I’m sorry it’s not working out for you Naomi! Do you follow the directions exactly or did you use substitutions, more or less of something, or miss one of the instructions? Do you use a scale to measure the beeswax? It might be that it’s not emulsifying properly. I have to add a very thin stream of water as the blender is running, starting with a tiny trickle. Otherwise it breaks the emulsion and it won’t thicken.

If you’re following the instructions exactly and it’s still not turning out you can decrease the water. Maybe try 1/3 cup instead of a 1/2? You could also add more beeswax in to thicken. Let me know how it turns out!

If you’re using an oil that’s already infused with calendula I would just use it to replace some of the carrier oil. So you could cut the carrier oil down to 6 Tablespoons and infuse the dandelion, then add 1/4 cup of calendula oil in after you’ve strained the other herbs out. If the comfrey extract has an alcohol base it might mess with the recipe a little too much and I’d probably just omit it. Alcohol can be very drying to skin so it might be counterproductive.

Yes, as long as there’s at least 1/2 cup of oil it should work. Dried herbs absorb the oil when infusing, which is why I added the extra 2 Tbsp 🙂 I would just stop drizzling in the water once the mixture gets thick to prevent the emulsion from breaking.

You may have to play around with the beeswax used to get the consistency you’re looking for, but you can absolutely just make a salve. Hydrosol’s (when a proper preservative is added) generally last about a year, so you could replace the distilled water with a hydrosol as well. Keep in mind though that if you just use oils this will be a lot heavier on the skin and may feel greasy. You could also try replacing the water with a thinner carrier oil, like grapeseed, but just add it with the sweet almond oil.

I agree, you do have to assess the risk for both sides. Like you I’ve also done extensive research on preservatives, natural ones like red radish root filtrate and citrozine, parabens and phenoxyethanol, etc. For me I prefer not to use preservatives like parabens where there is strong evidence that they’re hormone disruptors, and can cause infertility and breast cancer. http://www.scratchmommy.com/whats-wrong-with-parabens-anyway/

All essential oils have some antimicrobial effects, while some are anti-bacterial, or anti-viral, so they can in certain situations prevent microbial growth in products. Here’s just one example of the antibacterial effects of , but this site has lots of other scientific studies you can look through on essential oils having anti-microbial effects. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27617990 If you’d like a good book that goes into some more depth, then Shirley Price’s book Aromatherapy for Health Professionals is very helpful.

Also you can use the flower hydrosol option which has a shelf life of 12-18 months, and since the carrier oils have a shelf life of 1-2 years, then using the product within 2-3 months shouldn’t cause any issues. If the lotion does however smell off in any way, then it shouldn’t be used. I’m not sure how you would get pneumonia from a lotion though, since it’s caused by inhaled or in rare cases ingested microbes? Thank you for your thoughtful comment 🙂