History

Every American household has certain items in their medicine cabinet. Aspirin. Pepto Bismal. In the 1960s and 1970s, mothers in middle America used Watkins inhalant. It had a strong eucalyptus scent and was used in vaporizers. In every medicine cabinet, there was a box of band aids and a drawing salve. It was also made by Watkins.

They didn’t know that when they made their first batch in fall 2014, the salve would be a household medicine. The sisters knew it would have multiple uses, but they simply called it “multi-purpose CBD Salve” when they developed the formula.

The Goal

Salve is a gentle product that people can apply to their limbs or body parts in order to relieve muscle and joint pain. It was all about that.

Native American cultures have been making cannabis liniments for decades or even centuries using rubbing alcohol and soaked plants. It is still used by many for joint and muscle pain. Sister Kate wanted a more gentle alternative to the combination of oils for her skin.

Since 2008, the salve is more than half of the sales made by the Sisters. The topical salve has remained the core product of the Sisterhood despite the development of other products, including a pet line and a CBD Plus (which provides the raw cannabis compounds), as well as the mushroom coffee line. Sister Maria says wryly that the only time the customers are angry with us is when the biggest size of topical salve runs out.

The Process

All of their topical salve is made the same way the Sisters make their other products: by hand, in a spiritual setting, and according to the lunar cycles. The Sisters have improved their salve formula over the years. While the original recipe remains, the ingredients are upgraded.

The Sisters introduced a mint-scented alternative to lavender in the early days, after men complained that it smelled like lavender. During the pandemic the Sisters tested and experimented with a higher-quality beeswax. They switched vendors and greatly improved the application experience.

Sisters changed their recipe as soon as Oregon’s lab published the results of its research on the resilience powers of raw cannabis compounds.

Failures taught us not to deviate from natural plant material

The Sisters struggled to keep the THC levels below.3% in the first year. The Sisters contacted an Italian university for CBD crystals. It didn’t. It didn’t stick to the coconut oil. Instead, it separated and clumped like sugar on top of the salve.

Since then, the Sisters haven’t looked away from this plant. “We’ve learned the hard-way that isolating the compounds wasn’t the best method to use them for medicine,” said Sister Sophia.

Competitive Market Analysis

Sister Kate studied 25 CBD brands that appeared on popular lists of the ‘best CBD’ in Los Angeles and San Francisco. An analysis of 25 CBD brands reveals that almost half do not offer CBD topical lotions. The Sisters were left on the list after the other companies were removed.

Only half of the 14 remaining products have tested results to support their claims. The test results may be available, but are not public. They are also not accessible at the point-of-purchase.

Only two of the seven teams that had results were younger than 90-days. These are the Sisters, and Go Green. Some tests were as old as summer 2021.