Natural Vapor Rub

I don’t know about any of you, but I can always count on our family to be sick at certain times of the year. Thanksgiving for instance. At some point over the Thanksgiving vacation, someone gets sick. All out, throwing up sick. For the last four years it has been Monkey, but this year it was Lady Bug. And it never fails that someone brings home the flu around Easter time.

Same goes for the stuffy noses. I can count on someone bringing home a head cold at the beginning of December, again at the beginning of January, and then again around the end of February and into March.

This year, right after Lady Bug got over her tummy bug, Monkey brought home some sort of congestion issue. Being the wonderful sharer he is, it didn’t take me long it get it. And then pass it on to Bookworm either.

It’s not that it’s a horrible cold. It feels more like allergies than anything. But the constant stuffiness and frequent nose blowing make it more of a pain than anything. An all around nuisance.

Since I am desperate to smell and breathe normally, and I know more colds will be on the way before the season is done, I whipped up a batch of vapor rub. It’s made from natural ingredients I had on had, and didn’t take long at all. It smells awesome, and I can already tell it’s working those same wonders of the blue bottle you can buy at the store. Except this one is made from natural ingredients.

I’ve seen some mixtures use only wax and an oil, but I wanted some moisturizing properties of vitamin E and shea butter in this as well since I’ll probably be rubbing sore noses with it as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 Tablespoons of beeswax pellets. {I used this one.} *
1 Tablespoon shea butter. {I used this one.}
1/4 cup coconut oil. I got Spectrum Organic from Sam’s Club.
1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil. {I used this one.}
10 drops Grapeseed Extract. {I used this one.}
10 drops Lemon Essential Oil, bought locally
15 drops Lavender Essential Oil, bought locally from Wegman’s
15 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil, bought locally from Wegman’s
20 drops Rosemary Essential Oil, bought locally from Wegman’s

*Notes: I used 2 Tablespoons of beeswax because our wood stove gets the house pretty warm in the winter, and I wanted to counteract the melting point of coconut oil. It made this more of a balm that you have to work at to get out, which is perfectly fine by me! Play around with the ratios and see how it works for you!

DIRECTIONS:

In a double boiler, melt the beeswax, shea butter and coconut oil.
Once melted, remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Add in vitamin E, GSE and essential oils.
Pour into a 4oz glass jar and store away from heat and sunlight.

To Use: Rub a small amount onto your chest or under your nose.

So how does it measure up in cost?

I know… I’m breaking out the math when we’re all under the weather. But I’ve got to see if it’s just better for us, or better for us and easier on our wallet.

Please keep in mind that prices can vary region to region, but prices also vary on amazon. Some items were listed at higher prices when I linked up than when I bought them, and some at much lower prices. This will make for differing costs. This is what it cost me:

Beeswax: $10.79 for 16 oz; used 0.5 oz at $0.34
Shea Butter: $7.90 for 16 oz; used 0.4 oz at $0.20
Coconut Oil: $16.48 for 54oz; used 2 oz at $0.62
Grape Seed Extract: $14.99 for 4 oz (400 drops); used 10 drops at $0.37
Vitamin E: $7.95 for 4 oz; used 0.16 oz at $0.17

Essential Oils vary in price based on the oils. I’ve used Aura Cacia since I started using essential oils. Not only am I able to find them locally, but I haven’t had an issue quality wise with their products either. Using Aura Cacia’s site, I based my cost off of their average number of drops in a 0.5 ounce bottle.

Lemon Essential Oil: $4.29 per bottle; used $0.15
Lavender Essential Oil: $9.49 per bottle; used $0.45
Eucalyptus Essential Oil: $4.39 per bottle; used $0.22
Rosemary Essential Oil: $4.39 per bottle; used $0.30

That makes the total cost of our natural vapor rub $2.82, which is 3oz by weight. The chemical laden stuff at my local store runs a LOT more than that!