The Ingredients For Bgo Cream Made By Calotabs Co Of Greenville Sc

I am looking for the ingredients of BGO made by Calotabs Co of Greenville, SC years ago. My jar has long been worn smooth and can't read it.

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This product is no longer available, but from another user on our site that was asking about it, the ingredients listed on the packaging were as follows:

Salicylic Acid, Sulphur, Zinc Oxid, Phenol Calamine, Menthol, Petrolatum, Lanolin and mineral oil.

The only thing I can suggest is trying to find a similar product that contains the same ingredients.

Have you tried asking your pharmacist if they can recommend something?

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if you have the ingredients and even a small sample a compound pharmacy can remake it for you!

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I don't know how old your jar of BGO (Beeman's Greaseless Ointment) is, but my father owned the company from the mid 1950s until 1975, when he retired and sold the company, and it moved from Daytona Beach to Greenville, SC. As you probably have guessed, it is out of business now.

If your jar is white plastic with red lettering and a white metal cap, it was made after 1975 in Greenville, SC by the gentleman who bought the company from us. If your jar is brown glass with a black metal cap, and white label with black lettering with some red highlights, it was pre 1975. We also sold it in white tubes with back and yellow lettering, and I have tube that has never been opened

When I was 15 in the late '50s, I discovered it would shine chrome, but I don't remember by dad being all that impressed.

I checked the ingredients between what we had in it and what it had in it out of NC and the ingredients are exactly same, and are as follows:

Idoform, Salicylic Acid, Sulfur (Precipitated), Zinc Oxide, 1%, Phenol(Liquified), Calamine, Menthol, Petrolatum, Lanolin, and Mineral Oil.
I found a thing on the internet saying a good substitute for BGO is Calmoseptine ointment available at Walgreens.

Their website is: calmoseptine.com

Hope this helps.

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I live in Greenville SC and bought, what I was told was the last remaining case around 1993. I still have some left, but use it like gold. We also have the old brown bottle that you mentioned (empty). II had to laugh when I saw all these post. I thought we were the only ones that kept our BGO in a safety deposit box!

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I've been looking for it forever. If you could give more details about the ingredients I'll be glad to pay a compound pharmasist to whip some up. For privacy you may send it to me at xxxxx@xxx {edited for privacy}. it was a great product.

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For BGO's ingredients , see my post of 2/1/12

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It occurred to me in order to make something like BGO, you need the quantities of the ingredients and I just did a search to see of there was a patent on the formula but all I found was the trademark registration back in 1946. It was made by Beeman's Laboratory, Inc., but my father bought the company back in the fifties, and sold it around 1975, and we never made BGO ourselves but had it made. We did package BGO's sister product BQR (Beeman's Quick Relief), a cold remedy, and I worked in the plant during the summer of '62, between semesters in college. I have right next to me a varnished plywood box, approximately 14" x 11" that we would put the bottles of BQR, once they were filled, capped and labeled. Then we could stack them, then once the run for the day was bottled, we sat around and put them in the boxes with the insert. Once that was done, we would open up and do one end of the BQR boxes for the next day, tossing them in huge cardboard boxes about 3' square. We could do about 3,000 bottles a day, so we had a number of those 3' square boxes filled with BQR boxes closed at the bottom. There were about three or four of us doing this. We also packaged Calotabs (a laxative that looked like a white M&M) and Dr. Blosser’s Cigarettes (using a cigarette tube making machine made in the 1800's). We tried improving the formula for BGO, and experimented with a version that had air whipped into it. It went on very smooth, disappeared into the skin but didn't work as well as the original so we abandoned that. As I write this, the smells of the BGO, BQR and the Blosser's Cigarettes come back to me. My dad and I made a ton of those plywood boxes used in the production of BQR and I use this last remaining one as an Inbox. The BQR liquid would arrive in 55-gallon drums.

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BGO was the best - I have had several pharmacists try to duplicate it and they just can't quite get it right

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Thanks for your comments. I'm not familiar with why the people who bought the company from us let it go out of business but I expect they just couldn't compete with brand names who have huge advertising budgets. We used to advertise in Grit and give pharmacists little paper bags with our ads on them for them to put people's prescriptions in.

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I also purchased a case back in the early 90's and still have 6 bottles left, like you, I am VERY stingy in even letting people know that I have any left. Never guessed that others would be looking for this item!!! Guess I'll leave a bottle to each grand child in my will.....lol

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Be sure to have those six jars of BGO added to your homeowners policy in case someone breaks in and steals them. Where did you say you live????

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I do genealogy and my father, 1910-1971, said his sister md. Dr. A. E. Beeman. He was a bunch of years older than she - her being born ca 1911 and Dr. Beeman ca 1889. I located a marriage license for him and Billie Brabham (Willie Lou Brabham) date Apr 1931 in TN. I have Aunt Willie Lou's obit in Oct 1931 which indicated she died in Augusta, GA and was the widow of Dr. A. E. Beeman. Today looking in Ancestry I located A. E. Beeman as V-Pres. and Candler P. Lasseterm /Sec-Tres. Lab appears to have been in Lynn Fort, 290 Angier Av., NE, but A. E. lived on 793 Pryor NW. Did this company have anything to do with Beeman Chewing Gum?

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According to Wikipedia, Beeman's Gum was created by a Edward E. Beeman back in the 1800's and it continued until 1978. I don't think that Beeman was in any way connected to the Beeman's Laboratories that made BGO and BQR. BGO was started in 1946 but I found a mention of Beeman's Laboratorys in Atlanta in the 1941 Federal Trade Commission report saying they were "Misrepresenting therapeutics value and failing to disclose harmful potentialities: medicinal preparations." Which would indicate the Beeman's that made BGO was in business before 1946 when it introduced BGO. I have no other info about the company or who founded it.

