Living in a busy household with many children of varying ages, I am constantly attending to cuts, scrapes and other ‘medical emergencies’.
In an effort to keep their environment as natural as possible, I try and treat the house and their skin with natural remedies and as a result am never without three essential oils, which I have found can be pretty much used for everything that my day to day life has to throw at me. Below is a short summary of what each oil it can be used for. There are obviously many other amazing oils that are found naturally and many other ways of using each, but this is my own personal short list.
Firstly LAVENDER comes from the Latin word ‘lavare’ meaning ‘to wash’ due to its pleasant aroma and it’s for this aroma that it generally gets used the most in our house. My children have really good sleeping patterns, usually, all the little ones are down by early evening and sleep straight through the night and I put it down partly to the sachets of lavender sewn into their pillows that give their bedrooms a calm relaxing atmosphere to sent them off to the land of nod. Lavender also helps to ease itching, so a child with eczema can really benefit from a few drops of lavender placed in a mild moisturiser also.
For healing wounds burns, cuts etc EUCALYPTUS is my go to essential oil. Not only does it soothe, it also protects open wounds from developing infections. Again this oil is amazing for respiratory problems such as coughs, colds and nasal congestion and a few drops in a cold water dehumidifier usually puts to rest any wheezing. The added benefit of this particular oil is that it’s a stimulant, removing mental sluggishness and rejuvenates the spirits, so burning it in a small burner during exam time for my older children tends to lift even the weariest of teenagers. It is also a natural treatment for head lice which thankfully I haven’t had to try yet, but hey you can only dodge that bullet for so long!!
Lastly, but certainly no means least, my beloved TEA TREE oil. This is another go to oil for cuts, grazes and also ‘teenage spots’, or to diminish scars caused by said spots. Although you need to be careful not to ingest this oil, it can be used to clear ear infections, and just recently I have used it ( with some warm soapy water and a pumice stone) to get rid of a large ‘plantar wart’ on my little girl’s foot…….. No harmful chemicals or bad side effects… RESULT
These are just a few of the things I use these particular oils for, why not try some for yourself, they are really inexpensive and because you only need a few drops a small bottle can last for ages. I have recently moved to a property where I have orange and lemon trees in abundance, so in the next few weeks, I’m going to try extracting the oils from these two fruits and using them around the house in different ways to see how useful they are. I expect I’ll be waxing lyrical on their benefits too in no time, so watch this space …..
