Cannabis Cream / Topical Recipe

[tobedetermined]

My supplies arrive today. I did a teeny bit of research on shea butter – which originally was pronounced she but shay works too. It might actually be good for you. The one to get is raw Grade A Pure Unrefined lovingly made by the village ladies of northern Ghana. A bunch of vids on YT if you want to see.

 

[VenerableHippie]

But I really fell in love with it when I saw what it did for my grandpa's skin lesions on his forehead. For 13 months I applied the Vaseline based ointment that his dermatologist gave me. I was worried that I shouldn't put it in open wound, so I tried a tiny spot. It worked. In 3 weeks it was really healing up. After 6 weeks of applying it every day, his entire forehead was healed.

I made a balm using Calendula and Hypericum cream. To which I added a small qty of cannabis oil. It is great for psoriasis.

 

[@peace]

Yeah it could likely substitute as a sublingual, I wouldn't on mine, but that's because I can't tell if my peppermint oil and shea butter are food grade. I have some edible cocoa butter. I am going to try adding it in my next batch, it could be a substitute for the shea butter in the recipe.

@tobedetermined @goingrey I am glad you are going to try it. I hope it brings relief.

@blondie yes I did try using a thc/ cbd combo, I and the people I gave it to didn't notice a difference, but it was in no way a scientific study. It was a 1:1 dispensary strain. Thc is awesome at pain management and since the cream doesn't get you high I tended to focus on that. Pure CBD is not something that I have tried though.

 

[goingrey]

Mine turned out pretty green. Maybe I used too much flower (no scale just eyeballed it). Also the flower was poorly trimmed which didn't help.

When making it mix well indeed. My first pour came out clear in the bottom and green on top. While it looked cool, it couldn't have been consistent regarding the actives.

The muslin (cheesecloth) worked fine but provided no benefit. The infused oil is very happy to leave the plant material, which in turn is crispy like potato chips. Can't squeeze anything out. Just use a strainer.

I spread some on skin that got sunburned. It itches, I think that means it's working! It does not itch on other parts of the skin.

It smells really good. The peppermint oil works very well in the combo.

And yes, it does work sublingually.

 

[@peace]

When making it mix well indeed. My first pour came out clear in the bottom and green on top. While it looked cool, it couldn't have been consistent regarding the actives.

I'm not sure if what you are noticing is the same or not, but I see a similar effect when I pour it in the jars, in my case it is that the first material hitting the jars solidifies quicker and then the liquid on top takes longer to set. Not saying that is what you saw though. In the picture I have of the jars filled in the recipe post, you can see a similar effect. The front two jars were filled first and were just about solid, whereas the back four are a greenish/ golden colour. When they finished setting they were all the same colour. I also used 1 year old tops for that batch so they were pretty golden when I used them which is why it isn't as green.

 

[goingrey]

I'm not sure if what you are noticing is the same or not, but I see a similar effect when I pour it in the jars, in my case it is that the first material hitting the jars solidifies quicker and then the liquid on top takes longer to set. Not saying that is what you saw though. In the picture I have of the jars filled in the recipe post, you can see a similar effect. The front two jars were filled first and were just about solid, whereas the back four are a greenish/ golden colour. When they finished setting they were all the same colour. I also used 1 year old tops for that batch so they were pretty golden when I used them which is why it isn't as green.

Nah that was fully clear. Not a big deal to pour back in the pot and mix of course. Just thought I'd mention it to highlight the importance of mixing really well to get an even distribution of everything.

I did notice that the color turned lighter from the bottom up as it settled so what you're saying is also correct.

The sunburn seems to be healing well with the topical. Amazing. Still, best to prevent getting burnt in the first place.

 

[@peace]

Nah that was fully clear. Not a big deal to pour back in the pot and mix of course. Just thought I'd mention it to highlight the importance of mixing really well to get an even distribution of everything.

I did notice that the color turned lighter from the bottom up as it settled so what you're saying is also correct.

The sunburn seems to be healing well with the topical. Amazing. Still, best to prevent getting burnt in the first place.

Understood! Thank you for your comments and knowledge, I never would have though of using it as a sublingual or for sunburns.

