Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Essential Oils





I have been using essential oils for years for home remedy medicinal purposes, cosmetic reasons, scenting the home safely, to clean with, and for insect control and things like that. Of course, for safety reasons, please read up as much as possible on them before dabbling in them...they can be dangerous if used improperly. Especially around young children. So please, take caution, and educate yourself.

They are inexpensive, after the investment of purchasing a bottle, you will not believe how far it goes. I have a woman about 20 min from me that sells homemade cosmetics and she sells me them at a super price for home use. I pay an average of 10.00 a bottle....5 for some and 20 for some...do not fall into a trap of home sales companies that theirs are superior..Now brand sells good ones at a fair price. The home sale companies will scare you into buying severely expensive one's from them, because theirs are better. They are not.

It is said, that people used thieves oil to ward off the plague. This essential oil blend was created from research about thieves during the 15th century in England who rubbed oils all over their bodies to protect themselves from the Black Plague while they were robbing the dead and dying. A study also suggests that it kills super bugs, including MRSA. It is debatable what is in the products, and I don't want to speculate what they used in that study. As far as home companies selling thieves oil, you can blend your own. If you do a search online, you can find what was in the oils they used back then, or at least what we all think was.

Again, don't get into the gimmick of the home sales companies with essential oils...those multi-marketing schemes benefit the upper sales teams, and you end up paying multi-level salaries. I won't get into what I think of the multi level marketing schemes too much here. Just save yourself the money and get some from reputable companies, such as Now. http://www.nowfoods.com/ or someone local you may know. I get mine from a gal who buys in bulk so I can get a 1 oz bottle for 5.00.
Another great site is http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/
I dont' want to put down Young Living much because they seem very knowlegable about essential oils. In fact, the founders are mentioned in many of the books I own. I am not going to tell you not to buy their stuff, or to buy it..just don't blow your life away on the multi level schemes...

My sister in law just mentioned the ants are starting to come in her kitchen again. I have not had ants in years. I add essential oils to my cleaning products (and I use Shaklee Basic H2, and homemade cleaners that are environmentally safe so again, take caution what you add them to, educate yourself). The essential oils are known to keep away ants, bees, spiders, moths and other pests.

I add things like clove oil, lavender oil, orange oil, rosemary oil etc to my cleaners, it smells nice and has kept away pest for me with no effort. I just clean with it, and never see any. (When I come up with a deterrent for stink bugs, I will let ya know, they surely don't like those aromatherapy burn sticks). I love sweet orange in the dishwasher rinse aid compartment with water. Makes the dishes smell nice and its a cleaning agent too. Lemon would also work.

In the bottom of my superhuman trash can, under the plastic trash liner, I put a paper towel with a drop of whatever oil I want to smell when I step on the lid opener and throw in trash.

Patchouli wards of wasps, I use it on my patio here and there. Lavender wards off chiggers and ticks. Citronella oil for mosquitoes (careful, it keeps them away but attracts bees and seems to make bees crazy, which would you prefer coming after you?). I have, if you notice in the pic, a plug in with changeable pads for my home and my truck cigarette lighter, that you add a drop of any oil to make your home/truck smell nice. I make my own vapor rubs when I have a cold with coconut oil and eucalyptus oil...also eucalyptus in the hot tub is nice for when we are fighting a cold, and lavender in the hot tub to relax. I can come up with millions of uses for essential oils and I use them every single day for one thing or another.

We have a stink bug invasion problem in our part of the county, so I like to put some nice smelling oil on a paper towel and inside the vacuum cleaner bag zipper so if one happens to get sucked up, my house does not smell like stink bugs lol.

I save glass jars from things like horseradish, gourmet mustard etc to use for mixing and storing my concoctions. Label everything in case you would ever need to call the poison control center because of a child getting ahold of it. You may think it won't happen, if you dont' have kids etc, but it is better to be safe than sorry! LABEL EVERYTHING YOU MAKE

An investment of just a few oils can take you far. They can last a long time if stored properly, in dark glass jars out of sun and heat.


Some of the books I have on essential oils, to name a few are:


Essential Oils Desk Reference by Essential Science Publishing

The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood

Green This by Deirdre Imus

Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck

Organic housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck

Natural beauty at home by Janice Cox

Natural Beauty Basics Dorie Byers, RN

A guide to remedies homeopathy essential oils crystals home remedies by Barnes and noble publishing

Quick Reference Guide for using Essential Oils by Connie and Alan Higley (they are with the young living essential oil company, which I have to say is way overpriced, but their information in their book is great, I got it on eBay so not to be hounded to buy from the company)
Advanced Aromatherapy: The Science of Essential Oil Therapy"Kurt Schnaubelt Ph.D
Essential Oils Integrative Medical Guide: Building Immunity, Increasing Longevity, and Enhancing Mental Performance With Therapeutic-Grade Essential Oils D. Gary Young N.D
375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols"Jeanne Rose

I have a bunch more books on making cosmetics and cleaners, but these are the one's I have at my fingertips if I need to quick look something up.

