BY ALDONA BIRD
Recently I bought some locally made oil for achy muscles. With spring chores ahead, I thought it could be useful to have in my arsenal.
Before buying I took a very fast glance at the ingredients. I noticed arnica and hot pepper among them, and since those have had helpful effects topically for me I thought this product is likely to soothe aching shoulders after a long day’s physical work.
The day I bought it I offered some of the oil to a friend who had complained of a sore neck.
As he rubbed some onto his sore muscles he read the ingredients, more carefully than I had. I nodded along, recognizing the listed substances and why they could help. Until he read the last ingredient — turpentine. I stopped nodding. Turpentine?
I’d never seen turpentine listed in a body care product before. I associated turpentine with woodworking.
When I think turpentine I think varnish, which makes me think of headache inducing fumes. Seeing it in massage oil surprised me.
But since I didn’t actually know what the stuff is or its uses, I fell back on my habit of looking things up.
The first thing I learned is that turpentine is oil distilled from pine resin. Next I learned that throughout history it has been used for every purpose under the sun, including but not limited to medicine (internally and externally), paint thinner, perfume base, water repellant, lamp oil and more.
I read that turpentine can be distilled from confiner resin or wood chips. One DIY instructional site said that when turpentine is distilled from resin, rosin is left (I’m familiar with rosin as used by my father on his violin bow and by dancers on pointe shoes).
The instructions said to collect resin from a tree and heat it in a closed container with an exit pipe for the fumes. When the fumes cool they condense into turpentine.
My association with varnish was accurate — turpentine is used as a paint thinner and varnish solvent. It is also used as a rubber solvent.
An article on Atlas Obscura detailed some of its historic medical uses — apparently the Romans used it as a remedy for depression, naval surgeons used hot turpentine for wounds, doctors used it for intestinal worms and other ailments.
Taken internally turpentine caused organ damage, but still continued to be viewed as good medicine perhaps in part due to its bad taste and harsh effects — a mindset I think we often still fall into with medicines (if your body reacts, even badly, it must be working, right?).
I couldn’t find reliable information on what type of internal dosage causes damage, but some people do still recommend such usage. Personally, I wouldn’t, at least not without a lot more data.
Consensus seems to hold that externally it can cause skin irritation in large amounts, but smaller amounts are OK. In fact, Vick’s Vapor rub lists it as an ingredient. I also read that turpentine has a warming effect on the skin. Its uses are still researched; I found a study from 2017 comparing turpentine oil and capsaicin for topical treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy, which found them both to be helpful.
The muscle rub that sparked my interest relieved my friend’s sore neck. My sister also tried it for aching back muscles, and found some relief. Whether turpentine or the other ingredients caused the beneficial effects, I have no idea. The inclusion of turpentine in the body oil rub did lead me to expand my knowledge.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County.
