Homemade Muscle Rub With Essential Oils For Muscle Pain

Sick of dealing with muscle pain? Want fast, effective relief? This homemade muscle rub with essential oils is my favorite way to ease your pain while utilizing natural ingredients.  Instead of putting harsh chemicals on your skin, whip up a batch of this great homemade muscle rub to have on hand for aches and pains.

It is no secret we love essential oils and their many uses.  One of my favorites is that I can make homemade products like this homemade muscle rub that save me money, are natural and without harsh chemicals, and helpful after long days when my body just aches.

Homemade Muscle Rub With Essential Oils

This salve is great to make and keep on hand for any minor aches or pains in your muscles.  You can even make this to give as gifts to friends who you know could benefit from having a more natural topical cream for their minor muscle aches.  It is ideal for those who are into sports, weight lifting, or who have harder manual labor jobs that take a toll on their bodies.

I am an advocate of using essential oils safely.  So, when I say to use essential oils for muscle pain, I realize how important it is to put them in a great carrier oil.  

This homemade muscle rub is a perfect solution.  It makes an ideal way to topically apply some great essential oils that often ease and soothe muscles and muscle pain.

What You Need for Homemade Sore Muscle Salve

Note: These directions have been updated for how I currently make salves.  The older method worked well for me, in the summer. With colder temps it was a little too thick.  However, I learned this method works better because it is easier to customize and adjust consistency.

Shop My Essential Oil Supplies

Love oils as much as I do? Check out these tools to keep them organized & create homemade products with them!

Wall storage rack for essential oils.Carrying case for essential oils.4 diffuser necklaces laying on a table.3 mini diffusers on a desk in front of a plant.
Salve containers in a pyramid with loose containers in front.15 cobalt blue spray bottles on a white background.24 roller bottles, mix of cobalt blue and amber, on a white background.Collection of amber essential oil bottles, dropper lids, and two silver funnels on a white background.

How to Make Sore Muscle Salve:

Set out your containers first and have them all ready to be filled, so you aren’t scrambling to do that when the wax is perfect, or you can run the risk of burning it and losing its properties.

Put your coconut and sweet almond oil into a medium pot on medium heat.

Add the beeswax, stirring until completely melted.

Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly.

Add your essential oils, stirring well.

Pour the mixture into your containers and seal once it has cooled to room temperature.

Allow your containers of homemade muscle rub to cool completely.  Cover with a lid, and add a label if desired.  You can use any size container, but I like these smaller ones for gifting purposes.  

Once the rub has cooled it will solidify again.  You just need to scoop a bit out with your fingers to rub into muscles.

What if I don't have sweet almond oil?

Macadamia nut oil, apricot kernel oil, grapeseed, sunflower, and safflower can all be used. My mom uses olive oil instead of the coconut and almond oil combo in her salves – we have the same basic recipe we both use for most of our salves. 

If I don't have sweet almond oil, my preference is actually Jojoba oil. The type of oil you use will affect how much beeswax you use a little but the spoon test helps you adjust to get the right consistency for the oils you use as well as room temperature in your house.

Should I use beeswax beads or shaving beeswax off a block? 

Beads/pellets/pastilles seem to have a higher oil content so they don't solidify the same as a beeswax bar. Since I changed methods, I haven't used the beeswax beads.  Shaved beeswax seems to provide more consistent results and only takes a few minutes to shave.

As with any topical application that includes essential oils, do a test patch first.  While it is rare for anyone to have a reaction to essential oils that have been blended with carrier oils like this, it is best to be safe.  

This sore muscle salve recipe is a great choice to help ease minor muscle aches and pains.

Have you ever made a homemade pain relief salve before?

