Okay, I seriously, truly hated this stuff when I was a kid. I would whine and become a brat to be dealt with when I got a cold and my mom came after me with this "stinky" stuff. I hated the medicinal smell of it so much that I would run to the bathroom and wash it off. And now? I realize how stupid of me it was to do that. Because, beneath that "stinky smell," the stuff actually works.

Once you adapt to the rather strong smell of Vaporub, you'll find that it clears your stuffy nose and helps that annoying cough. I use it at night when I have the most trouble breathing through my nose during a nasty cold. I don't like to ingest a lot of medications (I had a gastric bypass so, really, I don't do very well with capsules and sugar/alcohol-laced cough medicines), so this stuff is a God-send.

The only thing I don't like about this stuff is, yeah, the smell. But you get over it once you realize it really works. And my boyfriend is completely, freakishly allergic to this stuff so I have to be sure never to use it when he's around! Other than that, I swear by it.