I have experienced the healing power of herbal salve by healing my leg after surgery, stopping the itch of poison ivy, getting antibiotics in the system, and using it to comfort and heal the bug bites and ouchies of my children.
I have been very impressed many times with how well a simple salve heals.
The salve I’m going to share with you today is no less amazing.
Some of you may know it as BF&C Salve.
Some of you may know it as Complete Tissue & Bone Formula.
Some of you may not be familiar with it at all, or maybe you’ve made up a completely different name for it like, The Miraculous Healing Salve.
Whatever you choose to call it, it all works the same and can bring about amazing results. The base of this salve is a formula that Dr. Christopher came up with, and many herbalists are familiar with its healing properties.
This salve contains comfrey, which is the sole herb that I used to heal my limping leg. When you add other specific herbs to comfrey, you can have an even more effective salve! I didn’t have all the herbs in the formula on hand this time, but I had the majority of them. It’s OK if you have to leave a few of them out, but comfrey is the main herb for healing and cannot be left out.
I recently made this salve for someone dear to me who has torn ligaments in his shoulder. I will have him apply this salve 3 times a day to the injury as well as take the formula internally. He is taking 2 capsules 3 times a day of this bone and tissue supplement until the injury is healed. Many times these specific injuries can lead to a need for surgery, and we don’t want that!
How To Make Bone and Tissue Salve
Ingredients
- 6 parts White Oak Bark-tightens tissue
- 6 parts Comfrey Root-knits bones and tissue
- 3 parts Marshmallow Root-rebuilds muscles
- 3 parts Mullein Herb-helps glands
- 3 parts Black Walnut Hull-high in nutrients required for rebuilding
- 3 parts Gravel Root-helps pain
- 2 parts Wormwood-relieves pain
- 1 part Skullcap-relaxes body
- 1 part Lobelia-antispasmodic and anti-infection
- 1 part Slippery Elm Bark-soothes
Directions
- Mix all herbs together. This makes a very large amount so reduce the portion if desired.
- To make a salve, you must first make an herbal oil. This is the crockpot method: Place herbs in a jar 1/3 or 1/2 full. You can use any size jar, depending on how much salve you wish to make.
- Fill the jar up with olive oil, coconut oil, or sweet almond oil. {I normally use olive oil.} Leave a 2 inch head-space.
- Put a lid on the jar.
- Place a towel on the bottom of a crockpot, put jars in crockpot and fill the crockpot with water up to 1 inch below the top of the jars.
- Turn crockpot on low heat for 3 days. The oil and herbs need to be hot to release the properties, but not too hot. Water will evaporate so add more water as often as needed to keep the level at one or 2 inches below the top of the jar.
- After 3 days, strain the herbs from the oil through white cotton material or cheesecloth, or a fine strainer. Strain as much oil as you can and allow the herbs and oil to cool enough to handle. This allows you to squeeze as much oil out as possible with your hands! You now have an herbal oil that you can use if you prefer to use an oil.
- To make it into a salve, place 2 cups of the herbal oil into a pan.
- Add 1/4 cup of beeswax. Turn the burner on very low heat and slowly heat the oil until the beeswax melts.
- Once the beeswax is melted, pour in 1 tablespoon of vitamin E oil to preserve the salve for 2-5 years.
- Transfer the liquid salve into a container with a spout to make it easier to pour from. Pour into container(s) of choice. It’s important to pour the salve into containers before it starts to cool. All that beeswax makes it solidify in a hurry!
(Print the recipe below!)
[gmc_recipe 3296]This formula has been used for:
- Broken Bones
- Sprained Ankles
- Torn Ligaments
- Scrapes
- Cuts
- Wounds
- Varicose Veins
- Curvature of the Spine
- Skin Eruptions
- Pulled Muscles
- Blood Clots
- Calcium Spurs
- Degenerative Arthritis
- Skin Cancers
- Bone Spurs
- Polio
- Stroke
How To Use This Formula:
The above recipe makes an insanely HUGE amount. I cut it way down and it made about 1 1/2 pints of salve. I used 1 part white oak bark and comfrey root; 1/2 part marshmallow, mullein, black walnut hull, and gravel root; 1/4 part wormwood, and 1/8 part skullcap, lobelia, and slippery elm. I measured in volume this time instead of by weight, so I measured in cups: 1 cup of white oak bark and comfrey, 1/2 cup marshmallow, mullein, black walnut and gravel root, etc. Read here for more details on how to measure herbs.
