After Bite Itch Relief

Description

Then there’s comfrey. An itchy skin salve wouldn’t be complete without this herb. Comfrey is known to be a skin-friendly herb. Rich in allantoin, a compound which comes packed with elements that aid in cell regeneration and growth and helps protect your skin from damage. Because of this property, comfrey offers a number of skincare benefits.

💫 This group of herbs is a gentle yet powerful combo.

In most cases, it isn’t the bite that causes the itch, but the anesthetic that a bug injects in you so that you can’t feel it while it’s biting you! If you’re allergic to the anesthetic, your body will attack the substance with white blood cells, which are antibodies that cause your tissues to become inflamed and puffy. Red blood cells come to help, but that causes more redness, and the well-meaning histamine response often creates those frustrating and painful hives that itch and irritate us!

This explains why you might get “eaten up” with bug bites while your loved one sits next to you and doesn’t feel a thing. It’s not that the bugs like you more – it’s just that you react to their anesthetic more.

An effective bug bite remedy shouldn’t just be an anti-itch remedy. It should also address the inflammation, pain, potential infection, and allergic reaction.

Our After Bite Anti-Itch Salve is blended with plantain, chickweed, comfrey, and skin soothing calendula; antiseptic, soothing and powerful infection fighters. Essentially, think of After Bite Salve as an herbal first aid, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory ointment that is also great for itchy bug bites and insect stings.

Which Base Oil Should You Choose?

I offer two bases for the After Bite Itch Relief because everyone’s skin is different. I have all four herbs infused into both oils so you can choose the oil that is right for you.

Grapeseed oil vs. olive oil – which is better? Both are found in many natural/herbal skin moisturizers because they have similar effects and are well-tolerated by people with various skin types.

🌿 Extra Virgin Olive Oil: (EVOO for short!) EVOO is said to be the healthiest fat on the planet. Because it contains over 30 types of phenolic compounds, which are very powerful antioxidants that help our bodies to fight free radicals that cause premature aging. EVOO has been found to naturally reduce the pain caused by chronic inflammatory diseases like arthritis.

🍇 Grapeseed Oil: Health-promoting compounds found in this oil include not only polyunsaturated fats, but also phytochemicals including proanthocyanidins, pycogeneol, tocopherol, linolenic acid and others, which research shows have powerful antioxidant effects. Although most studies researching Grapeseed Oil’s effects on wound care have been conducted in labs or on animals, there’s some evidence that when topically applied it can help with faster wound healing. One mechanism by which it works is through enhancing synthesis of vascular endothelial growth factor which forms connective tissue. (see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12374620/ )

Grapeseed oil has a high vitamin e content that is good for your skin. It also works as a fat-soluble antioxidant that helps protect cells from damaging and cancer-causing free radicals. It is absorbed almost immediately by the skin and sets to work at making the skin healthier, softer, and more elastic.

It also has antimicrobial activity against pathogens that can cause infections in wounds.

Bottom Line…
Olive oil is a great choice all around, but can stain bedding and clothes and is slower to absorb into the skin. Grapeseed oil is considered a “dry oil” meaning it absorbs quickly. Both oils contain excellent amounts of antioxidant content and powerful anti-inflammatory effects.

Now, the herbs…

✿ Calendula: Since ancient times, calendula has been used as a “medicine for the skin” or “mother of the skin”. Calendula is a pretty phenomenal herb that helps speed up recovery of wounds and irritated skin by increasing blood flow and oxygen to the infected area. As far as it being exceptionally useful as a skin soother, it is one of my personal favorite herbs to use for anything skin-related. If calendula can relieve itching and encourage healing of blisters caused by chickenpox and shingles, just think what it can do for an itchy bug bite!

✿ Chickweed: (Stellaria media) Externally, chickweed helps relieve itching and inflammation and is generally soothing and moisturizing. (hence why so many herbalists used it in making salves/ointments) It can be used for any minor skin infection or irritation. Chickweed is very soothing for extreme itchiness caused by irritation and allergies. The demulcents in chickweed provide a moisturizing film to help soothe and protect the skin, while its saponins ease the itch.

