Hi, I've tried several proprietary products containing comfrey, but they are significantly less efficacious (in my opinion) than making your own. Certainly, proprietary comfrey ointment is simply not a patch on what you can make yourself.
My mother wasn't a 'professional' herbalist, but she was taught by her old Welsh grandmother, who in turn, was taught by her mother, who was regarded as a 'wise-woman' ... she saved many a life before the advent of modern medicine.
A little story:
My mum contracted meningitis when she was five years old (around 1919) and was saved from death, she always said, by two things - one, her father held her in his arms for five days; and secondly her grandmother treated her with herbs above and beyond the little help the doctor could offer. She survived, but she temporarily lost all of her hair; and permanently, lost her hearing. Because she was deaf, she found it difficult to play with other children, and thus spent much of her time helping her grandmother collect, and make, all manner of herbal remedies.
She also made lots of cordials, tisanes and herbal beverages. Some were lovely, especially the ginger-beer, root-beer, barley-water, and rose-cordials etc. But some were utterly vile ... I was frequently dosed with blackberry/strawberry/dandelion/thyme/sage/nettle-leaf concoctions which, although they might sound nice, were far from it!
Together with comfrey, mum believed that the humble dandelion was one of the most useful, and wondrous of all British-found plants. If there is anyone out there suffering from gall-bladder/gall-stone problems/pain; then just try chewing a couple of fresh dandelion leaves each day ... you'll notice a difference, literally within the hour!