- Make a Salve – The way I use this formula the most is in salve form. You can make an herbal oil with this mixture of herbs and turn the oil into a salve to use, as outlined in the recipe above. Apply the salve 3 times a day or so.
- Make a strong tea by combining 2 tsp. per cup of water and steeping at least 30 minutes. Cloths can be soaked in this tea and laid over the area for 4-6 hours or overnight. Cover the fomentation with plastic wrap and lay a heating pad on top to keep warmth on the area, or place warm towels on top and warm them back up each time they cool. This method is a good idea if you are dealing with a serious condition or injury.
- You can take this formula internally in tea form (which won’t taste good) by consuming 1 cup 3 times a day. You can also turn these herbs into a tincture form. One easy way is to follow the instructions in this post for a simple crockpot glycerite! Take 1 or 2 dropperfuls of tincture 3-5 times a day. It’s a great idea to take this formula every day internally as well as using it externally when dealing with a serious condition or injury. You can also buy this formula in capsules or purchase your own capsules and use a capsule machine, which is easy to use and saves a lot of money! I use a coffee grinder to grind the herbs to powder for capsules.
Sometimes buying herbs for a formula such as this can cost more up front, but in the long run you save a lot of money! Plus, I use the herbs for other uses as well.
Have you ever used herbs to heal injuries? I would love to hear about it in the comment section below!
Resources:
Do you put the cover on the crockpot? Thank you for this recipe
No you don’t, and you are welcome!
My crockpot gets very warm and the water evaporates fast. I work during the day, but would like to keep this going while I am gone. Can I put the crockpot on Warm and put a cover on to keep it from evaporating so fast? Will that be warm enough, do you think?
My settings are High, Low and Warm. I started with the Low setting.
For my crockpot, warm is not warm enough for this. I use the low setting with the lid off. However, you could give it a try!
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Hi Jill, can i buy this formula, I can’t make it, I like to use it on my hip, having pain there for the first time. Thanks
You can buy it on Amazon! Just search for Complete Bone and Tissue Ointment.
Where do you get all these ingredients? ??
Hi, Sharon! I have a section in the bottom of the post of the places I buy from. Thanks!
Hi Jill,
I have read how this type of salve can have great results, but I am always reluctant to purchase it or use it because of the comfrey. I have seen labels stating it can damage your liver (I have autoimmune hepatitis) and that it can cause illness or death. Any information about comfrey which I don’t know much about, to help ease my mind about using this would be much appreciated! I want to try it but always concerned with the comfrey. Thanks!
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Hey, Gina! I personally don’t agree with the studies done- they were very faulty in my opinion. The whole plant was not used in the studies and were fed to rats in a way that is impossible for anyone to consume. Comfrey has been used safely by thousands of people for thousands of years- which cannot be said of most pharmaceuticals. I don’t know concerning your specific condition though. The only concern is for internal use so you could avoid that until further research. The salve would be fine though for sure.
Gina, I agree with Jill. Aspirin causes pain and death, comfrey has never been linked in a valid study to any serious health concerns or death. However, assuming the two cases the FDA presented are valid they were based on LARGE consumption of the root, not the leaf. So even assuming the root is dangerous consumed there are no dangers in using either root or leafs in a salve. It is VERY healing and can even restore functions to organs and bones.
Hi Jill,
This happened a few years ago but sharing it since you asked…
As I was tossing hay to the horses at a stable, one of the horses (know to be honry) decided to lunge for a good bite of hay from the flakes as I was putting them in his stall. He took off the tip of my finger with the bite. It bled good and I cleaned it well and the first few days did what I could to avoid infection…After several days, when I was confident there was no infection and it was good and clean, I started using a bf&c salve I had to heal it and hoping it would grow back. After a while it looked pretty close to how it looked before. Even the nail grew back! I do still have a bit of nerve damage, and less padding on tip, but so very pleased with this formula. Thank you for the nice post! I look forward to making some!
That’s a great testimony! These herbs are powerful and I love hearing these success stories. Thank you for sharing!
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Some one told me that roots and leaves are not for internal consumption, is it true?
