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Soothing Menthol Crystal Recipes

Ahhhh… The cooling and refreshing effects of Menthol Crystals can offer temporary pain relief of sore muscle tissues. When used externally they provide a local anesthetic, which gives a cool, numbing sensation as it penetrates the skin.

These interesting looking crystals are sourced from India and are extracted from mint leaves using a freezing technique.

They are so concentrated that a few crystals will make a strong and powerful formula. Take note when working with them: be careful to wear protective eye-wear and limit your inhalation- they are strong!

Cooling Foot Soak

*Please use gloves when handling Menthol Crystals – as to not transfer from hands to eyes or other sensitive parts of your body.

4 oz Epsom Salt
4 oz Fine Dead Sea Salt
.20 oz Menthol Crystals
40 Drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil
40 Drops Lemon Essential Oil

Add all the ingredients above into a food processor. Mix or pulse until all ingredients are fine ground. Store in jar or zip lock baggy. Clean Food Processor thoroughly.

Please note that the amount of menthol crystals in this recipe are the perfect amount for a foot soak, but will be too strong to be used as a body soak. We recommend 1% or less of menthol crystals in body soaks, as to not irritate or cause discomfort on sensitive areas.

Soothing Menthol Muscle Salve

2 tablespoon coconut oil =1oz
2 tablespoon shea butter = 1oz
2 tablespoon beeswax= 1oz
4 tablespoons almond oil = 2oz
1.2 teaspoon menthol crystals= .2oz
40 drops sweet birch essential oil
30 drops eucalyptus essential oil
20 drops rosemary essential oil
10 drops lavender essential oil

1) Start by measuring your coconut oil, shea butter, and beeswax into a small container and melting the oils on low heat.

2) When the oils have melted, remove from heat and stir in the menthol crystals until dissolved. Be sure to keep your face away from the mixture as to not irritate your eyes or nose.

3) When the crystals are dissolved, stir in the almond oil, followed by your essential oil.

4) Pour your mixture into a container with a lid for storage, but allow to cool before capping. Keep in refrigerator to maintain texture and shelf-life.

Massage a small amount onto sore muscles and joints for soothing relief. Wash your hands after and avoid face, eyes, and other sensitive areas. This recipe makes a mild salve that should be suitable for most skin types, even sensitive skin. You may increase the percentage of menthol crystals for stronger potency, but increase slowly to ensure your skin’s tolerance. We have encountered recipes ranging from 3%-20% menthol crystals, this recipe starts at 4%.

The Tree of Life

Shea butter is derived from the nut within the fruit of a wild grown tree in the savannah regions of East and West Africa. It’s a tree with many names, sometimes known as the Shea tree, the Mangifolia Tree, or our favorite, the Karité tree, which means the “Tree of Life”. The tree produces fruit once a year and lives for 300 years. Shea Butter has been used traditionally for cooking, healing, and personal care within tribes that produce it long before its introduction to the global cosmetic and food industry.

The production of shea butter is intensive! First the fruits are harvested, the nuts extracted, boiled, dried, sorted, crushed, roasted, cooled, and milled. The pulp is mixed with cold water, kneaded, separated, boiled, purified, solidified and packaged. The result is a pale yellow butter with a slightly nutty scent.

After it is shipped to our door we use this precious butter as part of our soap base for all of our soaps, an ingredient in our Shea Balms, Body Butters, and Lip Balms. Its healing, moisturizing, and hypo-allergenic properties make it an essential part of our recipes to soothe dry or sensitive skin.

While we love shea butter and its beneficial properties for the skin, the soap and cosmetic industries only use a fraction of shea butter produced. Interestingly, it is the chocolate industry that uses the most shea butter!

There are so many reasons to use shea butter every day. It soothes dry and itchy skin, rashes, cracking, sunburn, and peeling. It softens rough skin like on your heels and elbows! It relieves muscle tension and aches through massage. Shea butter heals skin damage from cold, frost bite, wind, stretch marks, and wrinkles. It is also perfect for treating skin conditions like eczema, dermatitis, small wounds and burns.

Not all shea butters are created equal! Be aware of refined and processed shea butters. Some are deodorized and/or bleached and sold at markets where they can be adulterated with lesser quality additives.

Jumping on our soap box …

We’re excited to present our very first Abbey Brown Soap Artisan blog!

When we aren’t busy whipping up new recipes and old favorites, selling our products at one of our three locations, or running the day to day operations of our small, woman-owned business, we LOVE to research, read, and learn about what is new in the world of bath and body. We care about our skin and yours, and hope that this blog will both teach and inspire our readers to feel the same! We encourage YOU to comment, ask questions, even email us pictures of your creations and we’ll post them up!

Check back for weekly posts about current topics in soap, bath, body, skincare, health, herbalism, aromatherapy, and MORE! We’ll share tips, tools, recipes, tutorials, and all of our tried and true favorites, from herbs to essential oils. What are you interested in? Suggest a topic!

Ever wonder why we use Olive Oil in our soaps? Or just HOW we turn all that oil into a bar of soap?? Interested in aromatherapy and want to know what essential oils every aspiring aromatherapist should own? Love to make simple and fresh skincare products at home and need some go to recipes? We’ll share it all and then some!

‘Til then…