Winter Thyme

About this salve

A chest rub works on two channels at once, and they are worth separating. The aromatics rise as the salve warms on your skin, which is the part you notice. The oils and what they carry go into the skin they touch. Neither of those is the same as swallowing the herb, and this is not a decongestant.

Thyme is the lead here, and its best-studied compound is thymol. Mullein brings mucilage, the soluble fiber that makes a plant turn slippery in water. Hyssop has been in chest preparations for a very long time, and yarrow is the quiet one that turns up across European practice for almost everything.

How to use it

Rub into the chest and the back of the neck. Warming it between your fingers first helps.

What's in it

Mullein, hyssop, yarrow, thyme, virgin olive oil*, coconut oil*, beeswax*, shea butter, frankincense essential oil*.

Items marked with a * are made with organic ingredients. Contains coconut oil, which is treated as a tree nut for US allergen labeling.

Keeping it

A salve has no water in it, so it needs no preservative and keeps roughly nine to twelve months. Tins are made in small batches and ship close to when they are made.

This is a topical salve. It works in the skin it touches and the tissue underneath, not through your bloodstream, and it is not a treatment for a cough or any diagnosed condition.