I’ve been on a mission to find more herbs and other things I can use that grow naturally around my house. The newest is plantain leaves.
I have a friend who has a kiddo with eczema, and originally I was just reading about different natural things that might help with eczema. I happened to stumble upon a Reddit forum that talked about plantain leaf working for somebody. Then into etsy because you find great things on that site. Which looked to pair plantain leaf with other things like yarrow.
Now, I’m definitely a little bit of what most people would call a hippie. I also have an engineering mentality.
So naturally, I went way down the rabbit hole, reading things.
I can’t help but read, and read and read some more about the benefits of plantain leaf, yarrow, beeswax on the skin, lavender, frankincense, and whatever else comes up on the combination list.
I place 4 in my cart thinking I’ll little it down to 1 but the more I read the more curious I become.
Yup, you see where this is going. I order all 4 because I must smell, touch, and try.
I’ve got dry scaly feet that any disruption in moisture turns bad for my skin. So I open 2. I set aside the 1 that has etsy comments saying how great it’s been for their eczema for my friend.
My 2 becomes 3. I test my feet, no issues the next morning. I test a scratch, no burn when applying but not sure of anything past that.
Then I get swarmed by mosquitoes in my back yard weed eating and I’m itching like crazy. I grab a container and apply this magic to my bites.
A few minutes go by and no more itching. Put some on my 3 year old and he’s hooked.
“Need me stuff”, is the new line when we get bites!
The one I liked best was the simplest one:
Beeswax. Olive oil. Plantain. Yarrow.
Could it be the more potent one? Maybe. Could it be less ingredients is more? Maybe.
All I know is dry skin on my feet that typically gets rashy and angry when I put lotion, oil, or the multiple other things it doesn’t bother them.
On my husband’s face that gets a combo of dry and oily and rashy at times it works the best.
And now I’ve become a little obsessed with finding enough plantain and yarrow so I can make some at home and share it with my family.
So here I am, walking around my property looking for plantain and yarrow, drying herbs, and apparently starting down another rabbit hole.
Stay tuned for my tips on making the salve, because that’s the next step once all of these herbs have dried out.
I’m not affiliated just sharing the one I love:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1763435918/yarrow-plantain-salve
