Making an ointment at home is straightforward: you melt a wax (usually beeswax) into a carrier oil, stir as it cools, and pour it into a clean container. The whole process takes about 30 minutes once you have your ingredients ready. Unlike creams and lotions, ointments are roughly 80% oil with little to no water, which makes them simpler to formulate and longer lasting on the shelf.
What Makes an Ointment Different
Ointments, creams, and lotions sit on a spectrum defined by their oil-to-water ratio. Creams contain roughly equal parts oil and water. Ointments contain about 80% oil and only 20% water (or none at all). This high oil content is what gives ointments their thick, protective texture and makes them ideal for dry, cracked, or irritated skin. It also means you don’t need an emulsifier or a preservative to prevent bacterial growth, since bacteria need water to thrive.
Choosing Your Carrier Oil
The carrier oil forms the bulk of your ointment, so pick one that suits your skin and your purpose. Here are three common options:
- Sweet almond oil: Absorbs at a moderate rate, leaving a slight satiny finish. Good all-purpose choice for body ointments.
- Fractionated coconut oil: Absorbs quickly, feels light on the skin, and leaves a silky finish. Works well for ointments you want to feel less greasy. (Note: unrefined coconut oil is much more likely to clog pores than the fractionated version.)
- Olive oil: Absorbs at a moderate rate, similar to almond oil. Easy to find, inexpensive, and has a long history in skin care. It does have a noticeable scent that some people dislike in a finished product.
You can also blend oils. A mix of olive oil and coconut oil, for example, balances absorption speed with affordability.
Getting the Beeswax-to-Oil Ratio Right
The ratio of beeswax to liquid oil controls how firm or soft your ointment turns out. All ratios below are by weight, not volume.
- Soft salve (1:5 to 1:7): About 13 to 17% beeswax. Yields a spreadable ointment that gives easily under finger pressure and melts quickly on skin. A 1:5 ratio is a good starting point for a general-purpose healing ointment.
- Medium salve (1:4): About 20% beeswax. Firm enough to hold its shape but melts on contact with skin. Good for a harder salve or a balm you want to scoop out of a tin.
- Firm balm (1:3): About 25% beeswax. Requires real pressure to dent with a finger. This is body butter bar or hard lip balm territory.
If you go softer than 1:7 (below about 12% beeswax), the mixture becomes almost liquid at room temperature and the beeswax can separate from the oil as it cools. For a first attempt, a 1:5 ratio is forgiving and produces a texture most people expect from an ointment.
Infusing Herbs Into Your Oil
If you want a therapeutic ointment (calendula for skin repair, plantain for bug bites, lavender for minor burns), you’ll infuse dried herbs into your carrier oil before adding beeswax. There are two main approaches.
Cold Infusion
Fill a clean glass jar about halfway with dried herbs, then pour oil over them until the herbs are fully submerged with at least an inch of oil above. Seal the jar and let it sit at room temperature for 1 to 10 days. The longer you infuse, the stronger the result. Shake the jar once a day. Strain through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth when finished.
Warm Infusion
For faster results, combine herbs and oil in a heat-safe jar or double boiler and warm to about 140°F (60°C) for roughly 5 minutes. This extracts plant compounds much more quickly than a cold infusion. Don’t let the oil get hot enough to bubble or smoke, as that degrades the beneficial compounds you’re trying to extract. Strain the herbs out before proceeding.
Whichever method you choose, make sure your herbs are completely dry. Any moisture trapped in the plant material introduces water into your ointment, which shortens shelf life and invites mold.
Equipment You’ll Need
You don’t need specialized gear, but a few things make the process much smoother:
- A digital kitchen scale: Measuring by weight is more accurate than volume for wax and oil. A scale that reads in tenths of a gram is ideal, but a standard kitchen scale works for batches of a few ounces or more.
- A double boiler (or DIY version): A heat-safe glass measuring cup set inside a small pot of simmering water works perfectly. This prevents direct heat from scorching your oil or overheating the wax.
- A fine mesh strainer: A 4-inch strainer is enough for small batches. Line it with cheesecloth if you’re straining herbs.
- Glass jars or tins: Small 2-ounce or 4-ounce glass jars with lids. Avoid plastic, which can absorb oils and is harder to sanitize thoroughly.
Sanitizing Your Containers
Clean containers prevent contamination that can spoil your ointment or irritate your skin. Wash jars and lids with warm soapy water, rinse twice, then wipe down the inside with 70% isopropyl alcohol. Set them upside down on a clean paper towel and let the alcohol fully evaporate before filling. The 70% concentration matters: pure alcohol evaporates too quickly to kill bacteria effectively, while anything below 60% loses its disinfecting power.
Step-by-Step Instructions
This recipe makes roughly 4 ounces of soft ointment, enough to fill two small jars.
Weigh out about 3.3 ounces (95 grams) of your carrier oil (plain or herb-infused) and 0.7 ounces (19 grams) of beeswax. This gives you roughly a 1:5 ratio. Place both in your double boiler setup and heat gently over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally. Beeswax melts at around 145°F (63°C), so keep the water at a gentle simmer rather than a rolling boil.
Once the beeswax is fully melted and blended into the oil, remove the mixture from heat. If you’re adding essential oils, let it cool for a minute or two first, since high heat can break down their active compounds. Stir in your essential oils (more on amounts below), then pour the liquid ointment into your sanitized containers. Leave the lids off until the ointment has cooled and solidified completely, usually 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature.
Adding Essential Oils Safely
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts, and a little goes a long way. The safe amount depends on who will use the ointment:
- Sensitive skin or children over 2: 0.5% dilution. For a 4-ounce batch, that’s about 12 drops total.
- Everyday adult use: 1 to 2% dilution. For a 4-ounce batch, that’s 24 to 48 drops.
- Targeted ache and pain relief: 3 to 4% dilution. For a 4-ounce batch, that’s 72 to 96 drops.
For children under 2, it’s best to skip essential oils entirely and rely on the herb-infused oil alone for any therapeutic benefit. Some essential oils (cinnamon, oregano, clove) are potent skin irritants at any dilution and are best avoided in ointments meant for regular skin application.
Preventing Grainy Texture
If your finished ointment feels gritty instead of smooth, the culprit is usually the fats crystallizing unevenly as they cool. This happens most often with shea butter, cocoa butter, or when beeswax cools too slowly in a warm room. Two techniques borrowed from chocolate making solve this problem. First, try rapid cooling: once you’ve poured the ointment into jars, place them in the refrigerator or freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. This locks the fats into a stable, smooth form before large crystals can develop. Second, you can temper the mixture by stirring it continuously as it cools at room temperature, which disrupts crystal formation and produces a consistently creamy texture.
If a batch does turn out grainy, you can rescue it. Gently re-melt the ointment in your double boiler, then cool it rapidly using one of the methods above.
Storage and Shelf Life
Because ointments contain little to no water, they’re naturally resistant to bacterial growth. A well-made anhydrous (water-free) ointment stored in a clean, sealed jar will typically last 6 to 12 months at room temperature. Adding a small amount of vitamin E oil (about half a teaspoon per 4-ounce batch) acts as an antioxidant, slowing the process by which your carrier oils go rancid. Vitamin E is not a preservative in the antimicrobial sense, but since your ointment has no water, rancidity is the main enemy rather than bacteria.
Store your ointment away from direct sunlight and heat. If you notice the smell changing to something sharp or unpleasant, the oils have gone rancid and it’s time to make a fresh batch. Always use clean, dry fingers or a small spatula to scoop product out of the jar, since introducing water or food residue can shorten its life considerably.