A Practitioner’s Guide to Topical Herbal Remedies

Most of us are used to applying herbs to the skin for wounds, cuts, scrapes, contusions, injuries, broken bones, sore muscles, etc. Applying herbs to the skin is a very valid and essential treatment option, but topical application extends far beyond the skin. This expanded understanding opens up powerful possibilities for how we use herbs, unlocking true healing potential. 

The Concept of “Antimicrobial”

Certain qualities of herbs simply don’t work systemically. These qualities and actions only work when an herb is applied topically. Open up any herbal book these days, and you’ll see the word “anti” with some sort of pathogenic microorganism after it. You’ll see terms like antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, anti-amebic, anti-COVID, anti-influenza, and antiviral. 

Research suggests that the only way we can say an herb has a property against a specific organism is if it’s traditionally used to treat an infectious disease, or the plant, the extract, or an isolate from the herb is tested in a petri dish (in vitro) with a particular pathogenic microorganism. Then it is determined whether that herb, extract, or constituent neutralizes, kills, disables, or transforms that pathogen. If it does, that herb is considered to be antiviral or antibacterial. 

In my opinion, the “antiviral property” is somewhat sloppy. More specificity is needed in terms of what that means as it applies to a particular herb. In many instances, when an herb is tested, the constituent comes into contact with, for example, a virus in a petri dish, and then people extrapolate and consider that herb to be antiviral. So they start taking tinctures of it for a systemic influenza infection, and that doesn’t work. Or, an herb is tested against a particular virus, such as HPV or herpetic lesions. It might work on that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will work on another type of virus. My point is that for a lot of those “anti” actions, the herb must come into direct contact with the infected tissue. 

Let’s explore the topical action in-depth, and I’ll share some of the preparations, actions, and organ systems. We’ll talk about some herbs for each system as well. 

The Mucosa

When we think of the topical application of herbs, we usually think in terms of the skin, but we can also think of the mucosa as the inner skin. The mucosa is a continuation of the skin that’s on the surface of the body. The mucosa, as a tissue, lines all of the organ systems that are exposed to the outside world. This includes the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory system, the urinary tract, and the female reproductive system. The male reproductive system is an attribute of the urinary tract. However, the female reproductive system is distinct because, unlike male anatomy, female anatomy is internal and thus is composed of more mucosa. 

The organ systems I just mentioned all have an orifice that opens to the outside world, where we can administer an herb. We can apply an herbal remedy to that orifice to have a topical effect on the mucosal tissue of that system. The main exception is the urinary tract. We can put things in our sinuses, mouth, or ears. We can even do enemas for action on the colon. It’s not uncommon to do steams, boluses, or suppositories intravaginally for infections and more. However, the urethra is the only mucus membrane-containing organ system where we don’t typically insert things, and I don’t recommend it… for obvious reasons.

The Skin

Let’s start with the most obvious organ and the easiest place to apply topicals—the skin. We can apply herbs to the skin for open wounds such as cuts, scrapes, splinters, lacerations, and puncture wounds. Oftentimes, we use herbs topically for venomous stings and bites, contact with irritants and poisons like Nettles, Poison Oak, or Poison Ivy. We also use them for trauma injuries such as broken bones, sprains, strains, contusions, muscle injuries, and pain. We use herbs topically quite a bit for pain. The most common use would be for muscle pain, but they can be used for joint and headache pain as well.

Herbal Actions for the Skin

The primary action that is most relevant to the skin is vulnerary. Vulnerary refers to substances that are wound-healing. Vulnerary herbs have many subactions, such as astringent, whereby the herb will tighten, bind, and contract the tissues. This is usually through the presence of tannins that will knit proteins together, tighten and bind them. This helps to bind wounds back together over time.

