Fall: warmth, colorful, and sometimes bringing unwanted colds! By week four of the new school year I thought I had successfully escaped the bug that had been spreading over campus – but I was wrong. This morning I woke up with a very painful throat, running nose, headache, and plain feeling of ugh…

To treat myself, I made my own homemade concoction to relieve my congested sinuses! Unfortunately, mainstream Vapour rubs can have some pretty interesting ingredients in them! One of the most popular brands, Vicks, uses specialty petrolatum and turpentine oil in their vapour rubs – which you would usually apply direction to the skin and/or inhale.

Petrolatum – a petroleum based product that has the potential to be contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can irritate the skin and be associated with cancer. Furthermore, it is produced using a non-renewable resource.

Turpentine Oil – given a “moderate” overall hazard due to concerns with allergies & immunotoxicity. It can also cause irritation to the skin, eyes and lungs.

In only 30 minutes, I managed to make my own vapour rub, with 3 simple ingredients, all found in my grocery store!

2/3 cups of coconut oil 

2 tablespoons grated beeswax

140 drops (combined) of peppermint, lavender, lemon, cypress and eucalyptus essential oils. 

Heat the oil and beeswax in a hot water bath until they have liquified. Wait 5-10 minutes and then add the oils! Wait for the mixture to harden to a cream consistency.