Do you remember the hidden medicine cabinet behind the bathroom mirror? If yours looked like the one I remember, it contained items like Baby aspirin, rubbing alcohol, a tub of Vicks, Vaseline, Calamine lotion, and maybe some of your parent's daily grooming items. (Today we would probably see Ibuprofen, Claritin, and other OTC meds.) Most of these items were for when you were already sick, and I don't recall any items stashed there to help keep us well.

Essential oils are one of the most valuable things we can have in our Wellness Cabinet today. They can be used to help alleviate symptoms and comfort us when we are sick, but I encourage you to remember the value they have in protecting and strengthening our bodies and wellbeing. I know many individuals who purchase essential oils with the intent to use them when they "need" to, meaning when they're ill and never realize the value of using them daily. (We'll take a look at where essential oils come from, and why they are so effective at protecting and nurturing our health in another article.)

My "Favorite Four" essential oils to have in my Wellness Cabinet are: Lavender, Peppermint, Tea Tree, and Shield Blend. We'll take a look at how to use lavender and peppermint in this post, and in the next one we'll cover the many uses for tea tree and Shield blend. (**You can purchase the "Favorite Four" in the shop and save 10% when you buy the set vs. individual oils**)

LAVENDER

You can either apply lavender directly to your body (a few drops on the sole of your foot is a good choice for fast absorption), or diffuse lavender in your home. Diffusing is probably the easiest, most effective way to use essential oils in the home, and have it benefit everyone in the home. Lavender has many nurturing benefits:

1. It calms and soothes the nervous system and your body

2. It helps facilitate sleep

3. It helps purify and cleanse the air when it is diffused (it has both antibacterial and antiviral properties)

4. It helps cleanse skin, balances the pH of skin, and destroys bacteria that cause skin breakouts

Lavender is also effective in helping alleviate symptoms:

1. It helps decrease and even eliminates headaches (not migraines)--apply several drops of lavender to a dampened washcloth and apply washcloth to area of headache pain or areas of tension in shoulders and neck area; this is quickly effective

2. It is effective for helping all skin burns to heal more quickly, and helps prevent scarring--this applies to burns from a heat source as well as sunburns

3. It helps prevent infections (apply to cuts and burns)

4. It helps to quickly dry up skin breakouts without drying out skin (apply directly to area of breakout after cleansing)

This is just a partial list of how you can incorporate using lavender in your home, and how it can be used to soothe and alleviate symptoms and ailments. 

PEPPERMINT

Peppermint can be diffused, inhaled, directly applied to bee stings and bug bites, and also applied to a dampened washcloth (then fold the cloth with the peppermint drops on the inside of cloth) to make a soothing compress. It is very strong, so take care not to get it in your eyes. If you get any essential oil in your eyes, rinse the eye with olive oil (or any other organic carrier oil). This will bind with the essential oil and help carry it out of the eye. DO NOT RINSE YOUR EYES WITH WATER if you get essential oils in them--this will further push the oil into your eye and cause more discomfort because essential oils are not water soluble! They are fat-soluble.

Peppermint can be used:

1. To remove odors --diffuse! Or make a peppermint spray and use as air freshener in bathrooms, laundry area, and wherever else needed.

2. To invigorate and reenergize you--rub a couple drops in palms of your hands and gently inhale. Awwwwww, it will gently reenergize you. Effective when focusing for long periods of time, for example, when studying, traveling, working, etc. (Don't rub your eyes...!)

3. As a natural anti-bacterial to cleanse your hands--rub a few drops in hands.

4. To repel mice and bugs--diffuse.

5. To alleviate tension headaches--use the washcloth method described above. This is even more quickly effective than lavender for tension headaches. I also use the "peppermint washcloth" when I feel a cold or flu coming on. Take it to bed with you and apply to any sore areas for comfort and for helping to bring down a fever. This is extremely comforting in times of illness and children love it too. Again, a caution about rubbing eyes!

6. To ease the sting of a bee--put a few drops directly on the sting after removing the stinger. Soothes the area and takes down the swelling.

7. To ease digestion and freshen breath--add a couple drops of organic peppermint essential oil to about 6 oz. of water and drink. This is refreshing and soothing.

8. To add peppermint flavor (the REAL thing!) to any recipes--especially good in hot chocolate, and in chocolate cookies or bars.

As you can see, both lavender and peppermint are wise choices for your "Wellness Cabinet". They both nurture and protect your body because they have effective "prevention" properties. And they also have uses for when you have specific symptoms and ailments.

I am never without these oils, and am sure to pack them whenever I travel. You can find them in convenient 2 ml travel sizes, in standard 15 ml bottles, and in larger 50 ml value sizes at mafu.life. Here's the link: https://bjnaturals.com/collections/essential-oil-therapeutic-blends

Here's to your Health and Wellness,

Bonnie