Joint Comfort

About this salve

Turmeric on skin is not doing what turmeric in food does. Curcumin is famously hard for your gut to absorb, which is the whole reason people pair it with black pepper when they eat it. On skin the question never comes up, because it is working locally in the tissue it touches rather than going anywhere.

Arnica is the bruise and ache plant of European practice and has been for a long time. Peppermint and eucalyptus are the two you feel. Rub something minty on a sore knee and it goes cold, but your skin never actually drops a degree: menthol opens a receptor called TRPM8, the one that reports cold, and your brain believes the report.

How to use it

Apply to sore joints. Keep it away from eyes and broken skin, and patch-test the inside of your forearm first if arnica is new to you.

What's in it

Peppermint, arnica, eucalyptus, turmeric, extra virgin olive oil*, coconut oil*, beeswax*, bentonite clay, castor oil*, jojoba oil, peppermint 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.

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