Mentholatum

Mentholatum is an American maker of non-prescription health-and-personal-care products, founded in 1889 by Albert Alexander Hyde in the United States [5]. Best known for the menthol ointment that gives the company its name, it has grown into a multi-category business whose beauty-adjacent lines centre on lip care and skincare. Since June 1988 it has been owned by the Japanese pharmaceutical group Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. [5], and it operates as an active subsidiary with a stated presence in around 150 countries.

The company's North American base is in Orchard Park, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, with manufacturing and distribution facilities in the surrounding metro area. Within the beauty space its most recognisable products are the Softlips and Natural Ice lip balms; in international markets the Natural Ice balm is sold as Lip-Ice.

The business began as a second act for its founder. Albert Alexander Hyde had lost a fortune — by one local-history account roughly $100,000 — in the 1887 Kansas real-estate collapse. In 1889 he established a new partnership in Wichita, Kansas, called The Yucca Company, alongside Walter Binkley and the pharmacist Clayton Smith [6]. The firm first made and marketed soaps and shaving creams, some using yucca-plant ingredients.

Hyde then turned toward menthol-based remedies. After about four years of experimentation, the company introduced the original Mentholatum Ointment in December 1894, blending menthol with petrolatum — a portmanteau of those two words [5]. The Buffalo Rising history describes the formula as combining the essential oils of menthol and camphor with petrolatum, a jelly that adheres to the skin. The ointment proved successful enough that, in 1906, the Yucca Company was renamed The Mentholatum Company after its flagship product and stopped selling soap [5].

Production expanded steadily through the early twentieth century. A branch factory opened in Buffalo, New York, in 1903, and in 1919 the company built an 80,000-square-foot plant at 1360 Niagara Street that became its principal production site and, by the 1940s, its corporate headquarters [6]. That building was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places in 2017 [5].

The defining corporate change came in 1988, when Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. of Japan acquired The Mentholatum Company [5]; the North American headquarters subsequently moved to Orchard Park, New York [6]. The lip-care business grew alongside the ointment: the Softlips line launched in 1992, and a redesigned dome-shaped product, Softlips Cube, followed in 2014, the year the company also marked its 125th anniversary. In 2024 Mentholatum acquired the Chicago-based Hydrox Laboratories, a maker of infection-prevention and personal-care products, expanding its business-to-business healthcare offering [1].

Mentholatum has been wholly owned by Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. of Japan since June 1988, and its corporate materials identify it as "a Rohto company." Rather than being absorbed and discontinued, the Mentholatum name continues as an operating brand and subsidiary within the Rohto group, which also markets other lines such as Rohto eye drops and Oxy acne care.

Mentholatum presents itself as a long-running health-and-wellness company built on trust and continuity. Its corporate site frames the business around heritage, using the line "135 Years of Heartfelt Care and Trust in Health and Wellness" and stating that, since 1889, the company has aimed to be "a trusted companion in countless lives" [1]. According to the company, its work is guided by a set of "7 Pledges" — a corporate philosophy it says is followed by employees across 150 countries — covering commitments to society, continuous improvement, customer trust, and service to people and the environment.

Mentholatum's original product, the Mentholatum Ointment, remains a core line and is marketed for soothing relief; its principal active ingredients are menthol, petrolatum and camphor. Outside the United States the company also sells the topical analgesic Mentholatum Deep Heating Rub under the name Deep Heat.

In categories most relevant to beauty, the company's lip-care portfolio includes Natural Ice, a medicated lip balm the brand describes as an everyday family product, and Softlips, positioned as a conditioning and protecting lip balm. The Softlips Cube, introduced in 2014, was promoted as a dome-shaped balm with SPF 15 and what the company called a five-in-one lip-perfecting formula [7]. Its skincare brands include pHisoderm facial cleansers and Hada Labo Tokyo, described by the company as a hydrating, anti-ageing line.

The company also operates as a contract and original-equipment manufacturer. It states that it runs facilities across 11 countries, with a manufacturing centre and warehouse in the Buffalo, New York area and a research-and-development laboratory in Philadelphia [3].

Coverage of Mentholatum has centred on its history and its long industrial presence in Buffalo. A 2017 feature in the local publication Buffalo Rising documented the company's founding, the invention of the menthol-petrolatum ointment, and its manufacturing legacy in the city [6]. The same year, the company's historic Buffalo building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mentholatum is active. Founded in 1889 and owned by Rohto Pharmaceutical since 1988, it reports selling products in around 150 countries, completed an acquisition as recently as 2024, and maintains a current corporate website [1]. Its most recent publicly visible milestone is the 2024 purchase of Hydrox Laboratories.