Homemade Tiger Balm

This Sunday's experiment was making homemade Tiger Balm. Like the 'Chapstick' confusion in my lip balm post, Tiger Balm is also a brand. The closest thing that I came up with to generically describe Tiger Balm is as a 'sports cream' or 'muscle rub.' But for this post, let's just call it Tiger Balm - since it's such a well known product name. Tiger Balm was created by a Chinese herbalist in the 1870s who left the Emperor's Court to start his own medicine shop where he could create and sell his special ointment. I'm glad Wikipedia made it clear "the rub does not contain tiger parts," because I certainly didn't have any spare tiger parts lying around for this recipe.

The recipe I half-way followed was one that I found HERE. I found the directions to be unclear and in some places, incomplete. So I winged it. I put olive oil and bees wax in my double boiler - after it was all melted I added about a tablespoon of menthol crystals, which melted almost instantly. As ingredients melted in the pot I mixed all my essentials oils together - peppermint, eucalyptus, camphor, clove and ginger. I also added a few drops of vitamin E oil too.

My first batch (1.0) was ridiculously strong. I knew I had to tone down the menthol crystals, and even the peppermint and eucalyptus oils (very powerful oils). The second batch (2.0) seemed just about right. I multiplied the recipe I had by 4 so that I yielded about 2 1/2 empty baby food jars full of homemade tiger balm.

Magic, tingly ingredient: Menthol Crystals

I have been using the winter weather as a way to escape from exercising (even though I have a treadmill AND it has been fairly nice weather here in Missouri for a few days). What I'm saying (besides that I'm lazy) is I have no sore muscles to test my homemade tiger balm on! But I did put a dab on my arm and it smelled just like Tiger Balm you buy from the store and in a few minutes it started to tingle! Ah, the sweet tingling! So I guess what this means is - there is really no reason for me not be exercising any more (because with my homemade tiger balm, any sore muscles will be eased with tingly goodness!).

*Update* After spending most of the day on my feet concocting remedies in the kitchen and the rest of it being hunched over my laptop writing this post and creating a new Antique Remedies logo, I ended up with a very sore back! Imagine that. I got my dear boyfriend to agree to give me a back rub but only if I returned the favor. For me, being the rubbee, the homemade tiger balm was excellent! I can still feel it tingling and my muscles feel much more loose and at ease. After switching places and being the rubber, it was an added bonus that the menthol crystals and peppermint essentials oils cleared my nasal passages (darn allergy season!). The only thing I will change next time I make it, more olive oil (or whatever carrier oil I use) so that it is a bit creamier and easier to dish out for the rubdown!

Any questions, suggestions or comments - I'd love to hear them!

Homemade Lip Balm - Cocoa Peppermint

Last week, I made some Cocoa Peppermint Lip Balm! I've always thought about how expensive lip balm can be at stores (we commonly say Chapstick when we actually mean lip balm - Chapstick is a brand name, and personally, not my favorite).  Such a little amount of actual lip balm for such a big price - especially if you go for the organic, natural stuff (a few of my favorites: Burt's Bees and The Merry Hempsters). But you have to have moisturized lips! Besides trying to carry around a jar of petroleum jelly all the time, I either have to suck it up and buy some quality lip balm and try not to lose it or, the alternative I never gave much thought (until now), make homemade lip balm.

Luckily for me, my dear Aunt Kathy is just as interested in herbs, oils and other 'antique remedies.' Once I turned her onto Mountain Rose Herbs (I was heavily hinting for a gift card from them for Christmas), she got her own stash of goodies, including some empty lip balm tubes. She graciously gave me some (on top of the gift card!). I couldn't imagine making my own lip balm but again, lucky for me, the good people who supplied the tubes also provided me with a great recipe.

The recipe I used can be found HERE. I happened to have gotten all the ingredient from Mountain Rose Herbs except for the peppermint essential oil and vitamin E oil (which I already had in my collection before I got this recipe). Making the lip balm was simple. I suggest using a double boiler and if you heat the ingredients in a Pyrex cup instead of the actual pan, be patient! It took mine a while for everything to melt (but maybe that is because my double boiler isn't the best!).

The finished product smells delightful and makes my lips tingle when I first put it on (that's the peppermint). The recipe yielded 10 tubes of homemade lip balm - which is way too much lip balm for me.

Interested in trying some out for yourself? Leave a comment on this blog post. I will put all names in a drawing and pick a name at random this Friday at 7pm CT. Good luck! 

Oregano Home Remedies

Herb: OREGANO Origanum vulgare


When I think oregano, I think pizza, Italy and the Simpson's episode when Marge didn't think "Or-uh-gahn-o' was a real spice (Simpson's Chili Cook Off Episode). But oregano is used for more than just food, by more people than just Italians, and has very little to do with a sassy cartoon family.

Oregano is a close relative of marjoram (often called wild marjoram) and is savory herb with a powerful, peppery flavor. Oregano has been prescribed as a home remedy by both the ancient Greeks and Chinese. Hippocrates used the herb as an antiseptic and a cure for stomach and respiratory problems. In China, it was used to relieve fevers, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice and even itchy skin. There are compounds found in oregano that help loosen phlegm in the lungs and relieve spasms in bronchial passages, therefore, it is an expectorant.

How can oregano be used as a home remedy?

• Digestion: Well, you have most likely already used it to cook with, but now you will know it will help aid in digestion and may help reduce heartburn. 
• Mood Lifter: Adding it to pizza or pasta dishes (anything really) will help lift your spirits. If you're feeling a little down in the dumps eating some oregano could help boost your happiness. You can even put some in a glass of water and drink it down. 
•  Brunette Hair Color: Not that you have grey hairs, but when you get some (years from now, of course) and if you have brown hair, then oregano is the herb for you. Oregano, sage, black tea, rosemary, and/or instant coffee. Pick one or a combination of the above, mix with boiling water, let steep for 30 minutes (not instant coffee though), let cool. Strain the water, pour over hair - try and catch the runoff in a bowl or basin so that you can repeat the rinse over and over until you get your desired color. 
• Nervous Stomach: Stomach all tied up in knots over something? A tea brewed with 1/4 tsp of oregano and 1/2 tsp of marjoram, steeped in 1 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes should settle that feeling. If it doesn't work within two hours, go ahead and have another cup of the same tea - that should do the trick. 
• Toothache Relief: If you happen to be lucky enough to have a green thumb (surprisingly enough, I have been cursed with instant-plant-death-thumb) and you grow oregano in your garden you can chew the leaves for temporary relief for a toothache. 
• Wrinkles: I'm an essential oil cheerleader. I love them. If you do too and happen to have oregano oil, it is said to help prevent wrinkles. 

I hope you enjoy these and please let me know if you have any more ideas, suggestions or if you try one of them out. Cheers to oregano!

References:

www.herbworld.com/learningherbs

Healing Remedies, Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen ISBN 978-0-345-52150-7

Herbs (Eyewitness handbook), Lesley Bremness ISBN 1-56458-497-6