Reply To: Medicine Making | External Preparations
Hi Zahailey,
This is a great question that I’ve never considered. Double infusions with different plants is not a common practice in herbal medicine. In the course, you may hear Amanda mention double infusions but only with the same herb (arnica, for example). More commonly, more than one herb would be infused in oil at the same time. This works best when the herbs are of similar quality and will infuse into the oil at the same speed. For example, infusing calendula and chamomile flowers together or, lemon balm and comfrey leaf.
Depending on what you’re making, it can be ideal to have your infused oils a simples (only one herb) so that you can formulate with them more specifically.
For your recipe, I suggest making your oils separately and then combining them in your final preparation. I’d be hesitant to do your suggested double infusion method due to the potential for the second herb to not extract fully if the oil is already saturated with the previous plant’s constituents.
I hope this info helps! I’m keen to hear how this salve works out. 🙂