# Frohne’s Original ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 1938 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Steinefrenz | | Owner | Friedrich Frohne GmbH | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Steinefrenz (Westerwald), Germany | | Distribution | Multi-channel | | Website | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/ | Frohne’s Original is the product label of Friedrich Frohne GmbH, a small family-owned maker of herbal ointments and massage balms in Steinefrenz, a village in the Westerwald region of western Germany [1]. The company dates its beginnings to 1938, when the druggist Friedrich Karl Frohne started making ointments on a small scale in a drugstore he had taken over in Bremerhaven [2]. Its best-known product, Pedimol, began as one half of a foot-care set sold at markets after the Second World War and later found a second life as a massage balm. The range is small: three balms built on essential oils such as spruce needle, lavender, peppermint and eucalyptus, which the company presents as a traditional home remedy for relaxation and freshness after physical effort. Production has stayed in Steinefrenz since 1968, and the business is now led by the founder's grandson. The brand is active. ## Origin & founders Friedrich Karl Frohne was born in Koblenz in 1909. According to the company's own history, he attended grammar school and then trained as a druggist from 1923 to 1926, which gave him the grounding for the business he would later build. In 1938 he took over a drugstore in Bremerhaven, and it was there that he first produced ointments, though only in small quantities. The war soon interrupted that work. Frohne was called up in 1940 and trained as a medic, including instruction in tropical hygiene. In 1944 his drugstore was destroyed by incendiary bombs, and after the war he had to start again from nothing. His first new start was in the Soviet occupation zone. In 1948 he moved west again and ran several shops in Bochum and Essen. Alongside them he went back to developing and producing ointments, among them Pedimol and a second product called Solfapan. Both were sold at weekly markets and annual fairs rather than through shops or pharmacies [2]. This market-stall trade is the earliest documented form of the business that still exists today. ## History & milestones The move that shaped the company came in 1968. Frohne and his second wife, Johanna, relocated to Steinefrenz in the Westerwald. There Johanna kept running the sewing business she had previously managed in Essen, with around 20 employees, while Frohne now concentrated entirely on making ointments [2]. Sales grew through the 1970s. In 1978 the company switched production from manual work to semi-automatic machines. Packing, however, was still done by hand, because each box had to be filled with two tubes and pumice stones for foot care. In 1979 Johanna Frohne gave up the sewing business for economic reasons, while ointment output rose from a few hundred to a few thousand tubes a month. A new production hall was built in 1981. By then, in the company's account, it had become clear that the creams could do more than care for and refresh tired feet. Pedimol in particular, one of the two tubes in the combination pack, was increasingly requested for massage. The single tube sold more and more often, and production had to be rebuilt once again to supply it on its own. Pedimol is still presented today as a balm for massage and relaxation rather than as a foot cream. The next generation arrived in 1993, when grandson Ingo Schulz and his wife Andrea Schulz were brought to Steinefrenz to secure the future of the business. A year later the company replaced its semi-automatic machines with first one and shortly afterwards two complete lines, on which tubes were filled and packed in a single continuous step. Since then, the company says, its ointments have been sold throughout Germany, elsewhere in Europe and as far away as Australia and Canada [2]. Johanna Frohne, whom the company history describes as having long been the mainstay of the firm, died in 2004 at the age of 80. Friedrich Karl Frohne died in 2006, aged 97. Ingo Schulz, who by then had 13 years of experience in the business, took over. In the same year the company ordered a newer and faster filling machine. Later entries in the company history read as a list of investments in the plant. A sachet-filling machine arrived in 2009 so that requests for samples could be handled more efficiently. The office and its equipment were modernised in 2010, and the production rooms were renovated with ergonomic improvements in 2014. In 2018 the outdoor grounds were renovated and a solar installation was added, which the company describes as a step towards greater sustainability. In 2022 new packaging machines were bought, but the company also lost some customers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects. ## Ownership Frohne’s Original belongs to Friedrich Frohne GmbH, the operating company that carries the founder's name [1]. It has remained a family business across three generations. Management passed directly from Friedrich Karl Frohne to his grandson Ingo Schulz in 2006, after Schulz and his wife had joined in 1993 specifically to secure the company's continuation. No outside owner, parent group or acquisition is documented. ## Philosophy & positioning The company frames its products as herbal ointments in the tradition of the household remedy. Its website heading calls the range "Steinefrenzer Heilkräuter-Balsam", a medicinal-herb balm from Steinefrenz, and carries the tagline "Mit dem erfrischenden Wohltu-Effekt!", roughly "with the refreshing feel-good effect". Pedimol is introduced there as a long-proven home remedy "from grandma's times" that is still in demand [1]. According to the company, its ointments contain natural ingredients that have been used traditionally for centuries against a range of complaints [5]. The intended use is massage: the balms are meant to be rubbed into the skin for relaxation, vitality and a feeling of freshness after exertion and stress. The website also links the products to natural skin care, although the range contains no facial products. The ingredient pages go further and attach specific effects to individual oils. Lavender oil is described as calming for nervous tension, restlessness and trouble falling asleep. Peppermint oil, whose cooling feel