Aspirin and Pepto Bismal are staples in most American medicine cabinets; back in the 60’s and 70’s in middle America they would also contain Watkins Inhalant with its distinctive strong eucalyptus scent that mothers would rub on their children’s chests or put into vaporizers; additionally every cabinet housed a drawing salve by Watkins that was brown and gooey in texture, just next to band-aides in each drawer.
When the Sisters first made their salve in fall 2014, they could never have predicted it would become one of their essential household medicines. When formulating it however, they knew it had multiple uses so simply named it’multi-purpose CBD salve’.
Objective of Salve mes The primary goal of salve was to provide people with something gentle that could help alleviate muscle and joint discomfort. That was its mission.
Native American cultures have for decades or centuries produced cannabis liniments using just rubbing alcohol soaked with plants; many still use this way for muscle and joint pain relief. Sister Kate wanted something gentler on the skin with multiple oils to maximize absorption.
Since 2009, topical salve has accounted for more than fifty percent of sales from Sister Maria’s Sisterhood. Even with product expansion such as adding pet lines, CBD Plus (supplying raw cannabis compounds), super-strength oil, mushroom coffee line and mushroom coffee line offerings – the topical salve remains at the core of her sisterhood’s sales efforts. Sister Maria points out that customers only become upset with them when we run out of larger sizes of topical salve.
The Process
The Sisters create topical salves using the same method they do all their products: handcrafted in an environment filled with spiritual significance and under the lunar cycles. Over the years, they have made efforts to perfect their salve recipe; although its original formula remains intact, some ingredients have been improved upon and enhanced accordingly.
Initial feedback from men about smelling of lavender led the Sisters to implement mint alternatives. Later during a pandemic outbreak, they experimented and tested higher quality beeswax products from multiple vendors, dramatically improving the application experience.
As soon as they had received scientific proof from Oregon laboratories about the resilience of raw cannabis compounds, the Sisters modified their recipe accordingly.
Failures Taught Us Not to Deviate From Natural Plant Material
In their first year of operations, the Sisters experienced difficulty consistently getting THC levels below.3%. When they attempted using CBD crystals from Italy as a fix for this problem, however, nothing worked – it wouldn’t bind with coconut oil and formed lumpy chunks on top – similar to sugar coating an otherwise-good salve product.
Sister Sophia spoke on this matter: “We learned through experience that isolating compounds isn’t necessarily the best approach when using cannabis for medicine.
Sister Kate conducted an analysis on 25 CBD brands found on popular ‘best of CBD’ lists published in Los Angeles and San Francisco, studying their brands closely. An initial look revealed that nearly half did not provide CBD topical salve; these companies were disregarded from further analysis leaving 14 remaining on the list, including Sisters CBD Products LLC.
Of the remaining fourteen products, only half have available test results to support their potency claims. They might in fact contain test results, but these won’t be made public and available at point of purchase.
Of the seven that did have test results, only two — Sisters and Go Green — had results less than 90 days old, with others dating back as far as summer 2021.
Which would be worse: no testing at all or testing that does not show value?
Market Analysis Chart What Should Buyers Ask mes
The Buyer Should Assume When purchasing salve from any given company, they should first ask whether the salve company uses actual plant products, or are simply mixing oils from multiple suppliers together to produce their product – although mixing may still result in quality products at a more reasonable cost as it requires far less work on their part. If they use less effort in producing their salve than doing everything from scratch themselves.
Does the salve company use cannabis plant extract or CBD isolate? Stores offering products made from CBD isolate may advertise that they contain no THC; this tells many consumers that their medicine won’t work as effectively. All CBD products tend to work more effectively with less likelihood of negative side effects (like headaches) when some THC is present even at microdose levels.
Does the salve company test regularly? Regular lab testing for potency is becoming more essential, particularly as testing technology evolves and can detect numerous medicinal compounds.
Sister Sophia explained, “For years we had purchased “organic” beeswax from a Sacramento company which tested clean year after year, test after test; however, in our seventh year ordering from them a pesticide showed up in one batch, necessitating us to switch vendors; their “organic” stopped being organic at some point but our routine testing alerted us before them did – testing is key to managing medicinal batches without it!”
Sisters of the Valley stand out among other brands by investing monthly in lab testing, using raw plant medicine in their formula, and employing trustpilot as an independent third-party review service to manage product and service reviews for them.
Subtracting all companies with outdated test results leaves only Sisters of the Valley and Go Green on your list of thirteen. Go Green posts current test results but differs by using isolate instead of plant-derived ingredients in its formula; raw compounds do not appear on other oils made for absorption; and there is no third-party reviewer used by their company.
