We’ve had our fair share of sniffles lately. It seems like every day brings something new to a different family member. I’m not crazy about medicating a cold and try to incorporate as many natural remedies as possible. In the past, I’ve relied on traditional vapor rub for coughs and clearing nasal passages. As I’ve been making home-made products like toothpaste, shampoo, lip balm, and lotion, I thought, why not make my own all natural cold rub. I’ve accumulated a fair supply of essential oils, so decided to experiment with a few to make this rub.

Shea butter is the base oil that I used to make this natural cold rub. I like shea butter because it stays more solid than coconut oil in warm temperatures. It also absorbs really easily into the skin and making the skin feel moisturized without being greasy. The moisturizing piece isn’t essential for the cold rub, but I think is a nice extra, especially when I’m usually the one rubbing this stuff on other people. Traditional vapor rub is sticky business and the scent seems to stay with me forever. 🙂

In a small bowl, I added 2 Tablespoons of shea butter. You could use coconut oil instead and in the wintertime it would probably stay solid unless you are in a really warm climate. I mixed this around a bit to ensure it was nice and soft, then added the oils – 20 drops of eucalyptus, 5 drops of lemon, 15 drops of peppermint, and 5 drops of rosemary. Mix this well. I chose these oils because I liked the scent of them combined. You could use eucalyptus alone if that is what you have on hand or eucalyptus and peppermint is nice too. I like being able to customize this – use more eucalyptus if you want a really strong scent.

Once this is mixed well, add to a jar or any small container. I like to use a glass container and had this cute little hexagon shaped one on hand, recycled from something a long time ago. This is a pretty simple project and an easy one to get started with making natural products. Everyone likes the scent and I like that this natural cold rub isn’t sticky like the store bought version.