Often, they’re inflammation-modulating, and it’s not uncommon for them to be styptic (or hemostatic), which helps stop bleeding. Many excellent styptic remedies are essential first-aid herbs. Many others have antimicrobial properties, such as antibacterial, antifungal, or antiviral. Again, I’m not a huge fan of these terms in every situation, but they are useful. It’s just important to use them with specificity. We have viral conditions such as herpes lesions and cold sores. We have bacterial infections that can occur on the skin. We have fungal infections, such as tinea pedis, athlete’s foot, and jock itch. So you can see that antimicrobial actions can be beneficial to consider for use on the skin. 

Demulcent herbs are good for dry and inflamed skin conditions to cool and soothe inflammation on the skin, especially when they’re dry and itchy. 

Finally, we have rubefacients, which are essentially topical circulatory stimulants to drive blood to a local area. Another term you’ll see for this is counterirritant, which is the same property, but it dilates the capillary beds, causing a slight irritation of the skin. Usually, a counterirritant will produce a bit of redness. The sting you get from Nettle leaf is counterirritation. If you put a bunch of cayenne pepper or mustard on the skin (you have to be careful with mustard, because it can raise blisters), that’s counter-irritation or the rubefacient property. 

So these are the main actions of herbs that you might consider applying topically to the skin. 

Topical Preparations for the Skin

Now we have some specific preparations that are important to know about and ideally, you’ll learn how to make these. 

Poultices are usually made with fresh herbs, which you crush, sometimes mixing with a bit of flour and sometimes a little water or oil if more liquid is needed. You can make poultices from powders, too. There’s an art to creating effective poultices, especially for pain, injury, muscles, broken bones, and other conditions. There’s a whole artistry to compounding, blending, and preparing effective poultices.

If you’re out in the field, you can simply pop the herb in your mouth, chew it up, and then apply it. One of the classic poultices is the spit poultice of Plantain for bee stings, splinters, and various first aid situations like cuts, scrapes, and wounds.

Plantain can even prevent anaphylactic reactions in some people from bee stings, especially if you’re doing a spit poultice. The benefit of the spit poultice is not only the ability to apply it topically, but you’re also swallowing the juice of the plant as you’re prepping your spit poultice, so you get some internal action there as well. Comfrey poultice is classically used for broken bones. Echinacea is a good poultice to use for any type of poisonous sting or bite, such as brown recluse or black widow spider bites, scorpion stings, or venomous snake bites. 

Fomentations and washes are the next type of topical application. Making a wash is just making an infusion or decoction of the herbal water extract of the herb, and washing an afflicted area with it. This is typically used for infectious-type situations. A fomentation begins as a wash, and then you soak a cloth in that tea and wrap or apply that medicated cloth to an affected area. 

Infused oils are a common way that herbs are applied topically, whereby you extract an herb in a fixed oil, such as olive oil, avocado oil, castor oil, etc. Infused oils are excellent when used as is, or they can be bases for preparing creams or salves. The nice thing about a salve is that it’s an infused oil with beeswax melted into it to solidify it a bit. You don’t want it too solid, though, because then it can become messy to apply. Getting your salve consistency down is key. The nice thing about a salve is the ease of application—they offer one of the most convenient ways of delivering herbs topically. 

A critical note on salves is that you have to be careful in using them on infectious skin situations, especially bacterial infections like MRSA, because those types of bacterial infections thrive in an anaerobic environment. The beeswax in the salve, if you put enough of it on, can create an anaerobic environment. So, specifically with resistant bacterial skin diseases and possibly fungal infections, you need to be careful that you don’t create an anaerobic environment, as sometimes those skin infections can spread to the extent of the salve application. Paul Bergner tells stories of this situation with cases of MRSA that would spread right to the border of where the salve was applied. So that’s important to be aware of with salves. 

A liniment is a liquid preparation that is usually sprayed on. These are traditionally alcohol preparations. If you put a tincture topically on the skin, it’s a liniment. But some liniments are strictly for topical usage, and because of that, some of them are prepared with isopropyl alcohol. You can’t take isopropyl alcohol internally because it isn’t a food-grade alcohol, so be sure to clearly label any liniments made with isopropyl alcohol that they’re for external use only!

