Ouch!

Burns are among the most painful injuries I can think of. The initial burn is bad enough, but the pain that continues after can be horrible.

I always used to use aloe vera gel on my burns. And I still like aloe. I keep a tube of it in my refrigerator, and the coolness of it adds to the soothing power of aloe. Aloe used to be the first thing I reached for when I got any kind of burn.

But now, since I attended an aromatherapy seminar a few years ago, I first reach for lavender essential oil (lavandula augustifolia). While at that seminar, one of the speakers mentioned the amazing power of lavender to heal burns. Even more amazing, lavender could stop the burn from blistering, swelling, etc. I found that a little hard to believe, but kept an open mind.

The next time I burned myself in the kitchen, I grabbed the bottle of lavender essential oil and smeared it on my fingers. I used it “neat”, as we had been told (no dilution in oil or anything else; straight out of the bottle). Hey, it sure smelled great! But then something interesting happened. I noticed that I had no more pain, no swelling, no blistering. No more of that owie, owie, owie that accompanies a burn. I actually forgot that I had burned myself!

Ever since then, I am always sure to have a bottle of lavender essential oil in my kitchen cabinet, ready to use if I need it.

The speaker at the aromtherapy seminar did caution that undiluted lavender oil on a major burn can sting at first, but that we should keep using it and the sting would go away. I haven’t had a burn that bad, thank goodness, but don’t be alarmed if you do notice some stinging.

I’ve since found out that the discovery of lavender’s burn-healing properties was probably an accident. Dr. Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, usually called the “father of modern aromatherapy”, severely burned his hands in a lab accident. (This was in 1910.) He poured lavender essential oil on them, and they healed completely. Not instantaneously, of course, since the burns were severe, but to have such bad burns heal completely is pretty amazing!

Shirley Price tells a story of a man with severe facial burns in her book, Aromatherapy for Health Professionals (one of my fave aromatherapy books, and it’s just been updated). The man was treated with a cream that had aloe vera, lavender essential oil and tea tree essential oil (melaleuca alternifolia). After just 8 days, he was growing new skin, with no peeling and no scars!

Now THAT’s powerful aromatherapy!

Yow, I need something to lift this blue mood I’m in! As usual, aromatherapy to the rescue! And this is definitely a case where I like to use my tea light candle oil diffuser, as it makes the scent last a long time. As a cautionary note, remember not to take any of these oils internally or use them on your skin until you research them thoroughly. Not all essential oils can be taken internally and/or used topically.

My favorite mood elevator is Rose essential oil (rosa damascena). One drop of this heavenly scent in a diffuser is enough to make me feel happy! However, rose essential oil is extremely expensive.

A cheaper (although still not cheap) alternative to rose essential oil is geranium (pelargonium graveolens), sometimes called rose geranium. When you smell geranium essential oil, you won’t believe how much it smells like rose essential oil! And again, one drop in a diffuser is plenty. At least it’s economical to use!

Roman Chamomile essential oil (anthemis nobilis) is renowned for its ability to calm people down. It can be somewhat sedating, so use it only when you know you don’t have to be completely alert. Don’t confuse Roman Chamomile with German Chamomile (matricaria recutita). They are very different essential oils.

Lavender essential oil (lavandula augustifolia) is also wonderful for making happy thoughts. It smells so clean and fresh.

The citrus oils are also known as mood elevators. One of my favorite citrus essential oils is mandarin (citrus reticulata). Don’t confuse mandarin essential oil with tangerine essential oil. Even though they smell similar, tangerine essential oil does not have the anthranilic acid ester that makes mandarin oil so good for anxiety. In his book Advanced Aromatherapy, Kurt Schnaubelt notes that Mandarin essential oil is also suitable for “children suffering from anxiety, nervousness, or stress” (p. 77).

Although I love the scent of patchouli (pogostemon cablin) and vetiver (vetiveria zizanoides) essential oils, I wouldn’t use them on a day when I need my mood lifted. They are known as dark, heavy, earthy scents and aren’t the best for feeling happier when you feel a bit down.