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I appreciate your information. Since this afternoon I finally found that "my" A. E. Beeman was Aulda Edward Beeman born 4 Mar 1885 died 18 May 1931 in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN according to his Death Certificate. His wife indicated Aulda was born in NC, but so far I haven't located him any where. Maybe there was more than one Beeman Lab - the one that has A. E. as V-P was in Atlanta in the City Directory for 1929. Have a good week-end. Thanks again.

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If your Beeman died in 1931, maybe others continued with the company and in 1946, it put out BGO. I can't believe there would be two Beeman Laboratory's in Atlanta at the same time.

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Thank you for posting your information about BGO! I have thought of it often as it was the BEST "drawing salve" back in the 50's and 60's. BGO came up in a conversation I had with my daughter today (6/16/13), so I had to look it up. I'd wondered what had happened to it since I hadn't seen it for years. Thanks again for the information and memories of a great product..."they" just d!on't make things like "they" used to...what a shame!

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I enjoyed your comments on BGO. Such always reminds me of back when we were making it and simpler times.

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My thinking is that he had a partner and he probably continued keeping the name that was already set up.

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To Harry - see Relpy # 3 below.

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Wow!! I would give anything to get a bottle of BGO. So funny to see how many people used it. I grew up in the 70s as a teen in Alabama and it was the only thing that worked on breakouts (zits). But the bottle my mother gave me was the brown glass jar and it only took a little so i assume she had that jar for a long time and it lasted forever. It was also a beige color and would help cover up blemishes while healing. I have never found anything else like it and when my daughter was a teen, I had wished so many times I had some to help with her blemishes. Must have been a more southern known ointment.

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Re: Passingship (# 3)

I grew up with this medicine. My father told me it took the pain away from cuts and he was right on. When my 51 year old daughter was young, her grandmother told me she had ringworm and to use the BGO. All it took was one application and it cleared right up. I will go to Walgreen's to get the product mentioned

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

The use of BGO runs generations deep in my family... Like 7 generational.
I have yet to find anything that works as good... Calmoseptine Ointment is a close 2nd. It's available at Costco pharmacy for a 4oz tube for less than $6.

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Re: Passingship (# 3)

Wow! I'm 71 years old and I just got stung twice by a yellow jacket. It made me think of BGO. I have to tell my husband about when I was stung for the first time. I was 3 or 4 years old and my grandfather took a bunch of his grandchildren down to the bottoms at his farm. He was on the tractor and was pulling us on a flatbed trailer. I was the youngest and my cousins were to look after me and make sure I didn't fall off.
We ran into a big yellow jacket nest. My grandfather got stung many, many times. So did my cousins but they shielded me and I only got stung once on my chest. When we got home, my mom saw what had happened and came running with the BGO!

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I have a jar that my mother in law gave me when my Daughter was born 27 years ago. I’ve been looking for more. I hate you can’t get it anymore. It really works great for a lot of things. I had a bad skin boil come up and I used it on it and it helped so much. If it works they quit making it. However this has been around so long I understand why they aren’t making it. I wish some other drug company would pick this up.

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Re: mary from georgia (# 16)

Hi Mary from Georgia, I now live in Georgia too. I have tried to find this wonderful BGO product. I have read the many posts. The posts have provided me many memories as well. I am down to my last 2 sm bottles. I wish I had bought more, like some of you did back in the day. It was a wonderful gift for us all to have to use. Sorry it had to end.

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Re: Passingship (# 3)

Hi Passingship, it was a real good product along with many other items that were sold back then. I do have a friend that is a compound pharmacist and I will ask him what he thinks about this product? I still have it and it still works for me. I bought many containers at the time. Thanks for the input.

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Re: Passingship (# 3)

I have the brown bottle with black top and it still has some product in it. I remember my mom using it for ringworm, athletes foot and any kind of itching we had. I don’t know how old this bottle and the product inside is, but I still use it!

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Greetings from Ireland Harry.

If I may let me recommend that you try LA ROCHE POSEY range of creams. They are very effective formulations
in helping to heal a myriad of skin problems. Personally from using their CICA PLAST BAUME 5 on my grandson,
with my own Son the LIPIKAR range is excellent in replenishing the Lipid imbalance on skin.
They do a full range of washes, shower gels etc. All hypoallergic and clever design so that no contaminants can re-enter the bottles or tubes when used. A prescription is not required as they can be bought OTC in any good or chain pharmacy. Great for all ages even do a makeup range for hypersensitive skin.
I hope you can get some wherever you are and get some relief. I also hope this is of use to anyone else with skin issues. Slan agus Bennacht ( bye & bless) Maggie

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Re: Gale R. (# 26)

It's missing the Sulfur though.

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Re: Passingship (# 24)

Hello... Pertaining to BGO: We were raised on this ointment as have been my Grands. When the company in Greenville (my hometown) went out of business my aunt bought 2 cases and divided it out between the family.

In 2008 I had shingles on my left side. As soon as it was diagnosed I applied BGO. It was completely healed within a week. It is amazing!

Sadly that was the last of our family's supply. The closest ointment I have found is Calmoseptine Ointment. It's not as pink as BGO and though it's fairly thick, it's not as "butter" thick as BGO. But it's better than nothing.

If anyone compounds BGO or recreates it for resale, please let me know.

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