In an episode of the Malaysian TV series Kopitiam, Uncle Chan decides that Kapak Minyak (Axe Oil) would do in place of holy water to summon a spirit that they think is haunting the Kopitiam.
I agree with Uncle Chan; Axe Oil is miraculous.
My first ever bottle of Axe Oil came from Appa’s friend who bought it in Singapore. We are a headache-ridden family – my father, my sister, and I are prone to regular headaches (much less for me now, but they are still far more frequent than WebMD suggests is ‘normal’). Appa and my sister are fans of Emami Mentho Plus, which I think dethroned Amritanjan around two decades ago. A little plastic bottle of Mentho Plus is never far from reach in my parents’ house and my sister’s house; under the pillow, in the purse, in frequented corners of the house, and so on.
All those years ago, I remember staring at fascination at the tiny Axe Oil glass bottle that we got, the brand name written in four languages including ‘Kodali mark’ in Tamil. Its smell was intoxicating. The tiny bottle lasted for a long time – definitely over a year.
I’m unable to recollect when Axe Oil became a firm presence in my life – I do remember regular headaches during my working days in Singapore, but I think I grit my teeth through them without applying anything on my forehead. It may have been in the last 5-6 years, years after my move back to India and without easy access to the oil that is ubiquitous in Singapore (although the situation has changed now and it’s available so easily that I wonder if the bottles are authentic).
Today, a small bottle sits in my office draw, there’s one at home (of course), and a spare in case someone borrows my main bottle and doesn’t return it (it has happened!) or it breaks. I carry it with me whenever I travel.
If you wonder why I obsess over the Oil, hear my story and corroborate it with anyone who suffers from headaches or migraines regularly. Science sends people to the moon but not figure out why people get headaches and migraines; so if one doesn’t want to pop a pill with every nauseating, debilitating headache, one looks for a crutch that offers relief, even if momentary, a ray of hope amidst the blinding hot flashes of pain that forces eyes shut, sends waves of nausea, makes tears flow. Most chronic headache sufferers have an arsenal of tools to try for every headache, but there’s always a shining star of a tool that almost always works.
That’s Axe Oil for me.
The few minutes immediately after I apply the Oil are moments of bliss. My skin burns, temporarily, it seems, numbing my nerves’ ability to make me feel pain. My nasal passages clear up instantly, and I take deep breaths that I’d like to think send a rush of oxygen straight to my brain and lessen the pain. My eyes, forced shut due to the pain, water due to the Oil’s effects and open up. These effects wear off as the sting of the Oil reduces, around 15-20 minutes later, but it takes longer for the full blast of the headache to resume.
You may say that this could be placebo effect, and I agree; but I don’t dismiss the importance of the placebo effect in healing. I genuinely believe that Axe Oil gives me relief, even if only for a few minutes, and helps me survive the day until I get the night’s sleep that usually clears the headache. Sometimes I use it even if I don’t have a headache, like for a blocked nose. Very rarely, for a hit of energy, because it helps me take deep breaths. Well, some people smoke, and then there are people like me!
Not everyone gets this “dependence”, of course. Friends have joked about my addiction and how I readily launch into its benefits when suggesting it to someone for relief from a headache or a blocked nose. I know it sounds hilarious. A few years ago, in Amsterdam at my friend’s house, I watched with barely-controlled laughter her father-in-law sell Sastri Balm to another friend’s husband who had a headache. The friend’s husband kept declining the uncle’s offer but finally gave in, and listened patiently, with tears streaming down his cheeks, to uncle extolling Shastri Balm’s virtues.
Shastri Balm. Tiger Balm. Axe Oil. Mentho Plus.
Each one a life saviour for our fraternity of headache sufferers. Our miracle water. Thank you, Axe Oil.