Liniments are commonly used for musculoskeletal issues like sore muscles, injuries, and stiff joints. They are very common in Eastern medicine, which has its dit da jows, which are martial arts liniments. Martial arts schools often have their unique recipe of dit da jows, which are used for bruises, broken bones, sprains, and strains. Martial artists commonly get hurt. I grew up doing a traditional Japanese martial art, from the age of four to 18, and we had our specific recipe of dit da jow that was unique to the dojo where I trained. It was very aromatic, and it worked very well. It did have some toxic plants in it, including Aconite, so it was not for internal use. Because of the alcohol content, liniments are not used for open wounds, as it would be rather painful.

Herbs for Topical Application to the Skin

The herbs for application in the types of preparations discussed above are quite common, and they’re great herbs to start with, get to know, have around your house, in your car, and in your first aid kit.

Plantain (Plantago lanceolata or major), Calendula (Calendula officinalis), and Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) are our three primary classic wound healing herbs for topical use. It’s important to mention that Comfrey, if used for wounds, should not be used on puncture wounds. Comfrey heals from the top down, and it works so well at healing wounds that it can heal the surface of the skin, but not the deeper puncture. Therefore, debris can become trapped inside the unhealed, deeper part of a wound, preventing the wound from being properly cleaned. It can create an environment more prone to infection, so you have to be careful with these deeper wounds.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is excellent here. I use this herb as a primary styptic. I also like it for wound healing in salves and infused oils, as it is also vulnerary, inflammation-modulating, and astringent.

Cayenne (Capsicum annuum) is very nice for stiff sore muscles. I use it a lot myself, as someone who deals with chronic pain. I use a lot of topicals for my issues, and I have observed that Cayenne is one of the best topicals for pain. 

Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) is a key herb. Many people don’t realize that Echinacea is excellent topically. Anytime there is a topical infection, Echinacea is a good option to consider. It’s also key for any type of poisonous or venomous bites—copperheads, rattlesnakes, brown recluses, black widows, those types of things. Echinacea, topically and internally, is indispensable. 

I also like Arnica (Arnica montana) for pain. Arnica salves are classic for injury, pain, inflammation, etc. Also worth mentioning are crystalline menthol, a topical anodyne, Peppermint (Mentha x piperita) essential oil, and Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora). 

The Respiratory Tract

We can deliver herbs topically to the respiratory tract. I like to distinguish between the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract, a division done a bit differently by different people. Some people think of the upper respiratory system as the nose, sinuses, and throat only. And then once you get below that, you’re in the lower respiratory tract. I think of the upper respiratory tract as being the throat and up, along with the sinuses, while the lower respiratory system begins once you branch out into the bronchial system and down into the lungs, which is more specifically related to the lower respiratory system.

The upper respiratory tract is a relatively accessible area to deliver herbs topically, whereas the lower respiratory tract is generally not, with a few exceptions (discussed later). Anytime you swallow something, you are delivering herbs topically onto the throat, which is very good for those nasty throat infections such as tonsillitis, strep throat, and swollen lymph nodes.

We can also apply herbs topically to the sinuses in the form of sinus sprays or neti pots. So these are excellent methods for delivering herbs into the upper respiratory tract. 

Herbal Actions for the Respiratory Tract

A main action to consider would be astringents, especially in the upper respiratory tract. Astringents are hugely important here because it’s common for those upper respiratory infections to cause leakiness of the mucosa, either dripping out or dripping down the back of the throat, which is postnasal drip. There can be a lot of swelling in this area—of the tonsils and adenoids—and the ecosystem of the tissues because they are boggy and atonic. Astringents are helpful in these situations to not only dry up the excess of fluids but also to help the tissues regain their proper tone and stop leaking. 

In this way, some astringents for the upper respiratory tract can be considered decongestants. Bitters and pungents can be decongestants as well. The former typically do so by draining fluids downwards, and the latter by dispersing stagnation with their heat. Once again, with the respiratory tract, we see antimicrobial properties, including antibacterial and antifungal. 

