Essential Oils and Natural Remedies

[toonia]

Do any of you have experience researching and using essential oils? I'm just getting started in my pursuits. I have a friend who is a retired nurse who studies and practices it. I would greatly enjoy sharing information with others with experience and interest in the subject. What books and sources for oils do you recommend? I have some info to recommend, but must run out the door at the moment.

[Ivy]

I've used them for cleaning, and tea tree for blemishes and baby butt-rashes. I don't really know much about them except which ones have antiseptic properties and that tea tree oil is pretty awesome.

I'd be interested in hearing some of what you've learned, Toonia.

[Beat]

I take two fish oil capsules every morning with my multi-vitamin...

I want to get some flax seed oil capsules too eventually.

[proteanmix]

What do you want to know? I've made two fragrant oils for myself and they turned out OK; not great but they were my first two tries. Too much jasmine smells like poo (it's a base note). I'm learning about aromatherapy and developing my nose so I'll be more than willing to share what little I know.

[Beat]

Wait, so are we talking about cleaning oils, supplemental health oils (orally ingested), aromatic oils, sex oils etc.?

[CzeCze]

Oh TBGO, the places your mind goes.

I used to experiment with essential oils and making my own toiletries. Washes and scrubs and toners are pretty basic. Lotions gets trickier. I even made a shaving cream...at least, that's what the recipe said it was. It's a mix between cooking and using a chemistry set.

You learn all sorts of stuff making your own toiletries, for instance, sesame oil is a natural sunscreen and cuts the level of rays down by 70% Though, I can't imagine you'd want to baste yourself with oil and then walk out into the blazing sun...

Also, I discovered many of the most popular essential oils (and the ones with touted emotional/health benefits) are basically variations of citrus - neroli, ylang ylang, bergamot, etc.

I also learned about differences in quality, what "cold-pressing" is, the different kinds of "rose" essential oil, etc. Fun stuff.

But again, about 6 years ago my sense of smell suddenly diminished noticeably and I really can't smell much these days. So, I'm not really into aromatherapy as much.

[Beat]

Originally Posted by CzeCze

Oh TBGO, the places your mind goes.

[toonia]

These are two of the books i ordered. They are fantastic. They are organized as a reference guide, so you can look up different health problems and see what herbs and oils help, and/or you can look things up by oil with descriptions of what things each oil benefits. The first section of the first book describes the benefits from a medical perspective. It is written by an M.D. Ph.D. The second book includes information on using oils for skin, hair, and for cleaning. IBoth books are pub by Essential Science Publishing. I'm going to check out what else is available through that publisher. It makes so much sense to use a natural approach to its full extent before introducing pharmaceuticals. I'm not against the latter, but see the value in moderation.

[Jen]

I love, love, love lavender! I'm always spraying it all over the house or burning it in a diffuser. It really is calming. I even use Mrs. Meyers lavender dish soap, window wash and surface cleaner.

[Beat]

So, sex oils...