Every home should have a herbal first aid kit of natural herbal preparations ready to go treat minor first aid occurrences such as bumps, bruises, scrapes, and wounds. Making your own herbal first aid kit doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
I get a comforting feeling making my own herbal preparations. I know exactly what is in each salve, tincture or oil. My hands have touched and nurtured the growing plants, I harvested their flowers and leaves and I formed a deep relationship with each of the plants.
9 Herbs For Your Herbal First Aid Kit
Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is an awesome calming herb, calming your nervous system in times of stress and anxiety. This herb is also very helpful in getting restful sleep and easing digestive issues like an upset stomach and cramping. Chamomile soothes skin conditions such as an itchy rash or hives relieving the itch and swelling. Tea bags kept in your herbal first aid kit can be used for tea to drink, calming you down, and a strong tea is used as a topical wash or the tea bags used for compresses.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, astringent and analgesic properties. It’s ideal for preventing infection, stopping blood flow, reducing swelling and pain in wounds. Yarrow is a styptic herb meaning it helps staunch excessive blood flow in deep wounds. It can be applied fresh or dried as a poultice on the wound. Fresh or dried leaves and flowers can be steeped to make a tea and drunk to reduce a fever.
Dried yarrow is ground to a powder in coffee grinder then stored in a container in your kit. I use an empty plastic spice bottle. This powdered yarrow is easy to sprinkle over cuts and scrapes.
Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris) has astringent, demulcent, and immune boosting properties. This herb helps soothe irritated, inflamed skin and heals damaged tissues. Self heal salve is excellent for wounds including cuts, scrapes, and burns. You can use fresh or dried leaves in a compress for drawing out infections, such as abscesses and boils.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is commonly called bone knit and for good reason, it rapidly heals broken bones. Comfrey speeds healing and promotes the growth of new skin cells. This herb is great for anything that’s bruised, sprained or broken. Apply macerated fresh leaves or powdered leaves as a wet poultice and it will help bring relief from swelling and prevent bruising. Keeping a salve in your first aid kit is another option.
Comfrey causes such rapid healing, it should not be used on deep wounds or wounds with a suspected infection since the infection can be sealed within the wound. It should also not be used internally.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Used topically, lavender essential oil mixed with a carrier oil, helps to treat skin irritations, insect bites/stings, burns, blisters, and bruises. A tea can be drunk as a digestive aid for treating intestinal gas, irritable bowel syndrome, and nausea. Keep several tea bags and a small bottle of lavender essential oil in your herbal first aid kit.
Arnica (Arnica montana) speeds blood flow to an injured area prompting the immune system to clear damaged tissue and start the healing process. The extra blood flow is key as it brings nutrients to support healing and it helps carry waste away from the affected area. Arnica oil also aids in stimulating the flow of white blood cells, which process congested blood and helps disperse trapped fluid from joints, muscles and bruised tissue.
Arnica oil relieves pain, soothes minor joint & muscle aches, inflammation, bumps & bruises. It also treats rashes, eczema, black eyes, sore muscles, sprains, strains, fractures, and bruises.
Do not use on open wounds.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) has anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, anti-fungal, antiseptic, and antibacterial properties. It’s a great herbal first-aid herb for topical wounds such as cuts, scrapes, burns, sunburns, bug bites and other minor skin irritations. It stops bleeding and draws infections and fluids out of wounds while soothing pain and inflammation, ensuring the wound heals cleanly.
Taken internally as a tea, it soothes and heals gastric and duodenal ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and digestive inflammation. It soothes inflammation of the throat and nasal passages and clears the lungs, stimulating the immune system to fight respiratory infections. The tea is also used to wash cuts, insect bites, and irritated skin.
Plantain leaf (Plantago major) is useful for drawing foreign material out of a wound, whether it’s stingers, thorns, splinters, or anything else that does not belong in the skin.
Plantain salve speeds healing and relieves pain, stops bleeding, draws out foreign matter, kills bacteria, and reduces swelling. This salve gives relief from diaper rash, poison ivy or oak rashes, heat rash, eczema, dry skin, cuts, scratches, bruises, and scrapes.
This remarkable plant stops itching even intense itching. It’s great for fire ant bite relief. Use this salve after getting bit and it takes the pain away and the blisters don’t form. Use it for flea bites, bug bites such as mosquitoes, black flies, fire ants, and chiggers. This plant does so much no wonder its called the band aid plant! This salve is my # 1 go to salve!
Echinacea (Echinacea augustifolia) is anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-fungal and antiviral. Echinacea is well known as a remedy for preventing and treating infection including colds and flu. This plant is used both internally and topically for infection because it stimulates your immune system increasing white blood cell production and wound healing.
A strong echinacea tea or salve is applied topically to wounds, bites, boils or any skin infection. Drinking a tea or several drops of tincture in water helps fight colds, flu and infection while building your immunity.
Don’t forget:
- Band-Aids
- Butterfly bandages
- Gauze pads
- Adhesive tape
- Scissors
- Tweezers
It is an empowering experience taking care of yourself, using all-natural homemade herbal remedies. Herbal medicine is people’s medicine and we are all blessed by nature with this gift and I am deeply grateful.
*The links in this article are to my Etsy shop if you would like to purchase organic herbal care products.