 

[blondie]

Just finished my first batch of this and applied onto various areas of aches and pains on my tired body. This really is a simple recipe and I hope it works for my situation.

I’ve also made it for skin that has gone through radiation treatment. I’ve spoken to the oncologists about this and they are intrigued. My first question, is it safe, met with quizzical looks, but not looks of disgust. They’ve never had a patient ask this or attempt to use this. The skin in question has begun to darken, as is apparently typical. It’s also begun to turn red like sunburn, which apparently is also quite typical. That this works on sunburn is very encouraging.

The Shea butter I ordered says clearly on it for external use only. The peppermint oil says the same. There must be different grades so be careful. My bees wax is different as I didn’t purchase cleaned cappings so the color was much darker than the jpeg above that shows pouring a light colored liquid.

Also mine began to solidify into two distinct layers. I got a spoon and stirred which did the trick. Immediately into the fridge and it solidified correctly.

 

[goingrey]

I guess the separation is because the beeswax by itself is not really an emulsifier, and you would have to add borax to convert it to one? But healthwise probably a better idea to mix well and refrigerate than to add borax.

 

[blondie]

Also wanted to add I use cheesecloth for straining very regularly. You can double or even triple fold it, creating a thicker straining material. I’ve nver needed to as a bit of material in the bottom has never really bothered me. Let settle and leave a small amount of liquid remaining in the pan also reduces the amount transferred.

Also my skin is quite greasy/oily with this on. I dont often use ointment but seems I need to thicken this Up if I make a second batch.

 

[exoticrobotic]

Thank you for such a detailed recipe. I look forward to making a batch.

You may also be interested in Copaiba oil. I have used this as a topical pain reliever and wound healer. It is very effective and shares many terpenes and compounds that Cannabis has.

The biggest of which is Beta Caryophyllene, a very effective full agonist of the CB2 receptor... In fact, to date, the only CB2 agonist not found only in Cannabis.

It smells rather nice too, slightly of bananas/Olbas oil.

 

[goingrey]

Interesting paper, seems like the oils themselves have some medicinal qualities:

Anti-Inflammatory and Skin Barrier Repair Effects of Topical Application of Some Plant Oils

Plant oils have been utilized for a variety of purposes throughout history, with their integration into foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. They are now being increasingly recognized for their effects on both skin diseases and the restoration ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[St. Phatty]

Have you tried testing it on a person with serious dry-skin issues ?

I started limiting my time in the hot tub at the gym, to 5 minutes.

I like sitting in there & talking to people, but, between taking hot baths & swimming ... skin gets dried out.

Don't want to go looking for a Holy Grail skin moisturizer.

BUT MAYBE - what you have really is the Holy Grail skin moisturizer.

 

[@peace]

Have you tried testing it on a person with serious dry-skin issues ?

I started limiting my time in the hot tub at the gym, to 5 minutes.

I like sitting in there & talking to people, but, between taking hot baths & swimming ... skin gets dried out.

Don't want to go looking for a Holy Grail skin moisturizer.

BUT MAYBE - what you have really is the Holy Grail skin moisturizer.

Hey. It is no holy grail lol. I don't think you will want to use that much of this cream, it is a bit oily as @blondie mentioned. I find it is better for targeted use. If you do try it I would be curious on the results, maybe you could mix it with normal skin moisturizer? I am going to make a batch soon where I swap out the coconut oil for cocoa butter, hoping that it reduces the oily feel a bit. I do have one person that I give this to who swears by it as a hand moisturizer though.

I thought I should also mention that the coconut oil that I use is the type that goes solid at room temperature.

 

[goingrey]

I'm kinda interested in trying olive oil. Seems like it has the best skin permeability of the plant oils. It would be oily and not solid at room temperature of course.

 

[@peace]

I'm kinda interested in trying olive oil. Seems like it has the best skin permeability of the plant oils. It would be oily and not solid at room temperature of course.

I started out making it with olive oil, but slowly reduced the amount until I stopped using it as it did make it more oily. I was using about 30-40% of the total oil as olive oil, I just blended it with the coconut oil for the extraction so that they were both infused.