comes mainly from menthol, is described as used for rubbing in against muscle, head and nerve pain. Eucalyptus oil is said to ease muscle and rheumatic complaints, stimulate circulation in the skin and support breathing. These are the company's own descriptions, and it does not cite clinical studies for them. The same pages carry a direct safety warning. The company advises caution with strongly scented essential oils such as peppermint and eucalyptus around babies and small children. It explains that small children have a reflex that keeps water out of the lungs, and that inhaling the vapours can trigger a spasm of the larynx that closes the airway and stops breathing [5]. ## Products & innovation The range consists of three balms. On the company's website each one sits under the label "Frohnes Original", written without an apostrophe. - **Pedimol®** is the original product. It grew out of the two-tube foot-care set of the 1970s and is now presented as a balm for relaxation, vitality and general well-being after exertion and stress. - **Alpenkräuter Emulsie®** adds Tyrolean mountain pine oil to the herbal base. According to the company, the pine oil gives it a more intense feel during massage. - **Alpenkräuter Massimol®** is, in the company's words, identical in composition to the Emulsie. It is sold under its own name and, the company says, has made its way through France, Spain and Portugal to Canada [1]. Across the range the company highlights four plant oils: spruce needle (listed as Siberian fir, *Abies sibirica*), lavender, peppermint and eucalyptus [4]. Its website also hosts short articles on Siberian fir and on eucalyptus and peppermint oil, along with a piece on the advantages of natural skin care. All production takes place at the company's own site in Steinefrenz. No third-party certifications are documented. Consumers are directed to a separate mail-order shop for retail orders, while businesses that want to stock the products are asked to contact the company directly [6]. ## Current status Frohne’s Original is active. The company website was updated in December 2025, and the company history runs to 2024, when the office equipment was renewed once more. In that final entry the company writes that the effects of the pandemic and of the war in Ukraine have not yet disappeared, but that business is picking up a little [2]. The company describes its products as known and popular around the world. No independent press coverage of the brand is documented, and its public profile rests mainly on its own website and on listings of its balms in pharmacies and online marketplaces. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1938 | Friedrich Karl Frohne takes over a drugstore in Bremerhaven; small-scale ointment production begins there. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1944 | The drugstore is destroyed by incendiary bombs; a new start follows in the Soviet occupation zone. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1948 | Frohne moves west, runs shops in Bochum and Essen and again develops and produces ointments, among them Pedimol and Solfapan, sold at weekly and annual markets. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1968 | Move to Steinefrenz (Westerwald); Frohne concentrates fully on ointment production. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1978 | Production switched from manual to semi-automatic; tubes still packed by hand in combination packs of 2 tubes plus pumice stones for foot care. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1979 | Ointment output rises from a few hundred to a few thousand tubes per month. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1981 | New production hall built; Pedimol, one of the two tubes in the combination pack, is increasingly requested for massage and sold as a single tube. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1993 | Grandson Ingo Schulz and his wife Andrea Schulz join the business in Steinefrenz to secure its continuation. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 1994 | Switch to complete filling-and-packaging lines (first one, shortly after two); the company states its ointments have since been sold across Germany, Europe, Australia and Canada. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 2006 | Founder Friedrich Karl Frohne dies aged 97; Ingo Schulz succeeds him. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 2009 | Sachet filling machine acquired to handle sample requests. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 2018 | Outdoor grounds renovated and a solar system installed. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 2022 | New packaging machines acquired; some customers lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | | 2024 | Office technology renewed; the company writes that effects of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine persist but business is picking up slightly. | https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Pedimol®** — Ein altbewährtes und noch immer viel begehrtes Hausmittel aus Omas Zeiten! — https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/ - **Alpenkräuter Emulsie®** — Alpenkräuter Emulsie® mit Tiroler Latschenkieferöl fördert Entspannung, Vitalität und Frische bei Massage. — https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/ - **Alpenkräuter Massimol®** — In seiner Zusammensetzung ist es identisch zur Alpenkräuter Emulsie®, hat seinen Weg allerdings über Frankreich, Spanien und Portugal bis nach Kanada gefunden. — https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} spruce needle / Siberian fir oil (Fichtennadeln, Piceae abies, Abies sibirica) · lavender oil (Lavandula angustifolia) · peppermint oil (Mentha piperita) · eucalyptus oil (Eucalyptus globulus) · Tyrolean mountain pine oil (Tiroler Latschenkiefernöl; Alpenkräuter Emulsie/Massimol only) Source: https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/produkte/ ## Sources 1. (T1) https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/ 2. (T1) https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/unternehmen/ 4. (T2) https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/produkte/ 5. (T2) https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/infos-zu-unseren-inhaltsstoffen/ 6. (T2) https://www.friedrich-frohne.de/faq/ --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-13 Please cite with a link to the article URL.