even tho i'm basically half the #spoonie tag, i wanted to make sure i'd rec'd on here for #chronicpain folks the One Lotion I Found That Does Something - Two Old Goats Essential Oil Lotion.
this isn't a super miracle cure. however it's quite good at turning muscle soreness down a few fucking notches. it absorbs quickly as well and isn't greasy.
it doesn't smell obnoxious - not super menthol 'old person' - just like you've stuck your head in a herb garden, in a fairly gender-neutral way.
the full herbal lineup is:
almond oil, lavender, chamomile, rosemary, peppermint, eucalyptus and birch bark.
it's not actually cooling/mentholated as you might think. it's just a nice cream.
the birch bark is i think the ingredient that Does Something, since birch bark - like willow bark - has a precursor of the med we now know as aspirin in it, and you can extract that from those barks and process it on down.
also it doesn't leave you a fucking grease slick which i appreciate.
most important for me is that it's a pretty liquidy lotion.
this means it works PERFECTLY if you get one of those lotion rollers for reaching your back or other hard-to-stretch-to areas. it is literally the perfect consistency for this. it doesn't glop, it doesn't get too runny, it's just exactly where you want it right out of the bottle.
if your friend is fussing about getting old, give them some Two Old Goats and a lotion roller as a bday gift. they'll thank you... someday, LOL