The Sisters salve fulfills every key criteria.
Referring to the chart below.
Why We All Should Care about Raw CBD
In Oregon during the final stages of the pandemic, scientists were shocked to discover the antibacterial qualities of raw plant medicine through covid experiments with rats. Within months, Sisters modified their salve recipe to incorporate these raw healing compounds. As can be seen from the chart below, acidic (raw) compounds increased, with similar increases seen for CBC and CBG compounds.
Raw compounds should be valued because they contain powerful healing components. Furthermore, these raw substances help strengthen our overall resilience against infection and disease by creating an entourage effect that strengthens overall resiliency against disease and infection.
CBDA According to projectcbd.org: CBDA’s raw botanical counterpart demonstrates great potential as a therapeutic compound, especially when treating cancer, anxiety, epilepsy, treatment-resistant nausea and vomiting, or other chronic medical conditions.
CBGa research is in its infancy. While more information is being accumulated about CBG, doctors in Maine and California are already using controlled doses of it to treat pain, anxiety, sleep disturbances and autism symptoms.
CBCa Although less known, CBC is used in treating depression and mitigating cancer treatment symptoms, promote the growth of new brain cells, act as an anti-inflammatory and provide pain relief.
Studies are ongoing into the exact medical contributions of CBCa and CBGa; however, science has already declared their combined actions against infection to promote resilience. Although little is known (yet) regarding how isolated compounds prevent disease, their raw components certainly garner worldwide scientific interest.
Customers Report Success
From its inception, Sisters of the Valley kept meticulous records of customer feedback and reviews through an excel spreadsheet. Furthermore, a separate review website was set up as laws were so stringent they did not allow product reviews to appear alongside CBD products on virtual store shelves; due to FDA rules on reviews being considered claims; anyone saying they use our salve instead of sleeping pills constitutes making such claims – something our sisters did not anticipate until later years of operations when FDA decided product reviews could no longer reside therein.
Several years ago, the Sisters employed Trustpilot to manage, host, and share publicly their customer reviews. At first, product reviews weren’t permitted – only service reviews. Plus there was no way for reviews linked directly back to their store… It all felt daunting at first. But all obstacles have now been removed.
“I believe the pandemic brought the world back into focus,” states Sister Kate. “While we still can’t legally advertise anywhere, at least our reviews provide some evidence.” It’s an encouraging first step.
Peruse reviews here, and one quickly gets the sense that people rely on Sister Maria and her team for pain relief. Sister Maria notes that most negative reviews come from former Sisters or people opposed to social-democratic politics; those displeased by that are usually ex-Sisters or people not fond of her social-democrat politics who leave negative reviews.
Top Uses for Sisters Multi-Purpose CBD Salve
Many satisfied users have repeatedly reported successful applications and uses for this salve:
Arthritis – CBD may help increase joint flexibility while providing pain relief. Muscle Pain – quickly absorbed CBD medicine is carried deep into muscles and bones for relief.
Skin burns and lesions – The oil-based salve is recommended sparingly to allow skin cells to breathe during healing, so the sisters suggest applying sparingly only once daily for wounds or burns; burns may heal quickly if applied right away; it also works quickly and efficiently on most mouth sores, sore noses from colds, blisters, toothaches and skin rashes (including diaper rash).
Agitation, Anxiety and Sleeplessness – To ease agitation, anxiety or insomnia, rub a topical salve on your temples or behind the neck before sleeping for a calming effect or when experiencing a panic attack. Also effective when applied directly onto upset babies’ limbs as well as those of children suffering with cancer and chemotherapy patients.
Other Uses
Sprinkling generous amounts of sea salt over the top layer of salve in a jar or tin and allowing it to set for some time will make that layer act as a drawing salve.
When oil, grease or sticky THC builds up on your hands, using topical salve rather than soap and water can keep them soft and supple even after years of hard, dirty work.
Spiritual World
The Sisters of the Valley create and test all products according to lunar cycles; new moon batches start production while full moon batches conclude their run of tests.
Sister Sophia expressed how the process is different for them: “We do not have or desire a factory; instead we meditate and pray throughout. We believe sacred healing energy affixes itself to each medicine we make and travels directly to those needing healing.”
Every jar we craft by hand and every batch lab tested is an expensive process, yet we never rush it; rather we maintain a positive and pure environment to preserve the medicine and get maximum effectiveness from it. All this effort ensures we honor both nature and each medicine produced from it.”
