Another herb to add to your personal Materia Medica: Calendula. This plants offer an opportunity to beautify, heal, and are generous in nature. A wonderful pollinator, year after year we can count on the perineal nature of this robust plant.
A dear friend who I met online back in 2017 sent me some calendula flowers from her home garden in Maine. All the way across the country in San Francisco, and these continue to blossom every year. Truth be told, I am not the best nurturer of plants on our deck. I do better with plants that go wild in my garden than tending and getting fussy. These require no fuss at all. They just grow and grow here in my coastal city.
The reason I now want to keep them around is because of the beautifying effect on my body inside and out. The flowers of this plant when consumed topically or internally have so many benefits! These are my top five listed below. My I hope to impart the deeper connection to growing your own herbal remedies and topical skin care to fortify your lifestyle.
For those of us who enjoy a beautifying secret, a special recipe, and holistic remedies without a lot of fuss, calendula is THE flower to have in the garden. The flowers are prolific for most of Spring and Summer. With multiple blooms, you can harvest petals from late March through September. Love your plants and they will even continue through November or December on the West Coast.
Check out my top 5 short list of reasons to beautify inside and out with calendula flowers:
1. Flavonoid & Triterpene Antioxidants
Calendula flowers have promising results in this study showing a relationship to these antioxidants and minimizing growth of cancer cells. Calendula tea has been shown to offer benefits of support in minimizing tumor growth and in palliative care.
As a holistic practice, use of this information to stay healthy is the best course of action to sustain and refine our healthy lifestyle. This information is not intended to offer a substitute for measures for cancer-patient treatment. Rather, this information is notable to support and sustain a healthy lifestyle.
Please reach out to me about questions around this.
2. Promotes Skin Wound Healing
Creating a tea and using it on soaked cloth or cotton can ease wounds and promote fast healing. This study shows the improved development of collagen around wound area, which fosters faster skin re-growth. This is really a bonus for those of us over 35 years. Our collagen-making capacity goes down as we age.
Other studies around leg and foot ulcers show faster rejuvenation and healing with applied calendula topically. The nature of healing wounds is around building skin faster in recovery. It appears that calendula has the properties needed for improved efficacy of the skin’s healing nature.
Should you have some scaly dandruff or an irritated scalp, you may find hair loss to be a problem. Hair fall in the case of scalp irritation or wounds can be easily remedied with application of calendula tea onto the scalp. Promoting healing to the scalp and hair follicles helps to improve hair re-growth.
3. Promotes Internal Healing
With antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, calendula offers support to our internal systems. The digestive tract can be soothed with calendula tea. Calendula soothes internal wounds and burns like ulcers, heartburn or irritable bowel syndrome while also repairing the gut wall as it relieves discomfort at the same time.
Additionally, calendula’s antibacterial properties fortifies the body to fight that lingering cough or congestion you can’t seem to get rid of from the cold and flu. This is particularly handy to have around during allergy season.
4. Minimizes Fine Lines & Wrinkles
Calendula has been found to prevent oxidative stress that can lead to cell and tissue damage. Additions of calendula in teas to drink internally, as well as ingredients for topical skin care is a notable addition to every beauty regimen. With its healing and soothing quality, topical daily application offers a supplemental nurturance to skin’s glow that is easy to create in your own home apothecary. Find recipes below.
5. Reduces Scarring
Teens and adults with scarring from acne or surgeries will find the use of topical calendula to reduce the appearance of scars. Calendula increases blood flow to the scar or acne, promoting a fast and healthy healing process. Free of infection, and encouraging growth of healthy new tissue, calendula offers a natural effective action that feels nurturing to the body unlike drying agents to treat acne.
Internal consumption of calendula allows the body to prevent inflammation. It also boosts the immune response and soothes inflammation and scarring related to chicken pox and acne. Soothe the skin and heal these sores with speed in a natural clean way with remedies including calendula.
Home Healer Apothecary: Recipes
With all of the good news about calendula, how can you apply this herbal wisdom from the garden? You can certainly find a multitude of holistic products which include calendula. There are high quality products out there and there are mediocre products that may have very little calendula.
If you are a maker and an adventurer in your garden and kitchen, I encourage you to begin experimenting with your own seasonal apothecary. This can be a wonderful undertaking and requires very little beyond jars to house the final ingredients. I highly recommend this as you know what is going into and onto your body. It is inexpensive and perfect for anyone with sensitive skin.
I have have a rare allergy and am unable to use pharmacy lotions and potions. I have to be careful and find that the home made skin balms and oils are not only satisfying to make but also of higher quality than what I can find at a manageable price point. There are wonderful products to splurge on. I have a few that are special that I love. However, I use my homemade things daily and find that I can use more of it throughout the day and it absorbs more evenly into my skin.
Here are some tips to begin your seasonal home healer apothecary journey:
- Grow your own calendula. This plant loves bright light, is drought tolerant and flowers from Spring until Fall. Use organic soil and plant them in pots or find a place for them to take over in your garden. They are wonderful pollinators and I recently found a monarch sipping from mine on my deck. No camera was nearby, unfortunately.
- Harvesting the flowers. Simply pick the flower stem from the base of the plant. This will encourage more flowers to bloom from it. This plant loves a partnership with a forager and will thrive when blooms are picked respectfully one at a time.
- Gently pick the petals from the flower and use immediately in the following simple recipes.
Calendula Flower Tea Recipe
Use the fresh petals from organically grown calendula flowers see the ratio below for volume of tea.
To make tea, add hot-boiling water and petals to steep for 10 minutes.
For fresh flowers:
- Simply use petals from one flower per 8 oz cup of tea.
- Steep for 10 minutes. Strain.
For dried flowers:
- Use 1 tsp of dried flower petals per 8 oz cup of tea.
- Steep for 10 minutes. Strain.
You can use more or less petals for your desired flavor. Add sweetness with honey, maple syrup, or sugar if you like.
Other uses for tea:
Allow tea to cool. Strain and funnel into a spray bottle for use on wounds, scars, and scalp. You can simple reserve in a mason jar and use on skin with a cotton pad.
Use cool tea as a poultice on scrapes and burns to foster healing.
Recipe for Calendula Skin Oil
Use externally on body hands, feet, as a nighttime scalp treatment. For freshe
Can be used on face as a face oil or oil cleanser to remove make up. Take care if you have oily skin, as this may be too rich for your face.
For best efficacy on skin, I recommend using this completely within 30-60 days.
Into a sterilized 8 oz jar or bottle, add:
- Petals from 5 calendula flowers
- 6 oz organic extra virgin olive oil
- 1 oz organic jojoba oil
- Allow this to steep for at least one week.
Let me know when you try this! I would love to hear your thoughts and sharings about your experience with the healing nature of calendula.
Have questions about setting up your home healer apothecary? Email me at angela@beautifyfaceyoga.com or drop a comment below!
I would love to get your feedback on this post. What did I miss?
xox,
Angela