✿ Comfrey: The allantoin content in comfrey leaves, with their ability to repair damaged cells and produce new ones, may help speed the healing of skin burns, insect bites and rashes, skin ulcers, and bed sores. Comfrey acts as a keratinolytic (causing the lysis or breakdown of keratin) when applied topically, allantoin helps to moisturize and soften skin and acts as a keratinolytic.

Keratinolytics soften keratin, a tough, inflexible protein found in the outer layer of the skin. By softening keratin, allantoin allows the skin to hold onto water better. This makes it moister, softer, and better hydrated. Keratinolytics also allow the outermost layer of skin cells to shed more easily, creating a smoother, moisturized and improved texture of skin.

✿ Plantain: Plantain is emollient, soothing, moistening, protecting, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-itch, analgesic, AND it repairs tissue. Plantain is excellent externally for all sorts of skin irritations, rashes, bites, stings, burns, bumps, cuts, scrapes, bruises, infections, and hemorrhoids. Plantain is rich in chemical components, aucubin and allantoin, which helps in reducing the body heat and provides a cooling effect to the skin. It is also very effective in providing a soothing and calming effect to the itchy skin abrasions and irritations.

The Rest of the Ingredients…

🐝 Beeswax carries antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties.

✿ Tea Tree Essential Oil: This is an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory essential oil that helps reduce the swelling and inflammation from mosquito bites. It can also prevent infection by killing bacteria around the bite. Tea Tree oil works by numbing the skin while simultaneously relieving discomfort and pain. Tea tree oil is also proven to have anti-inflammatory properties and it has been successfully used on humans and animals to reduce itching.

✿ Peppermint Essential Oil: Applying peppermint essential oil diluted in an herbal salve to itchy irritated skin helps alleviate the itch. It’s antiseptic properties also help disinfect the skin, keeping it free from skin irritating microbes that can cause itching. Peppermint essential oil also has anti-inflammatory effects that help reduce bug bite related inflammation and redness. The analgesic properties of peppermint together with the numbing effects of menthol found in peppermint essential oil help effectively manage the pain brought about by itchy pesky bug bites.

✿ Helichrysum Essential Oil: (Helichrysum italicum – NOT – Helichrysum- Gymnocephalum) Despite its rarity, it is one of the most powerful essential oils packed with anti-allergenic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties. It can relieve itching, reduce inflammation caused by insect bites, and promote healthy immune system function. Additionally, it can also be a preventative oil, fighting infections before they invade the skin.

✿ Frankincense Essential Oil: As a well-known skin tonic, the effects of frankincense essential oil on itching are mainly to prevent it from happening. With elasticity-increasing properties, as well as antioxidant effects that can prevent infection and eliminate old, unhealthy cells, this oil can prevent many of the factors that lead to itchy skin. Frankincense oil can help with wound healing and may decrease the appearance of scars. (a good addition for if you scratch too much!)

So there you have it. All the anti-itch goodness I could include for one small tin of After Bite Itch Relief salve!

CAUTION: Watch for signs of infection in any bite, especially tick and spider bites. If you get bit by a tick or a spider, keep it and put it in a little bag so an expert can identify it. Most spider bites are benign. However, a Brown Recluse or a Black Widow bite can be very dangerous and life-threatening. Be safe. A quick response from a physician will be needed in these situations.

It’s important to include an all-natural herbal salve in your family’s home first aid kit, as well as carrying some in your car first aid kit for traveling and camping trips. There are many over-the-counter products for itching and minor wounds and abrasions, for stings and sunburn, and for skin reactions like hives and poison ivy. And, all those products are expensive and contain synthetic chemical ingredients that can dry or irritate skin, and be absorbed through the pores into the bloodstream! Bleh! Choose Natural!

✨Reviews✨

“Fantastic seller, who truly cares about the organic herbs/plants she grows on her farm, the quality of her products and the satisfaction of her customers! This is a wonderful all-round salve for itchy skin, bug bites, wounds and scratches! Just what I needed! All organic and packed full with skin friendly plants, this salve is a great alternative to the chemical filled anti-itch creams sold at stores that rarely work imo. I’m very pleased with my purchase. Don’t hesitate to buy from Jodi at Bushyhead Botanicals, she’s the best! Thanks for everything!!!” ~ Katie