A quick look at some of my references gives a list of essential oils that are known as mood elevators. They are the kinds of oils that give you a “feel good feeling” when you have a mild case of the blues. Here are some other essential oils recommended for “despondency” by Shirley Price in her Aromatherapy Workbook:

Bergamot, Neroli and Petitgrain (all are varieties of citrus aurantium)
Clary Sage (salvia sclarea)
Coriander (coriandrum sativum)
Cypress (cupressus sempervirens)
Ginger (zingiber officinale)
Melissa (melissa officinalis)
Niaouli (melaleuca quinquenervia)
Rosewood (aniba rosaeodora)
Sandalwood (santalum album)
Ylang Ylang (cananga odorata)

There are other mood elevating essential oils out there, and the fun of aromatherapy is in the discovery of how a particular essential oil affects you. You might want to compile your own personal “blue day” essential oils list so that it’s handy the next time you feel a bit down.

Remember that these oils are traditionally used for an occasional feeling of sadness or anxiety or just feeling “down in the dumps”. If you have a serious case of depression, you need to be under a doctor’s care.

Now I’ve got to tell you, I thought this was all pretty weird. Put cinnamon bark essential oil on your feet, and prevent colds and the flu?

However, now that I’m a little older and wiser, and I know a bit more about aromatherapy and essential oils, I know exactly why my massage therapist used cinnamon bark oil to prevent colds and the flu. Although, truthfully, I can’t recommend putting cinnamon bark essential oil on the skin!

Cinnamon bark essential oil is what I refer to as a “little bomb” in the land of aromatherapy. What I mean by that is that it is extremely powerful and kills lots of nasty bacteria, viruses, etc. According to Kurt Schnaubelt in Medical Aromatherapy: Healing With Essential Oils,

“[C]innamon bark oil is effective against 98 percent of all pathogenic… bacteria. It is also effective against yeasts, candida.. and fungi, including aspergillus…. It is antiparasitic and prevents fermentation in the intestines; it is effective against diarrhea, colitis, amoebic dysentery, enterotoximia, bacterial cystitis, and urinary tract infections with E. coli….” (p. 215)

Many authors and scientific articles note cinnamon bark essential oil’s potent anti-viral uses, as well. And that explains why my massage therapist used it to fight off cold and flu viruses. As Jeanne Rose notes in 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols, cinnamon bark oil is “Antispasmotic, anti-infectious, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal particularly against Candida and Aspergillus” (p. 66).

Whew! You can see why I call cinnamon bark essential oil a “little bomb”. It is amazingly powerful against an amazingly wide number of bacteria, viruses and fungi.

However, the other reason I call cinnamon bark essential oil a “little bomb” is that the power of the oil comes at a price. Cinnamon bark essential oil is extremely irritating to the skin. It is one of the “hottest” oils I can think of, and I do everything I can to avoid ever getting the undiluted oil near my lips or tongue. Ow! I have never seen an aromatherapy or essential oil expert recommending that you put undiluted cinnamon bark essential oil on your skin. It is also extremely irritating to mucosal skin if it is over-diffused. In other words, if you’re going to put it in a diffuser, diffuse it only for very short periods of time. I haven’t yet tried diffusing cinnamon bark oil, but if I did, it would be for 5 minutes or less and I would never stand directly over the diffuser and inhale.

Usually, cinnamon bark oil is taken internally (one drop in a capsule is plenty), or it is diluted and mixed with other essential oils. It is definitely not for the absolute beginner who knows nothing about essential oils. I would recommend reading Medical Aromatherapy: Healing With Essential Oils before even attempting to work with cinnamon bark essential oil.

And remember to wear gloves and/or wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after handling a bottle of cinnamon bark essential oil!

You may be wondering why my massage therapist put the oil on the bottom of her feet (at least that skin is nice and tough on most people — but not on babies and children!). Believe it or not, the feet are one of the places where essential oils are most easily absorbed. But that’s a topic for another blog entry…

Ask Anne-Marie is a treasure-trove of questions and answers about soap-making. I found this site because I was looking for instructions on how much essential oil should be added to a batch of soap. (Anne-Marie recommends starting with 1/2 ounce per pound of soap, but I’m thinking that with something like Rose or Geranium, you’d need way less than that. And remember that when soap makers refer to “ounces” of oil or anything else, they are talking about the WEIGHT, not the volume.)

