|
This organic cuticle salve recipe is about to be your favorite formulation find in a LONG time – because it can really be ANYTHING!
The combination of healing carrier oils, butters, and essential oils makes it the perfect salve for any type of hand product.
Enjoy this perfect year-round product, ready for any gift set theme or as a single stocking stuffer (or may I even suggest it as a teacher gift?).
Make sure to read to the very bottom where you’ll get inspiration for turning this organic cuticle salve recipe into a product your target market will run to!
Cuticle salve is a firm, restorative product that helps nourish and heal inflamed cuticles and soften them for easy future maintenance.
This particular organic cuticle salve recipe is an all-natural blend made with moisturizing carrier oils and skin-loving essential oils at a 2% dilution rate (safe for daily use on the body).
Scoop out a small amount of salve with an orange stick (or similar item) to prevent bacteria from entering the container.
Apply to nail beds, allowing salve to liquefy, massage into cuticles and maintain as needed. Repeat as often as desired.
Store tightly closed in a cool environment away from direct sunlight.
This cuticle salve recipe is extremely versatile and can be marketed in so many ways! It pairs perfectly with hand soaps, spa kits, or gift sets.
Any skin care target market can use a deeply moisturizing salve – how could you modify it to appeal to your ideal customer the most?
As a tattoo salve?
Or perhaps a gardening salve?
Due to the skin-nurturing and healing properties of the carriers and essential oils in this formula, it can also be used as a first-aid salve or ointment for scrapes, cuts, and other superficial damage.
Instructions for recipe modifications are provided below (after the main recipe)!
|
Ingredient Scale |
Ramekins |
|
Double Boiler |
Glass Pyrex |
|
Glass Stir Rods |
Included to harden the salve base and increase the melting point for transit.
Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao):
A solid fat that contains Vitamin E; softens and lubricates the skin, and improves skin flexibility.
An anti-inflammatory agent; high in lauric acid to help lend a smooth texture to salve products (be sure that you purchase a sustainable brand of palm oil like this one).
Baobab Oil (Adansonia digitata):
Deeply nourishing and softens dry skin, and restores the epidermis.
Avocado Oil (Persea gratissima):
A deeply nourishing oil that restores the skin; promotes cell regeneration in damaged skin.
Tamanu Oil (Calophyllum inophyllum):
Promotes new tissue formation, accelerates healing, anti-inflammatory
Shea Butter (Vitellaria paradox):
Known to alleviate dryness of sun-damaged skin and long-term skin health.
Cedarwood Essential Oil (Juniperus virginiana):
Wound healing for surface lesions, cell regenerative, relaxing and calms stress, high in sesquiterpenols.
Helichrysum Essential Oil (Helichrysum italicum):
Skin nourishing, skin healing, reduces pain and inflammation, pain-relieving actions due to neryl acetate, effective for wound care.
Lavender Essential Oil (Lavandula angustifolia):
A healing oil for skin damage, an ester-rich oil that is effective on skin rashes and irritations, anti-inflammatory; rich in monoterpenols, which are soothing, easy on the skin, and good for long-term support.
Patchouli Essential Oil (Pogostemon cablin):
Skin healing oil for numerous disorders and issues; antibacterial and anti-inflammatory actions. Moisturizes and cools the skin; high in sesquiterpenols, offering long-term support and skin-healing properties.
Prepare ingredients by measuring out the carrier oils, butters, and beeswax with the ramekins and ingredient scale:
If not intended for daily use, the essential oils can be boosted to a 3% dilution rate if intentionally marketed as a first aid (aka ‘boo boo’) salve.
You can even experiment with adding your combination of skin-loving essential oils if kept in the 3% range.
A bit softer, more ointment-like consistency is recommended so that this salve can easily be applied to damaged skin and bandages.
Simply increase the liquid carrier oils (baobab, tamanu, or avocado) one ounce at a time until it reaches your desired consistency.
Your brands voice should come through in how you choose to describe your products in marketing, product descriptions, and social media posts.
Your branding and target market will also be very visually apparent in your packaging and labels; make sure you take the time to fully understand what your customer is drawn to before purchasing any of these items.
If you’re bringing a product to market for the first time, it’s best to start in small quantities to see if it’s going to go over before purchasing containers and labels in bulk.
If you need a guiding light for your label designs, check out our skin care label templates that are super easy to edit for infinite branding possibilities!
Glass jars tend to communicate high value. It is a classy, earthy material made of renewable resources.
These are a bit more pricy and heavier to ship, so keep that in mind when estimating your overall pricing.
Glass comes in a wide variety of colors, so an easy thing to keep to a branded color palette!
Aluminum tins are another eco-friendly choice and the variety you can get is growing.
Tins come in multiple sizes, shapes, and colors…twist top, clear top, slide top, silver, rose gold, copper, regular gold, etc.
Slightly more economical than the glass jars, but a different vibe and target market.
Plastic jars are a good choice for a target market with a more modest budget; they’re also lightweight and the most economical to ship.
When you use plastic with handmade skin care products, get BPA-free plastic so that the natural ingredients and essential oils don’t eat through it.
If you get the containers with inner liners, highlight that feature in your product listings!
It is recommended that you include an orange stick in your product packaging, as broken skin around nail beds can become easily infected.
Bacteria are introduced into the container if scooped out with a finger, creating a contaminated product.
Your organic cuticle salve container labels are another opportunity to draw in your intended target market with details that speak to them.
First, consider the label material.
This recipe creates a thick, buttery product that works best with waterproof labels or anything that has a protective, plastic coating.
Consider other variables such as label color, shape, how you’ll have your labels printed, etc.
When designing the labels for your skin care products, use font pairings that have been specifically chosen for your target market.
The mature audience tends to lean towards a more traditional serif font.
Young audiences gravitate towards modern sans-serif fonts.
Even though handmade cuticle salve is not regulated by the FDA when marketed as a cosmetic, you still need to follow labeling regulations.
Marie Gale’s Soap and Cosmetic Labeling publication is a highly reviewed resource for those in the United States (keep in mind that laws vary by country).
Not so much into designing labels from scratch?
Consider using a pre-formatted template that you can edit with your own business name, product name, ingredients, URL, and visual branding details.
Check out the 5 branding design styles we have in our digital resource library that are all easily customized in Canva:
This organic cuticle salve recipe is a fantastic addition to any handmade skin care business…I look forward to seeing how you modify it for your particular customer base!
As always, don’t forget to educate your customers on the importance of preservative-free products in your online listings and shipments – together we can make a REAL difference in health and wellness through our organic products!
Christine Glaser, C.A.
Christine is a certified aromatherapist, essential oil specialist, and organic skin care formulator. She loves empowering others with tools to make healthy changes and understand where natural options can be woven into the fabric of everyday routines.