I also used to add cayenne pepper (powdered) to the first batches I made as it is supposed to have pain relieving properties but I felt the risk of someone getting it in their eyes wasn't worth it.

 

[blondie]

I’ve been using my batch quite often now. I was putting way more than needed on. Less is better in my case at least. Much less oily feeling. I’m not sure yet it’s working. I’ve not put it on the radiation skin enough but it does not appear to be stopping progression of skin darkening.

what this is doing is giving me an unusual buzz. Not bad, just not a feeling I’ve experienced. Very mildly reminiscent of Whipits. Applying this ointment and finishing a few bowls in my new vape is quite nice. Anyone else feeling something?

 

[goingrey]

I’ve been using my batch quite often now. I was putting way more than needed on. Less is better in my case at least. Much less oily feeling. I’m not sure yet it’s working. I’ve not put it on the radiation skin enough but it does not appear to be stopping progression of skin darkening.

what this is doing is giving me an unusual buzz. Not bad, just not a feeling I’ve experienced. Very mildly reminiscent of Whipits. Applying this ointment and finishing a few bowls in my new vape is quite nice. Anyone else feeling something?

No buzz for me. That's an interesting observation from you as topical creams by themselves should not pass the blood-brain barrier. Maybe it's possible with open wounds and the like as some transdermal patches use microneedles and whatnot?

I do wonder if for something as severe as melanoma you would need something stronger, like straight RSO?

 

[blondie]

Isnt this ointment similar in concept to a nicotine patch? Nicotine is absorbed through the skin isn’t it? I don’t think those work through skin cuts but I’m not a medical expert nor a patch user. I would think thc would be the same though. It’s definitely doing something. I’ve gone days without putting on and this tingly body and head feeling goes away. An hour or two after applying, It comes back. Vape intensifies.... one thing I did different is added more weed to the mix. Theoretically this would make it stronger than the original peace recipe. Very grateful to peace.

I’m not using for melanoma actually. You might be right about rso.

 

[goingrey]

Isnt this ointment similar in concept to a nicotine patch? Nicotine is absorbed through the skin isn’t it? I don’t think those work through skin cuts but I’m not a medical expert nor a patch user. I would think thc would be the same though. It’s definitely doing something. I’ve gone days without putting on and this tingly body and head feeling goes away. An hour or two after applying, It comes back. Vape intensifies.... one thing I did different is added more weed to the mix. Theoretically this would make it stronger than the original peace recipe. Very grateful to peace.

I’m not using for melanoma actually. You might be right about rso.

No. Nicotine is water soluble and can pass the aqueous layers of skin. This is why farmers working with tobacco need adequate PPE. That said, some nicotine transdermal patches do use microneedles to improve absorption.

Cannabinoids are lipophilic and cannot pass the aqueous layers of the skin. There have been some developments in transdermal patches using microneedles and nano-systems.

The aqueous layers of the skin’s tissue beneath the stratum corneum present a rate-limiting step for hydrophobic cannabinoid diffusion [118,119]. Thus, in recent years, several nano-systems were proposed for the topical- and systemic-controlled delivery of cannabinoids, including micellar, liposomal, and nanosized formulations [120], as well as microemulgel [113], nano-emulsions [105,113], dendrimers, and polymeric nanoparticles [96,109,110,112]. Nano-conjugation or nano-encapsulation, as passive strategies, showed a promising potential in the transdermal delivery of cannabinoids to enhance their bioavailability, safety, stability, efficacy, and also to avoid the fluctuation of plasma cannabinoid concentrations during the treatment period, which is encountered in conventional routs of delivery [52,63,121,122]. Furthermore, physical enhancers, such as microneedles, showed a promising ability to deliver formulated lipophilic drugs to action sites [123]

The Transdermal Delivery of Therapeutic Cannabinoids

Recently, several studies have indicated an increased interest in the scientific community regarding the application of Cannabis sativa plants, and their extracts, for medicinal purposes. This plant of enormous medicinal potential has been legalised in ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This is rather advanced technology and the details go beyond my expertise. But even a layman can understand that infusing into an oil is not enough to get cannabinoids into the bloodstream transdermally. For better and worse, at least you can reap the benefits of a topical without worrying about a drug test.