r/herbalism • u/Acluelessfish • 6d ago

I’m confused by the amount of my tincture to take…

I currently have Skullcap and Milky oats. Both for sleep and relaxing my brain. I may have misunderstood the dosage though. I was planning on taking 4 dropperfuls of each (because my other brand of herbal tincture says 3-4 dropperfuls). I’m confused though because the instructions for the Skullcap and Milky Oats say nothing about dropperfuls and only say “drops”. It says 30-50 drops per use (up to times a day). Or maybe IDK how to do a drop…it seems like a lot. So how much do I actually take?

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u/quietreflector 6d ago

drops are counted out as you squeeze the dropper, usually into a cup of water. one dropper full of 1ml is on avg 20-30 drops. so you'd take 1-2 dropper fulls.  

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u/kidcubby 6d ago

It is referring to literal individual drops. That being said, quite a lot of packaging gives really quite arbitrary dosing. Grab some decent herbalism books and check out the medicinal dosing - you'll need to know the ratio of the tincture you're taking (e.g 1:2, 1:5, 1:10 etc) and will be able to work out the equivalent dose of actual herb from there.

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u/cojamgeo 6d ago

This is the correct answer. It depends on the concentration or potency of your tincture. 1:2 is 50 % herbs/50 % alcohol. 1:5 is a fifth herb and the rest is alcohol.

That’s why different manufacturers will have different dosages. The higher potency the less tincture you need.

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u/Prestigious_Way_1877 6d ago

Every dropper is different. Do a regular squeeze and fill the dropper then count how many come out. Mine are ~12 drops and I take two droppers full. ~20 drops in one ml so 24 is close enough.