Herbal salves, essential oils etc

[prairiegardens]

Found out that the pernicious horsetail which sent me into a deep depression when it started showing up everywhere with no solution in sight is actually (potentially) highly useful and has been used for various issues for hundreds of years. But.. I am mistrustful of information on the inter web as so much of it is just copied and repeated and what if the first reference was wrong? 

So I was wondering if anyone here has a trusted reference as to making herbal stuff..not looking for stuff used internally, not ready to take on that responsibility. I'm particularly interested in applications for hair and skin. 

[mskrieger]

Rosemary Gladstar's books are good. Her book 'Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs' is a beginners book with a thorough description of how to make and dose herbal slaves, tinctures, etc. Doesn't talk about horsetail but it will give you plenty of good info on general herb medicine making.

Horsetail is also supposedly good for adding silica to fruit trees topically, makes them less susceptible to fungal rots. I wish I had it growing around here!

[steev]

Maybe good for athlete's foot; hold a piece between the toes?