Pain Relief Salve Using Menthol and Camphor

For this homemade pain relieving salve I wanted to make something for my back and neck aches and pains. Not only these areas but others as well.

I have another salve I make which is something I made using my herbal infused oils and I use that for minor aches and inflammation (you can find that recipe HERE) and I love it and have had some good feedback from those I given it to. But I wanted to try my hand at something different, something using menthol (I love the smell of menthol) to see how that worked on my back and neck.

So I started doing my research and came across quite a few recipes that all had a little something I wanted in mine pain relieving salve. The below recipe is my version and I love it and so do others.

Pain Relief Salve Recipe

I have made a white sage infused oil that I have used in place of the coconut oil. White Sage is healing and has anti-fungal, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Making a Pain Relieving Salve

Personally I like the double boiler method when I make my salves. So grab a bowl that is safe to sit in hot water and:

  1. Add coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax.
  2. Place this bowl in a larger pot of water and place it on a burner about medium heat. I like to melt my wax and butters slowly.
  3. Stir occasionally until all ingredients are melted.
  4. While this is melting, get your container(s) ready to fill. I put an old towel down (to protect the surface from any spills) then put the containers on that.
  5. When the coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax have completely melted, turn the burner off and carefully remove the bowl from the hot water, set that on a towel or hot pad and let cool a little. Be careful not to spill, this is hot, use pot holders.
  6. After the mix has cooled for about 5 minutes, add the menthol, camphor and essential oils and stir until completely mixed.
  7. Pour in the containers or one large container and wait for them to harden. It will take about 2 to 3 hours before it's hardened.

How I Use my Salve for Pain Relief

So this recipe does not come out quite as hard as some of my other salves, I wanted this one to be more of a cream and it will soften nicely from the heat of your skin if yours does happen to get a little hard.

I love this salve, I started with just a little bit so I knew what it would be like on your skin. Happens to be great and spreads nicely. I use it pretty much any where I'm feeling pain except my face.

And remember to wash your hands or wipe them off real good after using it so you don't accidentally get any in your eyes.

I happen to love the smell of menthol and camphor but if you're not a huge fan of the smell, don't worry, I did notice it dissipated after an hour or so.

I think I have another one here that's a winner! Cha Ching and an arm pump!

Let's us know if you've made this recipe or have one of your own you'd like to share.

Homemade Recipe Tips

  • Make sure your work space and hands are clean.
  • Make sure the containers you are using are clean.
  • Make sure salves and creams have cooled enough before pouring in glass containers so they don't break.
  • Keep the batch size small so the homemade products you use are fresh unless you're making gifts.

Infusing Herbal Oils

  • Before you decide on which plant material you are going to use, I recommend you do your research on the plants or herbs you want to use.
  • The infused oils I make are for topical use, I recommend you do a little test on your skin prior to using your infusion, just to make sure you don’t have a reaction, chances are pretty low that it would bother you, but you just never know especially if you have sensitive skin.
  • All my infused oils have turned out great for the salves I’ve made or using them as they are or mixing with other oils and essential oils.