wooden skewer works well as a stir stick.
When the beeswax is almost completely dissolved, add the shea butter. Stir until it is completely dissolved. Carefully pour the hot salve into your desired containers or tins.
Let them sit undisturbed until they completely solidify, it usually takes an hour or two.
This salve smells amazing, like fresh cannabis. I guess maybe some people don’t appreciate that scent, but to me it is a beautiful plant with a lovely, herbaceous smell.
The main uses for this topical CBD salve are for reducing pain, inflammation, and for various skin issues. Here is a list of benefits and conditions that CBD may be therapeutic for.
If you’d prefer, I also have a homemade cannabis CBD tincture recipe here.
Where to Buy CBD Salve
If you aren’t able to make your own salve, I have found an amazing place to buy super high quality organic CBD products! I searched high and low for a cannabis company I could recommend, and Flower Child CBD is it. They are a Colorado company, where recreational marijuana is legal, but they use pure CBD extract from organic hemp, so they are able to ship their products nationwide!
FlowerChild CBD created a 10% off coupon code to share with my readers. Use this code when you check out to get the discount: growforage10
I also have a list of my favorite CBD brands here.
Plant medicine can be a powerful thing, and I think it’s so great that cannabis is finally starting to be recognized as a valuable medicinal in this country.
I sure hope that we continue on this trend of making this plant fully legal and available to everyone who needs it! It really is natural medicine at its finest.
Have you ever made a cannabis salve? What method did you use?
Homemade Cannabis CBD Salve
Ingredients
- 1 cup cannabis CBD infused oil follow this recipe first
- 1 ounce beeswax
- 1 ounce refined shea butter
Instructions
- Make a double boiler by putting a smaller pot over a larger pot that has a couple inches of water in it. You can also use a glass pyrex measuring cup instead of the smaller pot.
- Put the CBD infused oil into the smaller pot or pyrex and bring the water to a gentle simmer.
- Add the beeswax to the oil and stir often. A wooden skewer works well as a stir stick.
- When the beeswax is almost completely dissolved, add the shea butter. Stir until it is completely dissolved.
- Carefully pour the hot salve into your desired containers or tins.
- Let them sit undisturbed until they completely solidify, it usually takes an hour or two.
Notes
- Unrefined Shea Butter also works, but has a distinct scent.
- CBD Salve has a shelf life of 1 year.
Great recipe and instructions thank you! Question though, don’t you need to decarboxylate the CBD flower first? I didn’t see that mentioned and am curious and a bit confused now.
Yes! Finally something about free.
I love making this recipe I started from scratch like you said. Although it’s my first batch I enjoy it so much 🥰🥰 Homemade from the heart ❤️ with love ❤️
Thank you for sharing so much information! I am on my first pound of medicinal hemp so I am trying a variety of uses. I am going to make a batch of the salve today and wondered how you were able to determine your CBD mg per tin. I know how the % of CBD in the hemp I infused in olive oil.
Hi there, I can’t wait to make this salve. I have one question though. Am i able to speed up the infused oil by doing this process in my magic butter machine please. Or if anyone else has done this before.
Does oil made from my thc plants still have same effect for muscle pain…as a topical? I am growing cbd plants but have last fall’s high thc harvest already in jars and some oil made from it already. I do know that there is no resulting high from the thc on the skin…just wondering about pain relief as a topical.
Not sure if you have gotten any replies. From my experience having THC in with the CBD makes for even better pain relief! I use it when pain meds I use are not enough. Usually after working too hard in the garden. Many people say you won’t test positive in urine tests. If that is a worry, please use caution when using topical salve with THC. Purchased in a commercial setting you might not have as high of THC % but home made salve most likely will have much higher THC % and could come through in a pee test.
Is there any way to print JUST the recipe for the CBD Salve? My friend doesn’t have a computer and I’m trying to help her out here.
Thanks
Debbie
Yes, if you click the “print recipe” button in the recipe card you should be able to print the CBD salve recipe.
