Wellll it thickened to a consistency like ummm pudding or face cream. I used coconut oil, EVOO, beeswax, arrowroot. The main “substitution” I did was this Sweet Almond Oil combo from (can’t remember brand exactly – like Healthy Home or some such, it’s the “official” brand fron the Edgsr Cayce so?? website), and turns out it is a mixture of sweet almond oil, the vitamin E (which I didn’t have on hand), and they had it in a carrier or peanut oil and grapeseed oil I believe – the product intended as massage oil. It’s what I had on hand. I also added in more beeswax and that helped thicken it. Oh and it’s been very cold here, no worries on that!!
I tried it last night and it was so smooth, like a hand lotion, but I felt it needed more oils. Was looking at Vicks and it mentioned thymol and I don’t remember this recipe of yours including thyme oil, but I have some and will stir it in. Maybe add more eucalyptus and peppermint to get a more “Vicks-y” smell? I don’t remember if I even got Breathe with my new doTerra intro kit. Will have to go look.
I’m thinking I also spiked it with just a dash, not more than a half teaspoon if that, of natural apple cider vinegar, on the thinking that NACV has the good mother of vinegar to fight bacteria and such. In hindsight it would have been better to do a batch straight to get s more accurate idea of the resulting consistency. Maybe the NACV somehow interferes with the jelling process?
The other thing I keep going to was not knowing if I truly measured the beeswax – because I was never confident that it was the 3 tablespoons by weight or by volume, as I only had a brick of beeswax, not the little beady “pastille” things. I was having to shave it off the block, so adding more later on deemed to be the right direction, but of course, it is still a lot “goopier” than the usual Vick’s type consistency. But – as my husband pointed out, the arrowroot is a thickening agent too, and may be the reason why it feels more like w pudding or hand lotion (maybe I am still looking for the Vick’s texture and need either more coconut oil or more beeswax?
Well it felt good last night but just seemed not as intense in oils, so I may just tweak the EO’s some more and let it ride – at least it felt good to just run it in all over!! In which case, I’ll use it up that much faster knowing it does not have petroleum oil and so I can basically drown in the stuff, so to speak, and it will be good for me. Maybe?
It’s still fun so I don’t mind playing with this and seeing what it does.
Thanks!!
Julia

Hi Julia–sorry for the late response. Did the vapor rub finally thicken up? It does take several hours depending on how cool your house is. If it didn’t then i’m wondering if you followed the original recipe or substituted something for the coconut oil. You can slowly and gently reheat the mixture, adding some more beeswax and that should tighten it up. Let me know how it goes.
–Leah

Hi Leah – well I have it in the crockpot like Jaime mentioned earlier. Great idea! Gave me the time I needed to fiddle around with grating up some beeswax. Next time I will fire up my digital scales and try it, as my analog scales lied when I scraped out what I thought looked like 3 Tbsp beeswax (which my converter said was roughly equivalent to 1.5 oz), and it still said “zero” even though I already had it set to tare weight and zeroed before I started. That sucker is going to a charity group. In the meantime, I measured it out not really “packing it” but not really “fluffing it” either and it was just a tad over 3 Tbsp. I figure there’s enough slop in all of these as the measurements are a little flexible (in reading through about 10 or 20 other Pinned “vapor rub” recipes.
Yea, I knew the Mentholatum had petro jelly too, which added to the gross-out factor. I only bought it because it was the “retro” thing to do – the old Mentholatum building here in Downtown Wichita is now “The Spice Merchant” with all sorts of cool coffees, teas, spices, herbs, and I don’t know what all …it was originally here before the company got sold and moved upstate New York. I basically didn’t like the even greasier texture and the “smell” wasn’t quite right, seemed waaaay too skimpy on the essential oils and too much of the (cheaper) petroleum jelly. Maybe the Old Doctor who used to make it had a better product but that was back when my grandparent were alive and they were in their 80’s when they died nearly 25 years ago. (*gasp* has it been that long!?). So anyway, I got rid of that stuff pretty much ASAP – maybe used only a couple swipes at it, and it wasn’t near as good at killing the coughing and congestion as Vicks did (even as Vicks was likely building up a layer of gook that I still have yet to detox, along with who knows what I’ve eaten over the past 50+ years)…haha and so it went out. But yea… I know it will all work out, since it’s basically the EO’s that are doing the work, not the coconut and olive oil so much. However…. I already rub olive oil into my skin and abdomen area pretty much every night and have been for the past 5-10 years, as well as coconut oil into my c-section scar. The body benefits greatly from EVOO and Coconut oil for other benefits, and I don’t hesitate to use it. I basically only asked about the fractionated coconut oil for the benefit of that lady who was allergic, not sure if she’s been back to see what you wrote.
Okay well better quit jabbering and go stir my elixir of yumminess (was funny, because while measuring out the coconut oil and the olive oil, I thought, oh well, at least this way if someone accidentally licks their hands after smearing on the rub before bed, it won’t kill them!!). Ohhhh and that beeswax was a mess to scrape – I used a vegetable peeler because I didn’t want to go hunt for my old style 4 sided veggie grater… but it sure smelled good, that faint honey smell… kept wishing I could eat it and decided a few scrapes wouldn’t hurt. We’ll see. (it was a bit chewy!).
Later.
Julia

Hi Julia–thank for stopping by! I use arrowroot powder in my salves to help cut greasiness. You could also use cornstarch but I try to avoid it due to GMOs. You can leave it out with no problem if you prefer.
I applaud your efforts to stop using petroleum jelly and in case you didn’t know, Mentholatum is just petroleum jelly with menthol added so I would avoid that too.
If you don’t have a coconut allergy then I highly recommend regular coconut oil for this recipe, not FCO. Since coconut oil is solid at room temp. it gives the salve consistency you want. FCO has had the fat spun out of it and therefore is liquid at room temp. It is fine for a carrier oil but the removed fat is one of the healthiest fats for your skin and body and helps support your immune system. If you have coconut allergies then you won’t be able to use either kind of coconut oil. Just double the EVOO amount and increase the beeswax to 1/4 cup.
This recipe works great for coughs. Before bed, rub some on the chest and then put a generous amount on the bottoms of both feet rubbing it in as much as you can. Cover with socks. Hope I’ve answered your questions and have a great day!
–Leah