Sorry I mean to to say comfrey roots or leaves are not for internal consumption is she correct?
I do consume the leaves on occasion but not the roots. The leaves have been safely consumed for many, many years with no known side effects. I believe the study done on them were very faulty. This is just my opinion and each person must do what they feel is safe. 🙂
Hi there,
Can I use dried herbs to make this or must they be fresh? Thank you.
I use dried, Molly. 🙂
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I am a great believer in the power of the oils and I wonder if you could offer some of your healing wisdom to me.
On Easter Sunday I fell and broke my wrist in three places. As I am a senior, I know that my bones are compromised in their healing, but I want to do all that I can with nutrition and supplements and the wonderful essential oils.
if you could suggest something now, I would be very grateful. Also, would apricot work as the carrier oil?
Thank-you for your help,
Comfrey works well for healing bones. Some people take it internally as well but you’ll need to do research on that to see how you fell about it. And yes, you can use apricot as a carrier oil!
I don’t have a crockpot, is there any other method I could use?
you said you’re having him take the formula orally? I hope that isn’t including the comfrey. Comfrey is fine topically, but when taken orally, comfrey can cause sinusoidal obstruction syndrome and/or severe liver injury.
Hi, Alex! I completely understand your concern. While I do have a different opinion on consuming comfrey leaves ;), this is the bone and tissue supplement I had him take internally that does not contain comfrey. https://amzn.to/2PaFqf7
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I love the way you organize your recipe; #part, then list of ingredients that applies to, so easy to translate to what my hands are going to do. I use a super simple plantain salve on my baby boy’s diaper area, he had a really high sensitivity to acid in my diet (through my breast milk) when he was born, so I had to stop eating a bunch of different food (most difficult was most fruits!) The diaper rash had developed into open sores by the time we were able to get a doctors appointment, the doctor prescribed all kinds of things over several visits, culminating in a four layer ritual every time I changed his diaper including topical antibiotic & antifungal! None of this actually cured it, though, it just kept it from getting infected while it healed, subsequent outbreaks were inevitable since the creams were neither prevention nor cure & we were still discovering new foods for me to not eat. Plus, we couldn’t use the cloth diapers with this concoction, so he was stuck in the far less breathable disposables. So I tried the plantain salve, it completely healed up the open sores within 2 days, and applying it at the first sign of trouble has completely prevented further outbreaks.
Oh I LOVE stories like this! Yay for you, mama!
Hi there,
What do you use for the back pain? My husband suffers from very bad back pain…would like to know if maybe I can get something to help him.
Thank you!
I’m so sorry I am just seeing your question! Check out some remedies here that will hopefully be helpful: https://earthclinic.com/ailments/natural-remedies-for-back-pain/
Can I make the salve recipe you’ve shown here with Dr. Christopher’s complete bone, tissue and cartilage with comfrey powder?
I have never used the powder because it’s mostly impossible to strain. The dried herbs are best!
could i get some BF&C Salve from you
My apologies, but I don’t have any to sell! However, you can find it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2YhSGlV
I love this formula. Used it on my cut hand after 2 tendons and 3 nerves were cut. My dad put it on his fractured foot and says its helping. I made it with a magic butter machine. Quick and easy.
I’m so glad it’s been helpful!
what an informative blog. can you tell what we can use this for.
There’s a list of uses below the recipe in the post!
great article, will try the remedy
Can you tell me what the volume of one part is? 1/4 cup.. 1/2 cup???
Carol, it’s whatever you choose it to be! Unless you want to make a huge amount at once, I would start small. For instance, one part could be 1/8 cup, 2 parts can be (2) 1/8 cups, 3 parts can be (3) 1/8 cups, and so on. I hope that makes sense!
Hi I was wondering if there is a stove top method as I don’t have a crockpot at the moment? Thank you
Yes, you can use a double boiler on the stove! Here’s some instructions:
*Place 1 cup of dried herbs use about 2 cups of fresh herbs.
*Cover with about 1 or 1 1/2 cups of olive oil, making sure the oil is 1 or 2 inches above the herbs. Bring to a slow boil and simmer very low. {My double-boiler normally doesn’t even bring bubbles to the surface. It normally just gets the contents very hot.}
*Simmer gently for 60 minutes.
*Strain the herbs using a fine strainer, or white cotton material.
Thank you