I’m a melt-and-pour kind of soap maker. Never could get up the nerve to work with lye, since I can be klutzy sometimes.

Anyway, I thought you soap fiends would enjoy the site. There’s also information on the site about pricing and selling your soaps.

According to The Essential Oils Desk Reference Third Edition, researchers in Japan found that diffused lemon essential oil resulted in 54% fewer errors in an office. (Diffused jasmine and lavender resulted in 33% and 20% fewer errors, respectively.) When oils were diffused during test-taking, scores increased as much as 50%!

Wow! See if you can convince the proctor to diffuse lemon oil while your kid is taking the SAT!

After sitting in my kitchen with my aromatherapy mixture in the diffuser, I started to feel better. My dry, rattling cough became “productive”, which means the congestion in my chest was breaking up. And my nose started running, so ditto for my head congestion.

I used a combination of eucalyptus radiata and eucalyptus globulus essential oils and I added essential oil of lemon (citrus limon). Both chemotypes of eucalyptus are known as effective expectorants. Eucalyptus globulus is also known as a “mucolytic”, which means it dissolves or breaks down mucus.

The lemon essential oil was added to the mixture mainly because of its air-disinfecting properties. And darn it, it smells great, too!

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Enter the code 37FRIEND in the promotional box as you check out.

Blair.com has an offer of $15.00 off a $75.00 purchase from their website. The offer expires October 17.

Enter the code 160719 in the promotional box as you check out.

Enjoy!

I put together an essential oil mixture and put it in my potpourri / aromatherapy diffuser, but it’s not the same as having a nebulizing diffuser. The great thing about the nebulizing diffusers is that they don’t use heat, and they turn the essential oils into tiny air-borne molecules so you can breathe them into your lungs.

The mixture I made up smelled great, and when I was standing over it, it definitely helped my congestion. But darn it, I’m gonna get a nebulizing diffuser right now!

Here’s the mixture I used:

Cold and Congestion Aromatherapy Recipe

4 drops Eucalyptus globulus essential oil
4 drops Eucalyptus radiata essential oil
6 drops lemon essential oil (citrus limon)

The lemon essential oil smelled great, and it’s known as one of the best ways to disinfect the air. Of course, I’m already infected. LOL

It takes about 1,000 pounds of Jasmine blossoms to make 1 pound of Jasmine oil.

That’s about 3.6 million blossoms!

Jasmine blooms at night, and the blossoms last only one day. They must be picked before sunrise, or most of the scent will have disappeared.

Jasmine oil isn’t a true “essential oil”. Rather, it is an “absolute”. Absolutes are made by adding alcohol to the blossoms to extract the aromatic molecules. Then the alcohol is evaporated, leaving the absolute, which is rather thick. A trace amount of the alcohol solvent may remain in the final product, which is one reason why absolutes are generally not used in therapeutic aromatherapy.

We have an indoor jasmine plant (subspecies Sambac) and we adore it. It blooms all year long, and when just one bloom opens up in the evening, you can smell the incredible scent of jasmine the moment you walk into the room! This year, we also grew Jasmine Sambac in our garden, and they did quite well. We’ll see if they are winter-hardy.

I’ve heard a lot of people tell about success treating toenail fungus with tea tree oil (melaleuca alternifolia). Even Dr. Andrew Weil recommends using tea tree oil on toenail fungus.

Tea tree oil is one of only two essential oils (the other is lavender essential oil) that there is nearly universal agreement on, regarding their safety for external use. Practically every expert I can think of agrees that tea tree oil can be applied “neat” (straight out of the bottle) to skin. (However, don’t use it neat on mucosal skin, like inside your mouth, nose, vagina, etc. Oww!)

Dr. Weil recommends painting the affected toenail twice a day for at least 2 months. It will probably take longer than that to see results. You can simply wet a Q-Tip with the tea tree essential oil and apply it to the entire toenail.

Tea tree oil is inexpensive, and doesn’t require you to get your liver tested, unlike oral prescription antifungals!