And then we have expectorants, many of which are aromatic. While we typically think of expectorants as strictly for internal use, some expectorants can be delivered topically. Specifically, stimulant expectorants can effectively be delivered topically to the lower respiratory tract. This is because they are highly aromatic and rich in volatile or essential oils. Here we get to our few exceptions of qualities that can actually be delivered to the lower respiratory tract. 

When you burn an herb and you breathe in the smoke, for example, if you’re nebulizing Frankincense and Myrrh resins, and you’re breathing in all of that resinous smoke, and it’s touching your lungs—that is a topical action. Or if you’re diffusing some Eucalyptus essential oil, you breathe it in, and it touches your lungs. That’s a topical action. 

It was very eye-opening for me when I first realized that these are actually topical applications! And it changed the way I practice.

Topical Preparations for the Respiratory Tract

Central to delivering herbs topically to the respiratory system, whether upper or lower, is the delivery of volatile compounds through the Air Element. The main topical preparations for the respiratory tract are inhalations, such as steam. We can use steam inhalation via diffusers, by standing in a steamy shower, or taking a bath. We are using hot water to volatilize an herb. You can boil aromatic herbs in a tea, which would result in an aromatic tea that is great for inhalation. Even if you’re drinking a cup of Peppermint tea and you’re breathing in the menthol and all those volatiles in the Peppermint to open up your sinuses, that’s a topical action. We can also use volatile oils for inhalation by diffusing them in a bath or shower, and using a tent steaming technique. Finally, we have fumigation, which is the burning of aromatic herbs, smudging, and similar practices.

Then, we have poultices. The classic example is the mustard poultice, which is very rich in aromatic oils. However, never use straight mustard powder, because you’re likely to burn yourself, so be sure to mix it with flour first. I once made the mistake of doing a straight mustard powder respiratory poultice and raised blisters on the skin… not a very smart move on my part! (But that’s how we learn sometimes!)

Next, we have salves and infused oils. These are not your typical wound healing salves with Calendula and Comfrey, but rather what I think of as “balsams,” or very resinous and aromatic type ointments; think of Icy Hot or Vicks VapoRub. These everyday over-the-counter products are inspired by traditional topical herbal treatments for respiratory conditions. It’s common for people to overlook topical treatment with infused oils or salves. Still, they are excellent treatments that provide not just symptomatic relief but can aid in clearing the infection. They can be fantastic for delivering antimicrobial, volatile oils to the respiratory tract. They can help to open up, dilate, and relax the respiratory tract. They can even penetrate through the skin and help break up thick, stagnant mucus so that it can be expectorated. 

Next, we have simple salt water and neti pot rinses for the sinuses. Often, if you tilt your head back and breathe a little, you can get it down your throat as well. This can be very good for washing the local area. You can also medicate your neti pot with an herbal tea or tinctures, rather than just using water and salt. These medicated neti pots are excellent for addressing sinus infections as well as seasonal allergies, as they rinse the irritants out of the tissues, tonify the mucosa, and deliver antimicrobial properties. 

Nasya is the application of medicated oils up into the nose and sinuses, and letting them permeate. In Āyurvedic medicine, both the bottle of the infused oils and the process itself are called nasya. These are especially useful for treating sinus conditions on the go, where making a medicated neti pot is impractical. 

The same is true with saline sprays, which are a common over-the-counter option for rinsing and medicating the sinuses, but we can make our own mixtures with highly effective herbs. You could put a little xylitol in there (and many formulas already contain it), or add small amounts of tinctures or glycerin to your spray. Usually, two ounces of water and a teaspoon of glycerin are about right. You can add up to 30 drops of tinctures for chronic sinusitis and other sinus concerns.

Herbs for Topical Application to the Respiratory Tract

Now we’ll go into some good remedies for topical application to the respiratory tract. Poplar buds (Populus trichocarpa) is one I recommend both topically as a salve and as a tincture. Sometimes, if you take an aromatic tincture and put it in your mouth and then just breathe in, you’ll get some topical effect that way, too, if it’s a very aromatic herb. Poplar Buds are resinous buds that you can collect in the winter. They grow all along our rivers here in northwest Washington, so I’ve used that medicine a lot, and it can be very helpful. 

Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) is a classic, in the form of essential oil, for treating coughs. A lot of our aromatic mints are excellent here; my two favorites are Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and Oregano (Origanum vulgare). These are excellent as teas, tinctures, and also as volatile oils. These are very good in infused oils to create a vaporous salve. Osha (Ligusticum porteri) is great here as well. This is a classic herb used by the North American natives. It is richly aromatic, though it is a bit at risk ecologically, so maybe it’s not the best to use. Still, I include it here because it’s very rich in essential oil and is an excellent medicinal herb for the respiratory tract.

Tangerine essential oil (Citrus reticulata) is one to mention here, though I don’t use or recommend straight essential oils often. Tangerine peel’s volatile oils are beneficial in vaporous salves to clear and relax spasmodic coughs.

Finally, we have kitchen remedies. Mustard (Sinapis alba), as mentioned earlier, and Onions (Allium cepa) and Garlic (Allium sativum) are classic remedies rich in sulfur-containing compounds that are highly expectorant. In fact, they’re absorbed directly into the skin and will travel through the blood to be excreted through the lungs. This is why you can do a garlic foot bath and end up with garlic breath!. Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) can be used here, delivered in a neti or nasya. Anytime we have something infectious, Echinacea is a good option to consider. Andrographis (Andrographis paniculata) can be used here as well, for insufflation up the nose.

There are other remedies that I’ll cover in a separate post later on, to continue our theme of topical remedies. We’ll zoom in a bit more and talk about how to create medicated neti pots, which is something with which I recently had an awesome personal experience.

The Digestive System

This is an easy system to overlook when considering topical effects. Whenever you ingest an herb, you usually get a topical effect on the digestive system. When you drink a cup of tea, that tea goes through your system and touches your esophagus all the way down. It touches the stomach, small intestine, and then gets down into the large intestine, which is typically where water is absorbed. So, in this way, you have quite a bit of topical contact with tissue in this system.

Using the topical effects of medicinals for the GI can be very useful for infections, for dry constipation to get the mucosal membranes secreting more, for healing of wounds in the GI, staunching bleeding, alleviating gastric pain and ulceration, and for things like leaky gut syndrome.

Many people have impaired intestinal epithelial membrane function, and topical applications can be very useful. Diarrhea is another place we might want tonic, astringent herbs to go in there to slow down diarrhea—this is a topical effect. 

Herbal Actions for the G.I. Tract

The concept of using a vulnerary for the digestive system was a mindblower for me when I first learned about it from Paul Bergner. This concept helped me to help a lot of people, so I tip my hat to Paul Bergner—Thank you, Paul, for everything that you do. 

Just like we use them to heal wounds on the skin, we can use vulneraries topically to heal wounds in the gut. We can use these for conditions such as gastric ulcers, intestinal ulcers, and leaky gut syndrome. As mentioned with the skin, vulneraries can help to modulate inflammation.

Oftentimes, these preparations are astringent. All of our astringents for the gut are worthy of consideration for topical use, especially if there’s any sort of bleeding condition (such as ulcers), diverticulitis, diarrhea, or general loss of tone in the intestinal tissue. 

Demulcents can also be very useful here. The odd thing about demulcents, especially the mucilaginous ones, is that when you drink a slimy, slippery, thick marshmallow infusion, for example, none of that crosses the gut wall. If those polysaccharides were to enter your bloodstream, that would not be a good thing. Polysaccharides are very large compounds, so none of them cross the gut wall, yet they moisten the lungs and the urinary tract. You can take them internally, and they will moisten the female reproductive system. There seems to be a reflex that occurs, where something in the digestive system is triggered. This causes the mucosa to increase secretions systemically.

Additionally, since you’re swallowing them, those demulcents also come into direct contact with the gut mucosa, and this is how the demulcents impact the gut. Of course, some demulcents work on the urinary tract or respiratory tract more than others, but they all work on the GI. 