Something interesting I found on the internet:
The Brown Recluse Experiment: Seeing how squirting a peppermint-water spray would kill flies in mid-air, I wondered what pure oil would do. So I did an experiment on a brown recluse spider. I captured a live one in a jar and carefully placed one drop of peppermint on one side. The pure peppermint repelled the spider who crowded to the other side to avoid the oil. When I tipped the jar to force the spider to fall into the oil, it merely squirmed and got away, still repelled by the oil, but not apparently harmed. Then I put a drop of water with the oil and tipped the jar so that the spider slid into the water and oil together and, instantly, it shriveled up and died.
PS
USE CAUTION, EDUCATE YOURSELF. A FEW DROPS OF ESSENTIAL OILS CAN
KILL A SMALL CHILD AND JUST ONE DROP CAN KILL A CAT.


Here is from a site I found for a recipe for Theives oil..which was used by theives to be able to go near dead bodies during the bubonic plague so they could rob the dead.
Thieves Oil
Two recipes for Thieves Oil.
One from Karen another from Debbie
Thieves Oil.
Here's the recipe:
equal amounts of eucalyptus, rosemary, cinnamon, clove and lemon. Mix with base of olive oil.
I usually put a tablespoon of each in a 2 oz. bottle and then fill the rest with olive oil.
you can make a larger batch in a quart jar following the same proportion method.
Same ingredients, but measured out in different strength's.Clove Bud Oil 200 drops, Lemon Oil 175 drops, CinnamonOil 100 drops, Eucalyptus Oil 75 drops, Rosemary 50 drops.
Theives OilCourtesy of Caroline Rogers founder of Nutrition Naturally and co-owner of The Tidewater Companion- A Holistic Health Directory and Resource Guide!
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLDSAccording to the People's Desk Reference For Essential Oils, (The PDR) the following single oils are suggested: lavender, lemon, marjoram, frankincense, eucalyptus, melaleuca and rosemary. Young Living produces quality blends; recommended formulas include: Thieves, R.C., Di-Tone or Purification. Also suggested is a raindrop therapy treatment--see massage page for information.
THIEVESClove * Lemon * Cinnamon * Eucalyptus * Rosemary *An Essential Oil blend formulated by Gary Young, N.D.,owner of Young Living Essential Oils, Payson, Utah.
REMEMBER ....The stimulating aroma of cinnamon or cloves, but if you touched your lips with it, it could cause irritation.... or the fresh aroma of lemon and sipping a hot fresh squeezed lemon drink with honey if you had a cold or sore throat... and Vick's Vapor Rub....the menthol aroma...your Mom would rub it on your chest to help you breathe easier at night in times of congestion....the pungent rosemary herb in cooking...
Aromas evoke memories, and memories lead to family recipes in times of healing for use in colds, flu., congestion, headaches, body aches etc. The Thieves blend is such a recipe, historically recorded in the era during the plague. History records that the perfumers seemed to have an immunity against the plague.
Here is one story: The Four Thieves VinegarPerfumers by day, robbers by night. Four men made a concoction of herbs and essential oils in a base of vinegar and would douse their body with this before they went our plundering! They had a pretty good track record of stealing riches until the King found out and captured them, forcing them to give up their secret weapon against the plague. The herbal ingredients were wormwood, meadowsweet, juniper berries, rosemary, camphor, sage, cinnamon and cloves in a base of white wine vinegar.
PRESENT DAY THIEVESThe essential oils contained within this formula have been noted for anti-bacterial, anti-viral, antiseptic and anti-catarrhyal properties while stimulating the immune system, circulation and the respiratory system. According to research at Weber State University, Thieves was found to have a 99% kill rate against airborne bacteria when diffused.
MY EXPERIENCEDue to the cinnamon and clove contained, one must be cautious--it may cause irritation if improperly used. Fair skinned, blue-eyed individuals, redheads and those who tend to sunburn easily need to heed and dilute Thieves in a carrier oil (such as almond ) before applying to the skin. I have used 1-2 drops of Thieves on the bottom of my feet and also at the nape of the neck. Other places could be under the arms,and on the chest. I do not suggest using this in a bath or in a sauna! Diffuse for only short periods of time--20 minutes or less at work or at home. I used a lot of Thieves during January and February and felt the results were positive.

    

3 comments:

Suzie said...

Hi, Shannon!

This is a great post!!
Thank you so much for sharing!

Suzie

CottageBliss said...

Shannon,

Thanks so much for your info on Essential Oils! I am so glad you advised us to educate ourselves about them; excellent advice.

Gives my goose-bumps thinking of you experimenting with a brown recluse...*shivers*

Melissa

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, at least for now. said...

Melissa, I was not the experimenter for the brown recluse! I took that from another source lol. A friend of mine was bit by one, in my area tho...they are around! scary!