Bug Season

It has been too long that I posted and I apologize! It's been a very rough couple of weeks but I do not want to miss the opportunity to tell you about an Essential Oil that I find to be essential in my life during the warm summer months and especially during mosquito and critter season. The Essential Oil is Young Living blend called Purification with its main essential oil being citronella. It also includes lemongrass, rosemary, lavandin, and myrtle.

So last week I went to a lake and where there is water, there are bugs. I heard the mosquitos buzzing around my ears but as soon as I put a few drops of Purification on my face and all exposed skin areas, as well as brushed my hands over my hair, no more buzzzzzzzz :)

Here is how you can use the Purification blend:
1) Put it neat or mix it with coconut, almond, or apricot oil and rub it onto your skin as insect repellant
2) Put a few drops into a spray bottle filled with water and spray your clothes to repel ticks or at home at your windows and screens.
3) Put a few drops on a cotton ball and place them next to your pillow at night when you sleep.
4) Put a few drops on a cotton ball and put them into air vents.
5) Put one drop on a sting or bite as it will remove the toxins and stop the itching.
6) Put a few drops on a jelly fish sting.
7) Rub your feet with a few drops of the oil for cleansing bacteria.

The citronella is mainly used as insect repellant but it also has fungicidal properties, meaning it is an excellent oil for fungal infections. It is also a tonic and stimulant and good for blood circulation, the nervous system, and hormone regulation.
Besides lemongrass being a great insect repellant as well, it has calming properties not only on the mind and the nervous system but also for insect bites, therefore, reducing the itching and calming the skin.
Rosemary is very often used in skin care and therefore an excellent essential oil in this blend. It has soothing properties and reliefs dryness of the skin. It is also used to relief pain such as a bee sting or insect bite but also that of arthritis.
Lavandin is the essence of a hybrid plant between Lavendula Angustifolia and Lavendula Latifolia. The benefits are a bit more intense as Lavender Essential Oil and therefore are calming and soothing for body and mind. A great oil for minor cuts, bruises, bites, stings, and burns. A few drops will take the pain of any sting, bite, or burn away.
Myrtle use dates back to ancient Greece where it was used by Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and Beauty. It is antiseptic and therefore good for insect bites. It is astringent meaning it contracts the blood vessels and it is an expectorant so it reduces infection, phlegm, clears congestions, and is good for the bronchi and lungs. It also has calming benefits on the nervous system.

Wishing you a great buzzzzzz-free summer!

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Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from Naturally!

Are you in need for a last minute gift? Why not give an essential oils for mother's day? Some aromatherapy? Maybe a diffuser and an oil? A relaxing scent such as lavender is always a gift that is appreciated. Other wonderful scents are Sandalwood, Jasmine, Geranium, Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, or any citrus essential oils. Or what about a Spa treatment?

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Thyme Essential Oil in killing bacteria resistant to many antibiotics

Thyme Essential Oil made the news again. Just last month I posted an article about thyme EO and its properties in suppressing the inflammatory COX-2 enzyme. Today I found another article on BBC News that talks about the medicinal properties of thyme oil and how it helps in the fight of the bacterial infection Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that is highly resistant to some antibiotics. A high grade or Grade A quality thyme oil can be used internally and that means that you could gargle with a few drops of thyme oil in warm water to kill off bacteria. Here is the article I mentioned:

Essential oils destroy MRSA, Brighton scientists say

Essential oils could kill the hospital superbug MRSA, scientists at the University of Brighton have found.

A study found a blend of oils derived from thyme plants was effective in destroying MRSA in two hours.

The research was carried out by a team of microbiologists at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences.

MRSA is a potentially lethal bug that is difficult to combat because it has developed resistance to some antibiotics.

The study was set up when Sussex-based company Benchmark Oils asked the university to carry out research into the effect of its oils.

'Promising results'

Director Maggie Tisserand got in touch because she believed a blend of essential oils derived from thyme and used in aromatherapy could tackle MRSA.

Dr Jonathan Caplin, who carried out much of the research, said: "These are very promising results.

"We have shown at least in the laboratory that this blend of thyme has a very strong killing-effect on MRSA.

"Now further work needs to be carried out to ascertain its effect in real cases."

The research has been published in the International Journal of Essential Oil Therapeutics.

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