Antimicrobials are another herbal action that comes into play in the GI tract, such as antibacterials and antifungals. This is also where we see antiamoebic, antiparasitic, and anthelmintic actions, which are all essentially different ways of saying the same thing. In this category, we have remedies like Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Clove (Syzygium aromaticum), Neem (Azadirachta indica), and Long Pepper (Piper longum). All of these herbs are excellent antimicrobials. You want them to come into contact with the digestive tissues, so taking them in tinctures should work well. Still, I believe that drinking them in the form of infusions, decoctions, or even powders mixed in water or taken as capsules works even better, although they’re really tough to get down due to their taste. 

Styptics are what we would use to treat any sort of gut bleeding. There can be bleeding with ulcers, though, of course, if someone’s bleeding a lot, they need to go to the hospital. However, we can use styptic herbs for a little bit of blood in the stool, internal hemorrhoids, or the minor bleeding that can occur with Inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis, and Crohn’s.

Inflammation-modulating is another herbal action we can use in the realm of topical preparations in the GI Tract.

Topical Preparations for the G.I. Tract

In terms of preparations, it’s important to consider the amount of surface area in the digestive system. If you have systemic inflammation in the gut or throughout the whole GI tract, you want the herbs to come into contact with those tissues. That’s a lot of tissue to cover, so we want a substantial amount of powder. In terms of liquids, if you think of taking five ml of tincture, which is a good-sized dose, pour five ml of tincture out on a table and see how much surface area it covers. Then pour eight to 12 ounces of tea on a table and see how much surface area it covers. Obviously, the difference is vast. So infusions, decoctions, or a larger dose of powdered herbals mixed with eight to 12 ounces of water are the best ways to administer herbs topically to the gastrointestinal tract. 

Tea enemas and oil enemas can be used for topical action on the colon. I don’t personally use these or recommend them often, simply because I’m not as educated on them as others. However, I would lean towards the Ayurvedic approach to enemas (basti), which are usually administered as oils (not coffee!).

Another thing to consider is that oftentimes alcohol tinctures are absorbed in the mucosa, whether the buccal mucus membranes in the mouth or the mucosal membranes in the stomach. Tinctures won’t get very far down into your digestive system; they will absorb pretty quickly. If you want to administer medicine to the colon, for example, drinking decoctions or infusions or taking powders mixed in water is the way to go. That said, many herbs taken as tinctures will still impact the intestinal tract through their reflex actions, such as the case with bitters, for example. 

Then, of course, there are topical applications for the lower opening into the GI tract, around the anus, for conditions such as hemorrhoids or an itchy bum. You can put some powdered Calendula mixed with tapioca flour or another herb or substance to alleviate itchiness. Sometimes the tinea that leads to jock itch can spread around the opening of the anus, so powders, salves, and other topical treatments are available for these situations to both provide antifungal properties, but sometimes also simple moisture control is important.

Applying Witch Hazel extract, astringent salves, and sitz baths are all great for topical application here. Sitz baths are helpful for both anal and vaginal complaints.

Herbs for Topical Application to the G.I. Tract

As discussed, here in the G.I., we have vulnerary as a main action. So the big three herbs to use here, once again, are Calendula, Plantain, and Yarrow. 

Yarrow and Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) are our top-notch styptics for the digestive system. 

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) is my go-to demulcent for the GI. Slippery Elm (Ulmus rubra) is also effective, but it’s a bit ecologically threatened, so Marshmallow is preferred. The only time I would use Slippery Elm is if someone is very weak, deficient, emaciated, dry, and malnourished. If I want to give them a little extra nutrition, that’s where I might think of using Slippery Elm. 

Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) is a remedy I learned from David Winston as a specific for gut repair. This herb makes a lot of sense here, as it’s moistening, cools heat, inflammation, and irritation, and is an excellent inflammation-modulating herb for inflamed tissue. It is also vulnerary—wound healing—and it is a nervine, so I like it for people who have some digestive issues and are a little nervous. It has some immunomodulating effects too and is useful for the immune dysregulation that can accompany situations like impaired epithelial membrane function.

