This post contains affiliate links from my favorite brand Mountain Rose Herbs. I love their high quality organic/fair trade products, and am blown away by their commitment to zero waste. 

I've been using arnica ointments for effective natural pain relief for so many years.  Arnica has always been my first choice simply because other natural pain and sore muscle relief ointments often make you smell like a medicine cabinet, and simply can't be put everywhere depending upon the area of your injury or soreness.  

What I love most about arnica is that it works wonders and discreetly at that.

Today I wanted to share a cost effective way to make your own healing arnica oil.  If you like you can then make a salve with this healing oil, or just use it as is.  Using the sun infused method does take more waiting time, but what you will get is a super potent herbal infused oil that hasn't been weakened in any way by using direct heat.  In this recipe olive oil is suggested for the carrier oil, yet you can always use grapeseed oil if your prefer a high linoleic oil because you are acne prone.

What you will need...

• 1 cup of organic arnica flowers

• 2 cups organic olive oil

• 10 drops rosemary essential oil

• 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil

• 1 tsp non-gmo vitamin E oil

• large glass jar

• glass dropper bottle/storage bottle

• cheese cloth/metal mesh strainer

When doing any herbal oil infusion, I prefer to place my dried herbs/flowers into a clean glass jar then pour the carrier oil on top.  When adding vitamin E to your carrier oil, combine the carrier oil with the vitamin E oil first before pouring it over the dried herbs/flowers.  Next seal the jar tightly and place in a sunny windowsill for 4-6 weeks.  The longer it sits, the more potent the oil.  Gently shake the jar daily and notice how the dried herbs/flowers infuse beautifully into the oil over time.

Once your dried herbs/flowers have infused completely, strain the oil from the herbs.  I like to strain my infusions twice by using a metal mesh strainer the first time, and a cheese cloth the second time.  Make sure to get out every drop of goodness before discarding the herbs.  

Finally add your essential oils and place your infusion into clean preferably dark glass bottles.  I store 1 ounce of my infused oil into a small glass dropper bottle for convenience, and another larger dark glass bottle for the remaining portion. If you are not sure you want to wait 4-6 weeks for your arnica massage oil to infuse, you can buy it solar infused for you here.

Make a wonderful healing salve with this amazing oil infusion with these simple instructions.  Enjoy!

Image/Recipe courtesy of Mountain Rose Herbs