How to Make Purple Dead Nettle Salve (3 recipes!) (2024)

How to Make the Infused Oil

By steeping an herb in oil, we can extract its beneficial properties for our use in salves, balms, and other products.

To dry purple dead nettle, spread the plant pieces out in a single layer over a dish towel, paper towel, or wax paper and allow to air dry for several days. We’re using dried plant material here, since fresh plants are more likely to spoil when mixed into oil.

There are a few ways to infuse oil, we’ll cover a quick way, a medium way, and slower way.

The Medium Sunny Window Infusing Method

Repeat steps 1 and 2 from above, and fill a jar with crumbled dried purple dead nettle, plus any extra herbs you want to add, and fill with oil. Put a lid on the jar.

Place the jar in a warm sunny window for a week or two, then transfer to a darker spot to infuse another week or so. The heat from the warm sunny window helps gently speed up the infusing process a bit.

The Slower Traditional Infusing Method

This way requires more patience and time, but results in a strongly infused and lovely oil.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 above, and fill a jar with crumbled dried purple dead nettle (and any extra herbs you’d like to include) and oil.

Instead of infusing over heat, you’ll put a lid on the jar and tuck it away in a cabinet or on a shelf and let it infuse for at least 4 to 6 weeks, shaking occasionally as you remember to.

Strain out the oil needed for your recipe.

Basic Purple Dead Nettle Salve Recipe

This is an ultra-basic salve that contains just 2 (or 3) ingredients. It can be used on itchy, dry, irritated, chapped, or sore skin.

Yield: about 2 ounces of salve

Ingredients

• 1.65 oz (47 g) purple dead nettle infused oil
• 0.25 oz (7 g) beeswax
• optional – 2 to 3 drops lavender essential oil

How to Make Purple Dead Nettle Salve

1. Combine the infused oil and beeswax in a heatproof jar or container.
2. Place the jar down into a saucepan with a few inches of water, forming a double boiler.
3. Heat over medium-low heat until completely melted.
4. Remove from heat and add the lavender essential oil, if using.
5. Pour into a 2-ounce tin or glass jar.
6. Let cool before putting the top on the container.
7. Store in a cool dry place.
8. Shelf life is at least 1 year.

First Aid Salve with Purple Dead Nettle

This is a general all-purpose first aid salve that features purple dead nettle plus calendula flowers and/or plantain leaves and/or yarrow.

Calendula (Calenduala officinalis) has antiseptic, anti-itching, and anti-inflammatory properties. (It’s sometimes called pot marigold, but shouldn’t be confused with regular marigolds. Here’s a good article on the difference between calendula and marigold flowers.)

Plantain (Plantago major) is a common leafy weed found in many backyards and driveways. It cools, soothes, and moistens and is one of the best herbs for skin irritations, cuts, bug bites, and scrapes.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is antiseptic and anti-inflammatory and is helpful for minor wounds and cracked damaged skin.

You can buy high quality organic dried calendula flowers, yarrow, and plantain leaves at Mountain Rose Herbs.

Yield: about 2 ounces of salve

Ingredients

• 1.65 oz (47 g) oil infused with purple dead nettle and calendula and/or plantain and/or yarrow
• 0.25 oz (7 g) beeswax
• optional – 1 drop tea tree essential oil
• optional – 3 to 4 drops lavender essential oil

How to Make

Follow the directions above for making Basic Purple Dead Nettle Salve.

Aches & Pains Salve with Purple Dead Nettle

This salve features purple dead nettle, arnica, and comfrey, though you could also include goldenrod, daisy, and/or dandelion flowers if you’d like. I also included tamanu oil – which is fantastic for soothing all sorts of skin problems and achy/sore situations.

Arnica (Arnica montana) is an anti-inflammatory herb that’s traditionally used to treat swelling, bruising, sore muscles, and arthritic joints.

Comfrey root (Symphytum officinale) can be helpful for bruising, pulled muscles, sprains and strains. (Comfrey leaf can be used as well.)

Yield: About 2 ounces of salve

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz (43 g) oil infused with purple dead nettle, arnica, and comfrey root (plus other herbs as desired)
• 0.15 oz (4 g) tamanu oil (or more infused oil)
• 0.25 oz (7 g) beeswax
• 30 drops peppermint essential oil
• 5 drops juniper berry (or cedarwood atlas, or cypress, or fir needle) essential oil
• 4 drops rosemary essential oil

How to Make

Follow the directions above for making Basic Purple Dead Nettle Salve. This salve has an essential oil dilution rate of a little over 3%.

References and Sources:

Purple Dead Nettle & Henbit – University of Tennessee Extension Website

Five New Phenylethanoid Glycosides from the Whole Plants of Lamium purpureum L – compounds in Purple Dead Nettle have potent free radical scavenging activity

Antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of some medicinal plants from the Lamiaceae. (including Purple Dead Nettle/Lamium purpureum)

In vivo anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive actions of some Lamium species. Several Lamium species have been used to relieve pain in arthritic ailments in Turkish folk medicine.

Antimicrobial properties of calendula (multiple studies)

Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Inflammatory Skin Diseases

Making Plant Medicine, Richo Cech.

Purple Dead Nettle Salve (3 Recipes!)

Learn how to make a simple purple dead nettle salve, a salve for sore muscles, and a salve for basic first aid.

Servings 2 ounces