Homemade Vaporub

This is just a quick post to share with you something fun and simple from my past week.

Remember Vicks Vapor Rub?  I have fond childhood memories of that product.  I’m pretty sure my mom still uses it nightly (though I could be lying – not sure really).

But, nowadays I’m not sure I’d be too keen on some of the ingredients in that product (haven’t looked at it’s ingredients lately, but just guessing).

So, my kids have had a cough since Christmas, and last week it got pretty bad.  That isn’t the fun part of this story.  The school actually told my 5 year old not to come back until she was tested or treated for pertussis – the long story short on how bad her ‘cough’ was (though in her case it wasn’t actually much of a cough, but… long story).  Anyway.  They had had a confirmed case there the week before, so of course the nurse, who is a lovely woman, is on high alert for any possible sign of pertussis.  And so you don’t worry… the test came back negative.  Yay!

Anyways, when the cough got bad, I thought, “Hmmm, I bet I could make some homemade ‘vicks’ rub.”

And sure enough – it was easy.  I just took some of the herbal salve that my friends and I made from the Learning Herbs kit this past fall and added a few drops of Miessence’s eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils.  Rubbed it all together and then rubbed it on her chest, neck, and back.  Simple.  I’m sure I could have used coconut oil as the carrier oil too, but the thicker salve was probably better anyway.

It definitely seemed to help relieve the night coughs, and it was super simple to make.  🙂