Hi I followed your recipe and I’m trying to figure how much milligrams of CBD is this. I made my own cbd infused oil and added the Shea butter and beeswax.
I recently boiled down about 2 lbs of leaves in 4 cups of water and then strained the leaves and let boil down again to half the quantity of liquid. Has anyone ever done this and used liquid in a cream or salve for pain /inflammation.
Cannabis is not water soluble. It won’t make the water, it has to infuse into a fat like olive oil.
It will also infuse into alcohol for a tincture. Pot has to be decarbed in an oven at 240 for about 30 minutes before Cbd or the is activated for use in an oil.
Weight. For ingredients that are solids
FLUID oz are for ingredients that are LIQUID or “fluid”
I forgot to ask in my last post, will I get high using the cbd oil topically in a salve, or would I only get high if I ingest the cbd oil?
CBD will not make anyone HIGH. No matter if it’s topical or ingested.
THC is what makes people HIGH
You would not get high using salve. No matter how good it is.
I have a stupid question. Hopefully I guessed right before making it. Are the quantities of beeswax and shea butter in fluid ounces (i.e. 1oz = 2 tablespoons) or weight (i.e. 1oz = 1/16 of a pound ~28g)? Thanks for the recipe.
I have made the CBD salve with the cbd olive oil as directed. Can you tell me the shelf life of the salve?
Made my first salve using your directions, I am so pleased with myself, this year I grew high cbd plants I hopes of helping family and friends. It was simple to follow, and results are great, thank you so much. My next adventure making tinctures
I made what I thought was a wonderful batch of what I call Herbal Healing Pain Salve. I make it basically like your recipe, only in larger quantities and as a mixed herbal compound with the base infuse of comfrey leaf, flower and root, common garden plantain, some calendula & red clover blossoms, goldenseal root and leaf into organic olive oil. I make a separate infusion of the cannabis, a separate infusion of arnica and for my formula, I make the predominant herbal infusion the cannabis, the secondary arnica and the rest is my herbal compound. I also use the shea butter, but also used coconut oil and Montana organic beeswax. (everything is organic) Here is the problem I have, the salve itself has a wonderfully silky consistency (and is a lovely pain relieving salve) the problem seems to be that after about a week or two in the jars, it gets this gritty consistency which I do not like at all! What have I done wrong to get this issue? Do you know or have any clues? Thanks for your response1
Hi Evelyn, it is most likely the shea butter that is crystallizing which can happen when dissolved at high heat. It is important to wait to add the shea butter until the very end after all of the beeswax has melted, then remove it from the heat immediately and pour into jars. It could also be the coconut oil solidifying into tiny pieces in cold weather.
It’s the Shea butter. It does this, I have found when making other lotions. Usually I have to add an emulsifier, like stearic acid.
This is not true. The skin is that the largest organ within the bod. The bioavailability of the cannabis depends on the carrier. bound excipients can work higher than others to permit the medication to enter the blood through dermal layers. There’s multiple ways in which for the bod to soak up THC/CBD. it’s to be decarboxylated after all, otherwise is would be absolutely eatable by intake recent as THC-A.
I was wondering if you could tell me how much lavender oil to use in this recipe for a added scent. Thank you.
I usually use about 5 drops per one or two oz. However I make large amounts and fill bottles so I usually use about 20 drops. I actually use all the oils that are for what I’m treating. I use things for pain, arthritis, neuropathy, and spasms. Have fun. The more weed you use the more effect you will receive.
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has ever added an essential oil (high quality) to add additional scent or to help the rub be most effective (like a peppermint oil)
How much herb would be needed for this??
I would like a creme as opposed to a salve. Whipping it after letting it cool slightly in fridge, helped. But is there a recipe for cannacreme using shea or cocoa butter? Someway to make it easier to apply for our old crippled hands.
