Tiger Balm : How I use it and why I love it

Hey guys!

It’s been a hot hot minute since I last checked in to write and it feels good to be back again~

If you have been following my stories on Instagram- a couple of months ago I was helping my parents clean out their medicine cabinet and shared a before and after. I purged almost 90% of the things in there! My parents aren’t very good at throwing things away so over the last 30 years they had accumulated A LOT.

The true gem in going through this cabinet was finding my grandma’s Tiger Balm which had an expiration date of 1999. *Gasssssp The jumping tiger, the minty smell, the nostalgic glass jar all brought me back to my childhood home. I remember watching Ama (my dad’s mom) who was visiting us from Taiwan make her Chinese herb tea while applying Tiger Balm to her temples. I knew it was great for headaches but I also saw her applying it in her nostrils to clear her sinuses. I of course did not toss this for memories sake and did a little research online and was SO happy that it was still around and in the same nostalgic packaging!

WHAT IS TIGER BALM?

Tiger Balm was originally created in the early 1900s. It has a 100+ year history for being the best ointment for external pain relief! It contains camphor oil which increases local flood flow to reduce pain and swelling, menthol oil to provide sense of cooling caused by any pain, and other essential oils such as mint, cassia, and cajuput. It is much stronger than Vicks which only contains 8.6% of these active ingredients while Tiger Balm contains 60%.

TIGER BALM ULTRA STRENGTH

HOW I USE IT:

I mainly use it for muscle soreness and recovery! I have the Tiger Balm Ultra which has the strongest concentration of their herbal ingredients for immediate tingly relief. I’ll repeat that 3-4 times a day ( i keep it close to my computer) and I personally LOVE the smell. It wakes me up mid day and since there’s multiple uses of it- i use it to relieve headaches, apply it on mosquito bites and when I have a congestion. I love the plant- homeopathic aspect of it and how it’s so versatile.

PAIN RELIEVING PATCHES:

These weren’t around back when my grandma used Tiger Balm but if you have a larger area that is in pain (maybe from bad posture or muscle soreness) in areas like your back, neck, shoulders, you can try these new Tiger Balm Pain Relief Patches! I have a couple on hand in case- I love how easy it is to apply and the relief lasts for hours. They also aren’t greasy and won’t stain clothing.

Did this post bring you back too? I feel like if you grew up in an Asian household - you knew about this homeopathic secret so it’s cool that it’s still around in the same nostalgic jar and has stood the test of time!

xx Remi