Red and white "tiger-balm"

[Trenchfriend]

I'm testing the first time the white tiger-balm at the moment, on my ankle.

In Germany, these very old-fashioned balms with camphor/menthol/clove oil/cajeput oil/peppermint oil are very popular, since some years. Many people seems to be excited, especially on the red tiger-balm. If I will be in drugstore with the white and the red balm, I will get the red, too!

What are your experiences with these famous balms?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Back in my competitive baseball days, we used to use this stuff called "Atomic Balm". As soon as you put it on your arm, you could taste it in your mouth. There was also "Heet", which took off a layer of skin. Heet was also better for the ol' jockstrap prank, or as Roger Clemens called it, "motivation".

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

If you could taste i upon application it must have contained DMSO for penetration. When I was a boy there was a liniment called Absorbine Jr. Absorbine was a horse liniment. Absorbine Jr. was for people. I remember it as very strong smelling.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Sounds like the famous horse-balm.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We used "Omega Oil," which was basically a mixture of chloroform, camphor, and oil of wintergreen. It did the job, and it smelled a lot better than any of the other such products. It was also a very distinctive green color.

 

[Trenchfriend]

We used "Omega Oil," which was basically a mixture of chloroform, camphor, and oil of wintergreen. It did the job, and it smelled a lot better than any of the other such products. It was also a very distinctive green color.

Sounds similar to old-fashioned but alive camphor-rheumatism salve and so on.

 

[HudsonHawk]

If you could taste i upon application it must have contained DMSO for penetration. When I was a boy there was a liniment called Absorbine Jr. Absorbine was a horse liniment. Absorbine Jr. was for people. I remember it as very strong smelling.

I think it was just the smell that sort of penetrated your nostrils. It was your basic methyl salicylate analgesic (like Absorbine Jr, Ben Gay, IcyHot, etc) along with capsicum. Basically, like most "sore muscle treatments", it's just a skin irritant which gives you a temporary warm feeling in the area and helps take your mind of your sore muscles.

 

[Trenchfriend]

So! I was underways and now, I got the red tiger-balm and further one tube of classic rheumatism-salve (similar)!! Next minutes, I will unboxing the red tiger-balm and test.

 

[emigran]

Chinese medicinal formulae are usually comprised of herbs that are either/or hot, cold, sweet, sour, drying damp-resolving etc etc... Red and White Tiger balm are rather ancient remedies that are widely known and applied for muscle aches and tension headaches...can be readily acquired in any Asian market or pharmacy. RED and WHITE have the same ingredients only different proportions. The RED being more "hot" and the WHITE more "cooling". You probably wouldn't want to put a 'hot' liniment on a red and swollen area.
When applied and massaged well into an area there is usually good short term analgesic results for simple strains. A simple dab of the White on the temples or base of skull need not be rubbed vigorously. They are "topical' and do not have the same level of therapeutic effect as a more complex herb formula.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Speaking of Ben-Gay, does anyone remember Peter Pain?

 

[Tiki Tom]

Windex.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

TT, your avata rbrings back fond memories of Gardner Mckay and Micheneresque doings in the South Pacific. One of my favorite series back then.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Thanks, Inkstained. For a while I considered using a pic of Gardner McKay as my avatar, but I'm afraid it would be false advertising. I'm not nearly that handsome. I just love the romantisim of the shows concept: bumming around the South Pacific on a schooner and having adventures at every port o call. Theme music is great too. I have it for my ring tone.

Apologies for the off topic hijack.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Apologies for the off topic hijack.

No problem!

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Speaking of the strong-smelling liniments, a lot of that was deliberate. People think that if something smells stronger, it is stronger. My father, who had a career in packaging told me that the inventor of Pine-Sol found that he had a cleaning product that was like many other cleaning products on the market. He needed a gimmick to stand out from the rest so he put the strongest pine-pitch smell agent he could find into the mix. It was a huge success. People believed that anything so powerful-smelling must be the most powerful cleaner out there. A classic case of "don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle."

 

[Trenchfriend]

Speaking of the strong-smelling liniments, a lot of that was deliberate. People think that if something smells stronger, it is stronger. My father, who had a career in packaging told me that the inventor of Pine-Sol found that he had a cleaning product that was like many other cleaning products on the market. He needed a gimmick to stand out from the rest so he put the strongest pine-pitch smell agent he could find into the mix. It was a huge success. People believed that anything so powerful-smelling must be the most powerful cleaner out there. A classic case of "don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle."

Like the famous conifer wood/spruce needle-foam bath.