This homemade DIY antibiotic ointment is great for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns. It’s not just antibiotic, it also has antiviral, antifungal, antimicrobial, analgesic, antiphotoaging, photo-protective, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. It is a pretty fantastic list right?
How Hard Is It To Make DIY Antibiotic Ointment?
Surprisingly it’s pretty easy to make this at home. It only takes about 10 – 20 minutes to make. Allow it to cool and then call it done. It’s just that simple.
You don’t have to have a whole bunch of fancy supplies to make it either. A double boiler or an insert will work just fine. I also use a medicine dropper to dispense the hot liquid into a container of your choice. I’ll show you those later on in the post.
There’s a recipe below if you’re interested in making it for yourself. I’m first going to break down the ingredients and what benefits they bring into this wonderful ointment.
Explanation Of Terms
- Antiviral – prohibits the growth of viruses
- Analgesic – pain reliever
- Anti-fungal – prohibits the growth of fungus
- Antibacterial – prohibits the growth of bacteria
- Antimicrobial – prohibits the growth of microorganisms
- Anti-photoaging – prohibits damage to the skin from wrinkles, lines, UV rays, and spots
- Antioxidant – protects against oxidation (damage) from free radicals
- Anti-inflammatory – reduces swelling, tenderness, fever, and pain
- Photo-protective – protects against UV rays
Ingredient Benefits:
- Virgin Coconut oil – has anti-fungal, antiviral, antibacterial, and analgesic properties. I love coconut oil. It has a great natural scent and has many useful properties for this ointment.
- Vitamin E Oil – is anti-photoaging, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and photo-protective.
- Castor oil – This oil is antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic. Castor oil is quite often overlooked, most people do not understand how awesome it really is. It has so many useful properties, I actually use this oil alone on bug bites, spider bites, rashes, and more. See my post on Castor oil for more uses!
- Beeswax – is antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory. Beeswax has such a wonderful scent and is very moisturizing for the skin.
Tools Needed To Make DIY Antibiotic Ointment
In order to make this ointment you’ll need a couple of things. You’ll be able to use these tools again and again. Additionally, you could even use these for other products that use wax.
I chose to use a lip balm container. It’s small and portable. A great size for your purse, first aid kit, or bug out bag.
I use a medicine dropper. You may already have some of these lying around. If you have bought any liquid medicine, one of these probably came with it. You will need one to put the hot wax/oil into the little containers.
To melt the wax you’ll need a double boiler. This is an essential tool because you can’t melt wax in just one pot. Melting wax in one pot could be a possible fire hazard.
The downside of a pot like this is that wax can be difficult to clean up completely. I like to have dedicated wax tools. I don’t use them for food purposes once they’re used for wax projects.
I have a melting pitcher that I place in a pot to melt my wax. Instead of having a double boiler, I have a dedicated melting pitcher. This pitcher can be placed in a stockpot.
I have a tall thin stockpot that I use. I hook the handle on the side of the pot while the wax heats up. It kinda looks like this narrow stockpot, except mine is some kind of old enamelware.
Another option is to just buy a cheap insert. These inserts are typically easy to clean and use. It’s the best of both worlds without the high price and it’s a nice space saver.
DIY Antibiotic Ointment Recipe
WARNING: Stop using immediately if a rash appears and get medical care. Speak with a medical professional before applying to skin. External use only. Some people have very sensitive skin and may have a bad reaction. Make and use at your own risk. This is not meant to cure, treat, or prevent any disease or disorder. This recipe has not been evaluated by the FDA.
This recipe makes about 1.5 cups of ointment. I prefer to use small containers that travel well. However, feel free to experiment and find the perfect container for you!
If you want to make more of this recipe, you can double this recipe easily.
DIY Antibiotic Ointment
This homemade DIY antibiotic ointment is great for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns.