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is another great one as an astringent applied topically, but also taken internally. Internally, we would not use Witch Hazel extract, but it’s a good astringent. Astringents are often indicated for ulcerations. That’s where you see things like Oak bark (Quercus alba), or Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).

Female Reproductive Tract

Conditions such as candidiasis, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis are infections of the female reproductive system. Topical treatments are beneficial in these cases. They can even be used in some instances of cervical dysplasia. Some people use herbs topically for fibroids and other female reproductive tract imbalances. 

Herbal Actions for the Female Reproductive Tract

Antimicrobial is a key property here; antifungal and antibacterial actions are particularly important. Antiviral action is applicable for herpes simplex lesions and HPV.

Vulneraries are helpful for general wound healing. Astringents can be excellent to heal excess discharges and to bring greater tone to the mucosa.

Topical Preparations for the Female Reproductive Tract

The main preparations we use for the female reproductive system are vaginal douches. These can be applied with a douching syringe or with vaginal cups, where the cup is inserted, left overnight, and then removed in the morning.

Suppositories and boluses are essentially salves that are poured into bullet-shaped molds to make them easier to insert. Many folks these days speak of certain types of steams, but I would argue that you’re quite limited regarding what types of herbal constituents can be applied topically through a steam. It would be much more efficient to deliver herbs in the forms above to get the broadest spectrum of constituents delivered to the reproductive tissues.

Herbs for Topical Application to the Female Reproductive Tract

Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) is a top remedy, and any of the berberine-containing herbs, such as Oregon Grape root (Berberis aquifolium), are applicable here because these herbs are good broad-spectrum antimicrobials. Goldenseal is nice because it is also a tonic to the mucosal membranes, restrains excess secretions, and restores the proper function of the mucosa. 

Once again, we have Calendula, Plantain, and Yarrow, the latter especially if there’s any bleeding. Echinacea is an important herb to think of as well. Echinacea is commonly combined with Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria) as a powerful combination for the treatment of a wide variety of infections. Wild Indigo is a low-dose herb because it’s very strong, but it has been used topically to treat things like HPV infection, which can cause cervical dysplasia. Usnea (Usnea spp.) is another herb to consider for the female respiratory tract.

Other Areas to Use Topicals

Let’s round out our exploration of redefining topicals by looking at some other places we can use them, such as the eyes and ears. 

A lot of the herbs we’ve already discussed can be used for the eyes, such as Calendula and Plantain. The main issue with preparations for the eyes is that it’s essential to filter the herbs well before using them, as well as to salinate the teas to make them less stingy when you put them in your eyes.

Typically, we use water extracts. Teas are easy to make and effective. Even easier, though, is a simple remedy where you soak a Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) tea bag in water until it is well hydrated and apply it to your eyes. You can also use a tea bag of Black tea (Camellia sinensis). This is like an instant poultice that works very well for soothing the eyes from issues like pink eye or conjunctivitis, blepharitis, scratches to the eyeball, which I’ve had happen three or four times, and is very painful. Goldenseal is excellent for the eyes, specifically for infections. 

For the ears, we typically use infused oils for infections such as otitis media. Garlic-infused oil is the classic remedy for the ears. Some people use Propolis (Resina propoli) or Usnea (Usnea spp.), but Garlic works very well, and it’s easy to grab right in your kitchen, and if not, it’s right down the road at your grocery store. You can also add a little St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) in there, mainly for the pain associated with an ear infection. The St. John’s Wort is there to cool and calm the nerve pain.

I want to close with a quick side note on essential oils. I don’t use or recommend a lot of essential oils. When I do, I do not use them neat, meaning applying them directly onto the skin. There are two exceptions: Lavender and Tea Tree are usually gentle enough to be used neat. Most other essential oils should be diluted with a carrier oil. You can put a little puddle of carrier oil into your hand, and then add a drop or two of essential oil, mix, and apply the mixture where you need it. I never recommend taking pure essential oils internally, unlike some popular companies recommend.

I hope this article has helped redefine your thinking on the topical application of herbs.