Ingredients Matter
We think ingredients are the first thing your should look at before you put something on or in your body. The punchline is that our product MuscleGoo is made out of plants, and the big brands are full of chemicals. It’s simple. Wanna watch? Check out the summary video from our YouTube channel. Wanna read more? Keep scrolling, there’s plenty to know here and when you start to look at BioFreeze vs Icy Hot vs Bengay, you’ll be surprised.
Because we think ingredients really matter, we’ve done the research on Icy Hot, BioFreeze, Bengay and Penetrex. You can find deep dives from our blog into each of their ingredients at the bottom of this page, and we’ll jump right into some top level comparisons now. All the information here comes from our deep dive blogs, and those blog posts contain all sources and references which include WebMD, Drug Bank, NCBI (National Center for Biotech Information), and several other credible websites.
Background on Ingredients
First, some background information on ingredients. Saying a product or ingredient is “pain relieving” is making a “drug claim” according to the FDA. In order to make drug claims, said product has to be evaluated and receive premarket approval from them. This is why a big brand like Icy Hot can throw “Pain Relief” on the package, but you can’t label an essential oil that’s been used for the same thing for thousands of years with it.
BioFreeze Ingredient Summary
Of the big brand high chemical relief topicals on the market, we’d argue BioFreeze has the least disgusting ingredients. The good guys here are Yerba Mate (the plant not the drink) and menthol, which is a persistent ingredient in all of these products. Red flags include the 2 colorants used in the product: FD&C blue #1 and FD&C yellow #5. The latter is a bit controversial and has been shown to cause mutagenesis and carcinogenesis if ingested. Other ingredients are common stabilizers and bases found in a lot of products on the shelf at the drug store.
Icy Hot Ingredient Summary
Icy Hot is full of disgusting artificial stuff, period. It includes compounds that are used for absorption in diapers, indigestion medication, and most notiably: PEG-150 distearate. The Environmental Working Group considers PEG-150 a hazardous ingredient, but on the OK end of the spectrum for all PEGs. You can dive in by reading out deep dive if you’d like, or you can just avoid this stuff altogether.
Bengay Ingredient Summary
Bengay’s ingredient stack is mostly on the good end of the spectrum with characters like Lanolin, but one notable inclusion tips the scales the other way. Potassium Hydroxide. That’s lye. An inorganic compound commonly used in various chemical, industrial and manufacturing applications. Thanks but no thanks.
MuscleGoo Summary
We’re biased, but here’s the facts: MuscleGoo gets the job done with pretty much nothing but plants. 19 essential oils, hemp seed extract, matcha, aloe, turmeric, and organic menthol crystals. It’s simple.
BioFreeze vs Icy Hot vs Bengay: Ingredient Summary
Base Ingredients
MuscleGoo – Water, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Carbomer
Bio Freeze – Carbomer, Triethanolamine
Icy Hot – Cellulose Gum, Ceresin, Microcrystalline wax, Paraffin, Stearic acid and stearyl alcohol
Bengay – Carbomer, Disodium EDTA, Lanolin
Cooling Ingredients
MuscleGoo – Certified Organic Menthol Crystals, Witch Hazel Distillate, Spearmint and Peppermint Essential Oil, White Camphor Essential Oil
Bio Freeze – Menthol
Icy Hot – Menthol
Bengay – Menthol
Warming Ingredients
MuscleGoo – Black Pepper Essential Oil, Cinnamon Essential Oil, White Camphor Essential Oil
Bio Freeze – Camphor
Icy Hot – Methyl salicylate
Bengay – Menthol
Pain Relieving* Ingredients
*or ingredients known for relieving pain
MuscleGoo – Hemp Seed Extract, Sweet Basil Leaf Essential Oil, Citronella Essential Oil, Roman Chamomile Flower Essential Oil, Eucalyptus Leaf Essential Oil,Helichrysum Flower Essential Oil,Ginger Root Essential Oil, Scotch Pine Needle Essential Oil, Ravensara Essential Oil, Wild Oregano Essential Oil, White Camphor Essential Oil, Lemongrass Essential Oil, Neem Extract, Ivy Gourd Extract, Eggplant Extract, Basil Extract, Turmeric Extract, Amber
Bio Freeze – Camphor, ILEX Paraguariensis
Icy Hot – Methyl salicylate, Glycinate, Aluminum Hydroxide
Bengay – Not sure, maybe the lye(!).
Colorants
MuscleGoo – Organic Matcha
Bio Freeze – FD&C blue #1, FD&C yellow #5
Bengay – Disodium EDTA
Go Deeper on BioFreeze vs Icy Hot vs Bengay
Sources:
https://www.drugs.com/international/aluminium-glycinate.html
https://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/aluminum-hydroxide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidocaine
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/cellulose-gum#1
https://www.healthline.com/health/methylparaben
https://www.livestrong.com/article/458401-what-is-sodium-polyacrylate-how-is-it-used/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menthol
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/methyl_salicylate#section=Top
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceresin
https://cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/cyclomethicone
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702919/HYDROGENATED_CASTOR_OIL/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcrystalline_wax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraffin
https://www.truthinaging.com/ingredients/peg-150-distearate
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=1120&tid=240
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearic_acid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-709/camphor
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702408/FD%26C_BLUE_1/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17505761
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/glycerol
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-silicon-dioxide-in-supplements-safe#in-food-and-supplements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethanolamine
http://jpsr.pharmainfo.in/Documents/Volumes/vol9Issue02/jpsr09021734.pdf
https://cosmetics.specialchem.com/inci/amber-extract
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/724485/TETRASODIUM_GLUTAMATE_DIACETATE/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273913/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/rosemary-oil-benefits#section1
https://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/spearmint-oil.aspx
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-644/oregano
https://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/white-camphor-oil.aspx
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-577/neem
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273913/
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1032/edta
https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/blog/products/all-about-glyceryl-stearate-se.html
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-8944/lanolin-topical/details
https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB11063
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Potassium-hydroxide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearic_acid
https://www.truthinaging.com/ingredients/triethanolamine