Materials
- 1/2 cup Virgin Coconut oil
- 1/2 cup Castor Oil
- 20 drops Lavender Essential Oil (Use quality essential oil that can be used on skin)
- 10-15 drops Lemon Essential Oil (Use quality essential oil that can be used on skin)
- 1/4 cup Vitamin E Oil
- 1-2 oz Beeswax
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients, except for the essential oils into your pan.
- Heat on Medium, until all ingredients are liquid.
- Turn heat down to low, and add the essential oils.
- Stir really well.
- Use a medicine dropper to place in the desired container of your choice. Here is what I use, lip balm containers.
- Let it cool for 2-3 hours or overnight, and then place the lids on.
Notes
Some tips:
Keep the wax warm while you're filling the containers. I do this by turning off the heating element, but keeping the pan on the warm element.
The medicine dropper may get clogged with hardened wax. To fix this, use warm water and a pipe cleaner to clear out the wax.
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A Couple Of Tips Before You Get Started
If the wax/oil is not hot enough it will start to harden. It will be more difficult to use the medicine dropper. Try to keep the wax mix in the pan on the lowest heat while filling the containers, to keep it at an optimal temperature.
If the oil starts to harden just heat it back up and stir it again.
Clean the medicine dropper if it becomes hard to dispense the wax mix. Using hot water and a pipe cleaner will help.
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Sources:
- https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/oils/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
- http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/coconut-oil-effective-burn-wound-healing-agent
- http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/coconut-oil-has-antimicrobial-activity-candida-species
- http://www.bioriginal.com/page-articles/the-science-behind-coconut-oil/
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/18080873 - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/10.1002/jbm.a.34672/ abstract;jsessionid= 97112ED1AF843EC624498FA6CF3AC6 F6.f01t03?userIsAuthenticated= false& deniedAccessCustomisedMessage= - http://ajcn.nutrition.org/
content/53/4/1050S.short - http://link.springer.com/
article/10.1007/BF00203614# page-1 - http://www.goldenrule.com/health-wellness/benefits-of-vitamin-e-on-skin/
- http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/micronutrients-health/skin-health/nutrient-index/vitamin-E
- http://www.bee-hexagon.net/files/file/fileE/Wax/WaxBook1.pdf
- http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-305-beeswax.aspx?activeingredientid=305&activeingredientname=beeswax
How many containers does this recipe for antibacterial ointment make?
I bought a box of fifty containers, and I used them all. If I remember correctly I may have had a little to spare! Hope this helps, Crystal. Thanks for visiiting.
We are vegans and don’t use beeswax. Is there a substitute for this ingredient?
Hi Heather,
I like beeswax because it has antimicrobial properties, it’s usually good for the skin, and it has preservation capabilities.
So I would want a substitute to come somewhat close to that. I don’t know of any off the top of my head but I did find some interesting articles, about some vegan waxes, I found interesting. https://formulabotanica.com/6-vegan-waxes/
I would research each of the waxes and figure out which one would be perfect for making the antibiotic ointment.
They say most people substitute with something called candelilla. It doesn’t look like it meets the antimicrobial requirement. Not sure if any substitute will.
https://www.theplantguru.com/page/candelilla-wax-vs-beeswax/
This article says you’ll have to reconfigure the recipe since this wax is much denser than the beeswax.
Hope that helps. Let me know what you decide. I love to know how it all turns out!
-Kristi
Where can I find beeswax?
I get my Beeswax on Amazon. Here’s the (aff link) Beeswax
I added the link to the recipe too, so it’s easier to find, hopefully. Sorry about that!
Just an FYI, for non-kitchen people, you might want to change “double broiler” to “double boiler”
Can’t wait to make this! Will be nice to hand out to family and friends!.
Oh lol! Thanks for that. A double broiler is something totally different. I’ve fixed those typos!
I’m so glad! I give these along with my homemade chap balm to family and friends and they beg for more!
Thank you so much for finding those mistakes and letting me know about them!