White Cloverine Brand Salve- Product Review

There are so many products out there in the world that are touted as solutions for healing cuts, chapped hands or lips or to eliminate diaper rash that it is confusing to say the least-and it can be expensive. This author is not a fan of expensive and likes to share experiences of inexpensive solutions. So here is one solution, White Cloverine Brand Salve®. It has been "in the family" for nearly as long as the product has been available, over 100 years.

Before I get into its uses and why I believe in it, I will provide a bit of its history as a product and within our family. Product History-In the late 1900's, Dr. James Thompson Wilson formulated White Cloverine Brand Salve®, making it on his kitchen stove. In 1985, his son, George C. Wilson, Sr. formed the Wilson Chemical Company, in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and began manufacturing the product. At the time, it cost twenty-five cents per tin. It was advertised in small town newspapers and on the backs of comic books-innovative for the time. The Wilson Chemical Company was family operated at its facility in Tyrone, until the company was sold in 1985. White Cloverine Brand Salve®, according to the article referenced below, is still manufactured from the original formula in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Family History-Great, great grandmother was of Native American heritage and used natural healing techniques and processes. It was rare when she would subscribe to anything beyond home remedies. White Cloverine Brand Salve® became one of those rare exceptions. It was used for chapped winter hands, lips and faces (Vermont is very cold!) and for every cut finger or scrapped knee-of which there were many-eight kids. At the time, twenty-five cents was a good deal of money, but there was always a tin in the house. Grandmother was a mother's helper. When new mother's came home from the hospital with their babies, she would stay with them for two weeks, while mother recovered, taking care of the baby, the housework and the mother. She used White Cloverine Brand Salve® for cuts, abrasions and diaper rash, because it was what her mother used and it worked. She gained the reputation for being the best mother's helper for miles around, because of her excellent care, but also for the fact that no baby under her care ever developed diaper rash. Remember that this was in a time when there were no disposable diapers with "wicking away" technology. Babies often developed diaper rash. She always used White Cloverine Brand Salve® to prevent diaper rash and recommended it. She often left a tin behind when she left for her next assignment. The company should have given her a commission on tins sold locally! Mom swore by it and the blue and white tin was a common feature on her dresser and in the medicine cabinet. Its use has been handed down from generation to generation.

What's in it? Not much and everything is easy to pronounce. The active ingredient is white petrolatum. The inactive ingredients are: fragrance, rectified turpentine oil and white wax. So why not just buy white petrolatum? Tried that, but it just wasn't the same. If you were to ask great, great grandmother to explain this, she would tell you that what may seem "inactive" is simply working in secret. Scientific proof? Heck no! But she was a very smart woman and very connected to the natural world.

From my personal experience, I have found nothing better for helping cuts heal quickly with minimal scarring, healing of chapped hands or lips and, of course, for preventing and treating diaper rash. Make sure the skin is clean and dry before applying, especially for diaper rash. In our family, it has stood the test of time. While we have tried other products, we keep coming back to that little one ounce tin with the white clovers on it, that hasn't changed much over the years.

White Cloverine Brand Salve® is distributed by Prestige Brands Inc. But don't expect to walk into a store and buy it. It is sold through catalogs, online and by ordering through a drug store. We order ours through Rite-Aid, because they bought out Eckards and that was the only store, at the time, that would order it for us. There are now a number of online sources and the prices range from three dollars and change up to seven dollars plus, so shop for the best price. It is cheap enough to give it a try.

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