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Neem oil soap and salve

After my success using neem oil to control insects around the farm and to cure my toenail fungus (how I use neem oil), I did a lot of reading about neem oil and I was keen to try to harness its properties as an anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory to help heal skin.  Neem oil itself is a bit of a pain to use, as it goes solid in cold temperatures, liquid when it warms up and it never seems to stay in the bottle.  I have tried to take neem oil insect repellent on holiday and ended up with it spilled through my bag.  Luckily it does seem to wash out, but I thought it would be easier to use in a more solid form.

eight acres: neem oil soap and neem cream


I came up with a couple of solutions.  First I made a soap with 25% neem oil.  It smells like neem oil, but I am getting used to the smell.  Its kind of nutty and pungent.  I gave some of this soap to a friend of North African origins and she thought it smelt nice, so maybe it depends which spices you've grown up with!  This soap is great as a pet wash (Taz "loves" taking a bath with neem soap) as it repels insects including fleas.  I also gave it to a friend who had dry broken skin on her hands that just would not heal.  She has noticed an improvement since using the neem soap and neem salve (below).  I know this is not a comprehensive test, but if you are having trouble with dry skin, neem oil may be worth a try.  The soap could also be good for kids with nits (I haven't tried that though!).


eight acres: neem oil soap and neem cream
Taz enjoying some neem oil soap

I wanted my dad to try neem oil on his toe nail fungus seeing as the "expensive cream from the doctor" wasn't working.  I thought it would be easier to use if I thickened it with beeswax.  I made a salve with 50:50 olive oil and neem oil, and 10% by weight beeswax.  This stays in the jar and is more manageable to apply to toenails.  It can also be used on dry skin, insect bites, etc to relieve inflammation and kill microbes.

Neem oil is also a great insect repellent and I had been using a commercial neem oil mixture because I didn't want to use DEET, but as it tended to spill I decided to make my own version with beeswax.  I use a mixture of citronella, lemon grass, lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus, and 10% neem oil, in olive oil thickened with beeswax.  This mixture is effective (when I remember to use it!)  and does not spill.


eight acres: neem oil soap and salve


You can get my neem oil soap, neem salve and insect repellent from my Etsy shop here.

**Note that neem oil is not suitable for pregnancy as it has contraceptive properties**

Do you use neem oil?  Have you found it heals your skin?

You can get all my tallow soap recipes in my eBook Make Your Own Natural Soap, more information here.

 Would you like to try making your own soap from natural ingredients, but don’t know where to start? 
This eBook will take you through everything you need to know to make simple soaps from natural ingredients, including herbs, clays, charcoal, oatmeal and coffee grounds.

It also explains how to use tallow in soap. Tallow is cheap and locally available, and it makes long-lasting moisturising soaps, it is an under-utilised ingredient in home soapmaking in my opinion. This eBook includes 10 recipes specifically designed for tallow soap.

Basic Tallow Soap
Pink Clay Soap
Green Herb Soap
True Grit Soap
Black Magic Soap
Salt Spa Soap
Honey and Oatmeal Soap
Neem Oil Soap
Sustainable Shaving soap
Cleaning Soap
Formulate your own




My other soap posts:

Natural soap using beef tallow



Comments

  1. Neem oil really seems to have amazing qualities. I love the look of your soap and salve. When in Nepal, I always stock up on bars of "Ashmi Chuiree Neem" Ayurveda Soap. It's lovely to use, for when I run out of our home made soap, and is gentle for our skin. Too precious to use on the dogs though. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bought some of that Ayurveda soap from our supermarket to compare (random thing to have at the supermarket!). It was quite nice and just as stinky as my neem soap!

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  2. Hi Liz. Just wondering where you get you need oil from. Annie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, I get it from Enviro Neem. There are a few options in Australia, google and compare prices :)

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  3. Hi Liz,

    I was just wondering how you salve might go for cold sores?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lee, I haven't tried it myself, but just googled it and other people do report that it works. The neem salve would be great for lips. Cheers, Liz

      Delete
    2. Just a note on cold sores, I find dabbing with tea tree essential oil (on a cotton bud), to be really good at getting rid of or even shortening the cold sores lovely little visit.
      -Kelly

      Delete

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