Hand lotion from Salina Drug, in Salina, Utah — long ago.
Utah friends, or anyone who can help: Do you know where to find this great hand lotion?
We nursed this bottle as long as we could. It ran out in January. Where do we get more?
We have not been able to get more in Salina, Utah.
The story: I heard stories about Salina Drug’s great hand lotion on the trail, hiking around Southern Utah. I was always in Salina late at night, or early in the morning, when the drug store was closed — Kathryn and I finally picked up a bottle on a red rock vacation, in 1983
A few drops are all you need. There was eucalyptus, I think, and camphor. A touch of glycerine. Witch hazel? Fantastic stuff. Miracle cure. We rationed the stuff through law school, awaiting a chance to get more.
Finals, a job change or two, a baby, another job change and move to Texas, bar exam, another baby — we didn’t get back to Salina until one Sunday in 1991 or 1992. We got late on a Sunday. Salina Drug was closed.
Was it closed for good? I don’t know. I tried a couple times to phone. No success.
New jobs, kids in school. Our rationing system consisted of putting it in the back of the medicine cabinet and forgetting about it, until you get hands so chapped in desperation you remembered that old hand lotion. Just a few drops. It’s particularly good for hands chapped from climbing red rocks, or bouldering.
It was a formula probably close to a century old in 1983. They brewed and bottled the stuff right there in the pharmacy. Amber bottle, locally-printed stick-on label, a piece of real cork with a slit to dispense, under the cap. But at some point in between 1985 and 2000, Salina Drug slipped away (like Bobbie McGee near Salinas, not to be confused with Salina).
When the drugstore died, did anybody save the recipe? Is anyone selling the stuff now?
More:
- The fountain, or bar from the old Salina Drug was moved more than a hundred miles north, to the Blue Plate Diner in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake City (near where Joe Hill was executed)
- Photos of Salina Drug, from the Salina city website
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] I complained about the apparent demise of Salina Drug Lotion from Salina Drug, a company that no longer exists in Salina, Utah. […]
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1. Mr. Higginbotham, it is good to see you back.
2. Fantastic find! That can be referring to no other product. I wonder if that company is still in business? I’ll try in the morning to order a bottle. Thanks!
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also not to be confused with “Salina Island, a scrap of Trinacria land, set in Eolie archipelago”
possibly related – bay rum, camphor, rosemary, etc?
https://purecellorganics.com/products/salina-lotion-8-oz?variant=7682846031914
[website on label errors out]
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Not sure how to feel about this — they took the whole article, translated it to Spanish. Are they making money off of it?
https://dark-network.net/pt/salina-drugs-hand-lotion-gone-for-good/
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Sounds like some good stuff! Anything in an amber jar is better. I hope you find some so you can share the source with us.
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