I have my favourites in the realm of muscle rubs, much like anyone else, I would imagine. I prefer using muscle rubs and ointments as opposed to actual pain medication, for example, Advil or Tylenol, and normally speaking, ointments prove to be effective for me when it comes to muscle strains and tears.
I’ve been using Biofreeze pretty religiously for a little while now, and while I do like it, I am not the biggest fan of its smell. It irritates my eyes, and my husbands, and I literally have to aerate our entire bathroom after using it because the scent is so powerful.
Think of menthol on steroids. I am not exaggerating.
I was chatting with my mom about the unfortunate scent, and she told me to try out a muscle linament she has been using religiously for years. I can’t recall the name of the product, and while that might seem detrimental, in my case it is not because I will never be using the shit my mom gave me again.
Never in my life have I had a reaction to a muscle rub, until trying this one out from my mom. She told me it would heat up a little bit, which I expected; I applied the shit to my legs, didn’t notice anything for about 20 minutes, then quite literally felt as though I had been immersed in the deepest fiery pits of hell. It felt as though someone was holding a flame directly to my skin.
I jumped in the shower and washed it off as quickly as I could with soap and lukewarm water, and the minimal warmth of the water temperature only made things worse. I was in agony, and it didn’t calm down until I called my dad in tears and he told me to wrap a damp towel around my leg to seal my pores closed.
This shit burnt my skin, and I will not be using it again anytime soon. I obviously reacted poorly to the solution, so be wary when using unfamiliar muscle rubs – apparently the experience can be quite dramatic.
Photo by Cullan Smith on Unsplash
ontheedgeofeverything 