A gentle golden lotion, from our garden to your hands.
Here at The Healing Herb Garden, we often say that skin is the garden we carry with us. It is the largest organ we have — a living, breathing life-suit that lets us feel the sun, the rain and the soil between our fingers. It asks so little of us, and it deserves the same patient tending we give our flower beds.
As ever, the garden has an answer. Of all the skin-loving plants we grow, few make us smile like calendula. Those bright golden flower heads turn up in our borders from late spring until the first hard frost, and every one of them is a little gift.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) has been gathered for generations to soothe dry, delicate and irritated-looking skin. Its petals are steeped into oils, stirred into balms and whipped into creams, which is why we think of it as the heart of any traditional skincare garden.
European herbal guidance recognises calendula's long traditional use for minor skin inflammation and small wounds. We like to be honest with you: that recognition rests mostly on centuries of use, not on strong clinical trials.
So let's bring a little of that sunshine indoors. This rich, golden lotion is one of our favourite ways to make calendula part of an everyday ritual.
Grow the calendula for this recipe yourself. True Calendula officinalis is one of the ten varieties in our Physic Garden Healing Herb Seed Kit , alongside chamomile, yarrow, marshmallow and self-heal. Sow it this spring and you could be stirring up your first batch of lotion with your own petals by summer.
Our Calendula Lotion
This lotion is really two calendula preparations brought together: a golden infused oil and a strong calendula tea.
The oil gives the lotion its richness and softness. The tea lightens everything, turning what would be a dense body butter into a silky, hydrating lotion.
Because there's water in the recipe, two more helpers are essential. Emulsifying wax holds the oil and water together, and a broad-spectrum cosmetic preservative protects your finished lotion from bacteria, yeast and mould. We never skip either, and we'd ask you not to either.
What You'll Need
For the calendula-infused oil
- ½ cup dried calendula flowers
- ½ cup sunflower oil
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup shea butter
- ¼ cup emulsifying wax NF
For the calendula tea
- ½ cup dried calendula flowers
- 2 cups distilled water
For the cooled lotion
- A broad-spectrum cosmetic preservative suitable for lotions, used at the exact percentage and temperature its manufacturer specifies
- 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil (optional)
A gentle word of caution: vitamin E helps slow the oils from turning rancid, but it is not a preservative. It can never stand in for a proper broad-spectrum cosmetic preservative.
From the kitchen cupboard
- Two heatproof saucepans or bowls
- A fine strainer or muslin cloth
- Digital kitchen scales
- A kitchen thermometer
- A stick blender
- A clean spatula
- A sterilised pump bottle or lotion container
Steeping the Golden Oil
- Place the coconut oil and shea butter in a heatproof saucepan or bowl.
- Melt them gently over a low heat. Never let the oils smoke or boil.
- Stir in the sunflower oil and the dried calendula flowers.
- Leave everything on the lowest heat you can manage for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then. We're coaxing the goodness out of the petals slowly, not frying them.
- Strain the oil through fine muslin or a clean fine-mesh strainer, pressing gently to save every golden drop.
- Pour the strained oil back into a clean heatproof bowl.
- Add the emulsifying wax and warm gently until it has completely melted.
Brewing the Calendula Tea
- Put the dried calendula flowers and distilled water in a separate saucepan.
- Warm over a medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.
- Strain out the flowers carefully.
- Measure what's left. If some water has steamed away, top it up with freshly boiled distilled water until you're back to 2 cups.
Where the Magic Happens
- Warm the tea and the oil mixture until they're roughly the same temperature. Around 70°C usually suits emulsifying wax NF, but always follow your wax manufacturer's instructions.
- Pour the warm oil mixture into a clean, heatproof blending jug.
- Start blending with a sanitised stick blender.
- Keep blending as you slowly pour in the warm calendula tea.
- Blend in short bursts until the tea and oil emulsify — you'll see the mixture turn pale, creamy and smooth. It never stops feeling a little like alchemy.
- Let the lotion cool, stirring every so often as it thickens.
- Once it reaches the temperature your preservative manufacturer recommends, add the measured preservative. Work out the exact amount from the total weight of your finished batch.
- Add the vitamin E, if using, and blend once more until everything is evenly mixed.
- Spoon the lotion into a clean, sterilised pump bottle. We prefer a pump to an open jar, as it keeps fingers out of the lotion.
- Label the bottle with the ingredients and the date you made it.
Enjoying Your Lotion
Massage a little into clean, slightly damp skin after washing or bathing. Give extra attention to the places that dry out first: hands, elbows, knees and feet.