Other Homemade Body Products:

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4 from 30 votes

Homemade Sore Muscle Salve

Homemade Muscle Rub with Essential Oils is ideal for rubbing away pain in sore muscles! Made with essential oils and an easy homemade salve base to help ease your pain.
Course DIY & Crafts
Keyword diy salve, essential oils, herbs, homemade salve, lavender, sleep
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Author Savanah

Ingredients

  • 1 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup almond oil olive oil, or grapeseed oil (whichever you have on hand and prefer)
  • 4 ounces beeswax
  • 15 drops pure rosemary essential oil
  • 15 drops pure marjoram essential oil
  • 10 drops pure lavender essential oil
  • 10 drops pure lemongrass essential oil

Instructions

  • Put your coconut and sweet almond oil into a medium pot on medium heat.
  • Add 2 ounces of beeswax, stirring until completely melted.
  • Prefer the spoon test (see note) and add more as needed
  • Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly.
  • Add your essential oils, stirring well.
  • Pour the mixture into your containers and seal once it has cooled to room temperature.

Notes

The Spoon Test:

Set out a piece of wax paper. Dip a spoon into your oil/beeswax mixture and lay on the wax paper. Give it a few minutes to cool and check the consistency. Add more beeswax and recheck as needed until you reach the desired consistency.

How to use Homemade Sore Muscle Salve:

Apply to sore muscles as needed.

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20 Comments

  1. Hello there
    I am going to try this cream as we all suffer with sore muscles in my house
    It is a permanent thing with us

    Thankyou
    Sharon

    1. Tammy,

      Yes, there are a few different oils you can substitute instead of using almond oil. Jojoba, olive oil, or Argan oil would be your best bets.

      Savanah

    1. As written it makes about 5 ounces. How many jars depends on what size you use. For the size jars I used, it makes about 5 jars. You can easily double or triple it to make more jars to give away 🙂

  2. I am extremely sore today, so I will making this up soon ! We however, have a lavender allergy in the house. How important is it to the recipe ? Is there something else that I can substitute for the properties that it adds to the effect ? There are so many oil recipes I would like to try that call for lavender & I just don’t know what I can substitute or just leave it out.

    1. Trina,

      It’s primarily used for the soothing, relaxation effect. You could substitute with chamomile or just omit in this recipe. For others, it depends on whether it is included for scent, relaxation, or healing properties. For more information, you can check out this guide on essential oil substitutions. Hope that helps!

  3. I tried another recipe that included Wintergreen Essential Oils but I found out that Wintergreen can affect people who take blood thinners (I don’t but my hubby does). I used it while I had a cold and was feeling achy.. I have a weak blood vessel in my nose and it started to bleed and it took 4 1/2 hours to get it to stop – I was ready to go to the hospital – it really frightened me.. I often get a nosebleed with a cold but never one like this one. I’m blaming the severity on the Wintergreen.maybe affecting the clotting. I threw out the formula I made. I will try this one because it doesn’t contain the wintergreen. Now what do I do with an almost full 10 ml bottle of Wintergreen?

    1. Jane,

      I’m so sorry you had that issue. Do you remember how much Wintergreen was in it? Wintergreen is one that just sits on my shelf now because I have learned that it adversely affects many & am not willing to risk using around my kids or pets.

  4. Is there something else I can use instead of coconut oil? I love this recipe and make it all the time. I wanted to make my Aunt some, but she’s allergic to coconut.

    1. Jenny,

      Yes, you could use more of the almond oil (or another carrier oil of your choice). You will have a thinner salve this way though.

  5. I see a lot of DIYs using Rosemary when it comes to healing, both physically and mentally. Surely going to invest in it. I love how you created it. It looks so neat and fine 🙂

    1. Which oil you choose to use can change shelf life a little, so I recommend planning on about six months.

      Almond oil is good for about six months to a year, depending on when you purchased it and how it is stored. Olive oil lasts a little longer, about 18-24 months. The coconut oil is good for about 2-3 years. You can also go off the shortest expiration date on the oils you use to help guide.

  6. Can I omit all of the essential oils and add just store bought cbd oil instead ? So, coconut oil, almond oil, beeswax and cbd oil, thank you.

    1. Sue,

      You could definitely make a salve using CBD oil. The essential oils are added to this particular recipe for their benefits. Instead of substituting for the essential oils, I would just add a bit of CBD oil in place of the almond oil.