I make a canna cream for my mom. I use three parts coconut oil with one part raw Shea butter and a few drops of Argon oil. I also add a good amount of 90,000hu ground Cayanne pepper that you can find at any natural grocers along with a few drops peppermint oil and ground Ginger, along with as much cannabis as I can fit. The Cayanne pepper is an excellent anti-inflammatory and is extremely well for blood circulation. As is the ginger and are both natural pain reliever’s. I use the double boiler method for about 2 hours and then squeeze through a coffee filter into a small glass jar. I then put it in the refrigerator overnight to make sure it completely solidifies. After that you can leave it in your cupboard as long as it’s not too hot where you live and it will stay soft. It works amazingly and is super easy to Rub in. And the Cayanne pepper does not leave a burning sensation so it’s very gentle. We absolutely love it I cannot say enough about it. It’s great for everything from joint pain, nerve pain, sore muscles, arthritis, etc. Just be sure that you don’t rub it in your eyes. Hope this helps!
What can I substitute for the cannabis
This creme sounds amazing. Thank you
Hi! I’ve been making my own soap, lip balms and lotion bars for awhile now and recently wanted to get into Items made with CBD oil for medicinal reasons. I bought 100 mg bottle of CBD oil from a local shop. I wanted to make lotion bars, similar to your recipe. I used 1 part bees wax and 1 part Shea butter with the small bottle of CBD oil.
After 12 hours I checked on it and it seems the oil didn’t mix with the wax and didn’t solidify with it. The last mold I filled was almost all the oil and still wet and didn’t mold at all. Do you have any suggestions, or see anything I would have done wrong? I thought I mixed everything well together also. Thank you!
Hi Kristine, I have never worked with commercial CBD oil, so unfortunately I’m not sure what happened. What are the ingredients of the CBD oil? If it is pure oil extract, that is a whole lot different than an infused vegetable oil, which is what I use here. Beeswax and shea butter will readily melt into vegetable oils over heat. There may have been water in it, or alcohol, or something that would inhibit thorough mixing. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you!
I have access to 1 gm of pure weed wax, how much of that do I use for this recipe?
I don’t know, I don’t have any experience with using weed wax.
Hi-I’d like to try making this but I have a question. I live in Colorado-another legal state but I have no interest in growing it. What would be the best strain to buy from a dispensary? Thanks!
Anything high in CBD would work well, there are several strains. I would just ask what they have!
Where are you purchasing your wax? Can I just go to an organic store such as Lifesource to get that?
I get my wax from Mountain Rose Herbs: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/ingredients/waxes I don’t know about the store Lifesource, as that’s not in my area, but many natural food stores will usually carry it.
Could you use the cbd oil in this?
This salve is made using a CBD infused oil, you can see my recipe for that here: https://www.growforagecookferment.com/cannabis-cbd-infused-oil/
If you are talking about using commercially bought CBD extract, you may be able to add some of that when making the salve, but I have never tried it, so I can’t really give you any advice on how to do it.
Cannabis is legal here in WA but my hubby works for a company based out-of-state and anything in his system could lose him his job. Would enough get into his system through his skin to be detected in a drug test? Do you know?
It all depends on the strain that you use and how much THC is present. The harlequin strain that I used does have a small amount of THC, and I’m not sure if it would show up on a drug test or not when used topically. You could try the Charlotte’s Web strain, which is extremely low in THC. Unfortunately I can’t give you a definitive answer, though.
Here’s what I’ve made a couple times in Oregon. It’s easy and effective. Slowly melt at least 8 ounces of edible cocoa butter (edible because it’s the highest quality) over very low heat in a very small saucepan. I use a portable butane burner because I can set the flame extremely low. Add as much crumbled dried cannabis as possible, while keeping the cannabis under the level of the melted cocoa butter. Keep the temperature at 250 F for sixty minutes. Turn off the heat if needed to keep the temperature from rising, then reapply heat. Make sure to take temperature readings with a good thermometer very frequently, and stir it a few times. When I make this balm, I cram so much cannabis in the pan that the thermometer almost stands upright in the pan. Strain and pour into molds or containers.