We love it as:
- An everyday hand and body lotion
- A treat for hands after a long day in the garden
- A rich balm for dry heels and elbows
- Part of a slow, gentle evening ritual
- A thoughtful handmade skincare project
This is a homemade preparation for external cosmetic use only. Keep it away from the eyes and mouth, and don't use it on broken, infected or badly irritated skin.
Keeping It Fresh and Safe
Anything made with herbal tea and oils is a welcoming home for microbes, so care at this stage matters as much as the making. A fridge won't make up for a proper preservative. Water, raw ingredients, equipment, packaging and fingers can all carry unwanted guests into your lotion.
- Use only thoroughly clean, sanitised equipment.
- Follow your preservative manufacturer's percentage, temperature and pH requirements exactly.
- Store your lotion in a clean pump bottle rather than an open jar.
- Don't add extra water once the lotion is made.
- Throw it away straight away if the colour, smell or texture changes, or if it separates unexpectedly.
- Remember that looks and smell alone can't tell you a lotion is microbiologically safe.
- Patch test on a small area before using more widely.
- Avoid calendula if you know you're allergic to it or to other members of the daisy family (Asteraceae), such as chamomile, daisies or ragweed. Skin sensitisation has been reported.
This is a recipe for making at home, not a commercially tested formulation. If you plan to sell your lotion or give it to customers in Great Britain, it needs proper formulation, stability and microbiological testing, a Cosmetic Product Safety Report, and the relevant legal notifications and labelling.
A Little Calendula Folklore
Calendula has followed the sun through centuries of herbal tradition. Its flowers open in the morning light and often fold closed as evening draws in, which earned it an old association with sunshine, faithfulness and the turning of the calendar.
The name itself comes from the Latin kalendae, the first day of the month. Given a mild spell, calendula will flower month after month — as if it were marking the calendar in gold.
Its cottage name, pot marigold, tells of its long life in kitchen gardens. Cooks once scattered the petals into broths, butter, cheese and rice for a warm golden colour.
For skincare, be sure to use true pot marigold, Calendula officinalis. It isn't the same as the French or African marigolds sold as bedding plants, which belong to a different genus, Tagetes.
Grow Your Own Skincare Garden
Calendula is one of the most rewarding herbs you can grow from seed. It flowers generously, the bees adore it, and it gives a steady harvest of golden petals to dry for oils, balms, soaps and home remedies.
Gather the flower heads on a dry morning, once the dew has lifted. Dry them thoroughly somewhere warm and airy, out of direct sunlight, then keep them in a labelled airtight jar.
One packet of seeds can become months of flowers — and the very beginning of your own homegrown apothecary.
Start with calendula
- Physic Garden Healing Herb Seed Kit —Our golden calendula plus nine more historic skin-and-garden herbs, including German chamomile, yarrow, marshmallow, ribwort plantain and self-heal. It comes in a gift box with label sticks and an illustrated seed-to-harvest guide. Give it at Christmas, sow it in spring.
- Grow On Monthly Seed Subscription —Five seasonal seed packets every month, perfectly timed for UK sowing. Calendula, chamomile and lemon balm arrive in January, ready for an early start on the windowsill.
Build a whole skincare garden around it
Calendula is wonderful on its own, but the old cottage herbalists never grew just one plant. These are the companions we'd plant beside it for your own balms, salves and infused oils.
- Comfrey — Known in country tradition as 'knitbone', comfrey is a classic partner to calendula in homemade salves for the outside of the body. Its leaves also make a superb free liquid feed for the rest of your garden.
- Wild Healer's Trio — Comfrey, yarrow and plantain: the three wayside herbs most often found in old salve recipes, in one ready-to-plant collection. Stock is very limited, so don't wait if you'd like one.
- Marshmallow — Velvety leaves and soft pink flowers, with a long history in soothing traditional preparations.
- Roman Chamomile —Apple-scented and gentle, chamomile is calendula's oldest friend in the skincare garden.
- English Lavender — Dried buds add a lovely scent to infused oils, and a lavender hedge beside your calendula is a bee magnet all summer.
- Apothecary Garden Healing Herb Seed Kit — Ten time-honoured herbs from seed, including comfrey, St John's wort and echinacea. Pair it with the Physic Garden kit and you'll have twenty traditional herbs growing by summer.
Our tip: order the Physic Garden kit and the Wild Healer's Trio together, and you'll have calendula, comfrey, yarrow and plantain all growing side by side, ready for a season of homemade skincare.
A note on comfrey: it is for external use only. Never take it internally, and don't use it on broken skin. Patch test any new herb, and avoid chamomile, yarrow and calendula if you're allergic to the daisy family. The traditional uses described are historical and are not medical advice.
Grow it. Gather it. Turn it into something beautiful.
With love from The Healing Herb Garden. Shared for traditional, educational and personal home use.