This magic potion helped ease ear pain: a combo of peppermint, tea tree, lavender and basil essential oils.

Recently, we encountered a situation where a 7-year old boy in our home experienced terrible ear pain. The fun of the day quickly vanished and tears started to shed. This had been a common occurrence and so I didn’t panic but I definitely wanted to ease the discomfort as soon as possible until it was possible to see a health care professional.

I immediately reached for the following three essential oils and diluted them in fractionated coconut oil. I then applied them around and behind the ear with a cotton ball – never put essential oils directly in the ear!

• Basil: This oil is great for anything related to the ear. Ear aches, ears popping in an airplane, etc.
• Lavender: This is a wonderful calming oil – whether it be for calming the skin, body or mind.
• Tea tree: This is one of the most antiseptic of all essential oils. Great support to address infections.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OPCY71VUt8]

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Along with the pain came a burning sensation around the ear so I also grabbed my peppermint essential oil roller-bottle. Peppermint offers a soothing, cooling sensation plus helps “drive” the other essential oils into the skin (this practice is called “layering”). This oil is also great for pain.

Within less than 10 minutes, the boy felt relief and there was a significant reduction in pain. The tears disappeared… mommy win!

I hope this helps. There are also nutritional steps you can take to support this type of issue and I encourage you to also explore them…

M.

The post Bye, bye ear ache appeared first on Rustik Health.

Anyone that know me well knows that I am the worst when it comes to a stuffy, sniffly nose. This past week was terrible, as I caught a bad cold right before the holidays.

A few years back, I caved and decided to try this weird device called a neti pot. I hesitated at first… The process sounded kind of gross. Now after seeing the benefits, and on further thought, I love it and now think it’s kind of gross to not wash your nose. Don’t we wash the rest of ourselves?

Neti pots are used for nasal saline irrigation which basically means you rinse your nose with salt water. Doing so helps thin and flush out mucus (yuck). You can buy a pre-made saline rinse or I started making my own of equal parts pure sea salt and baking soda (1/4 tsp each).

Since introducing more essential oils into my life, I’ve been adding a drop of pure tea tree and/or lavender essential oil to my neti pot rinses every now and then. I have definitely noticed a difference in the effectiveness of the rinses.

Another thing I do to help with the stuffiness and sniffles at night is to put a drop of essential oil on both bottom corners of my pillow (I turn around a lot). I normally use eucalyptus but this time I tried “easy air” and it worked even better for me. In fact, once the aroma wore off, I woke up in the middle of the night all stuffed up. I put a few more drops and fell right back asleep until morning. Easy air also works well in the diffuser.

Obviously, I follow this routine when I am sick. However, I will sometimes do the neti pot as a preventive measure (i.e. after taking a flight or train ride or during allergy season).

Hope this helps!

M.

The post Sniffles and a neti pot appeared first on Rustik Health.

After switching to my DIY deodorant, I then revamped my skin care routine. The title of this post may seem deceiving because there are a lot of products in the picture, but it’s pretty basic. These are just various options I go through.

I started my transition to natural skin care with the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM), which means I washed my face with oil (e.g. coconut, argan, castor, sweet almond oil – or a mixture!). This seemed counter-intuitive (and like an overall bad idea) considering I had oily skin. The first few days were rough – and I did break out – but my skin then regulated itself. On blemishes, I used a mixture of equal parts Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) and water or tea tree essential oil.

Over the years, I gradually moved away from daily OCM and am now mainly washing my face with water. If I wear make-up, exercise heavily or need extra moisturising in the winter, I will use the OCM or wash with diluted Dr. Bronner’s castile soap before going to bed. After washing my face, I moisturise with jojoba oil mixed with a few drop of helichrysum essential oil. Jojoba is currently my favourite oil for the face since it is similar to naturally-occurring sebum and does not clog pores (I’ve used coconut and argan oils in the past). Helichrysum has amazing skin benefits (you can also use frankincense or lavender).

Oh, and the aloe vera plant in the picture is not just decor. I do, every once in a while, clip a piece of it and rub the gel on my face.

About twice a week, I will use witch hazel as a toner on my t-zone. I also try to exfoliate once or twice a week with xylitol (which I grind to a finer texture) or baking soda (rubbing very gently since it can be irritating). I also treat myself to a weekly face mask.

I guess I call this simple because there are no fancy products involved…

To recap, here are the steps:

1. Wash with water (0r natural cleanser)
2. Use toner (witch hazel or rose water is another option) 1  – 2 x per week on t-zone
3. Moisturise with jojoba oil (or argan oil or coconut oil or even aloe vera gel!)
4. Exfoliate 1 – 2 x per week
5. Weekly face mask

Remember, everyone is different… I recommend you test out a few options to see what works best for you. Also, please be patient. Your skin will need a bit of time to adjust to whatever new routine you introduce.

Hope this was helpful!

M.

The post Simple skin care routine appeared first on Rustik Health.

I remember dying my hair for the first time when I was 16 years old. I got blond highlights.

From there on, I continued to dye my hair various colours until I had my son and started reducing my chemical exposure. I’ll provide more detail on my transition out of commercial hair-dying in a separate blog post but I wanted to share this henna-tinted hair mask I am doing today.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHN2gi6u0RM]

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Please note this is for natural brunettes – if your hair is dyed blond, I don’t recommend trying it. Also, if you plan on dying your hair with commercial dyes in the near future, do not try this. It is a commitment.

Now that the cold weather is upon us, I noticed my scalp is getting very dry. Plus, since I do not use commercial shampoos, it’s important for me to moisturize regularly. And, since those pesky grey hairs keep showing through increasingly with each passing birthday, I find myself needing to dye my hair more often. So sometimes I combine the two!

Ingredients

1. Aloe vera gel
2. 2 – 3 tbsp of henna
3. 2 – 3 tbsp of indigo*
4. Essential oil of your choice** (lavender, peppermint, rosemary, clary sage and geranium are good ones for hair)
5. A dash of salt
6. A squeeze of lemon
7. A non-metal stirring utensil
8. Glass bowl
9. Water

*I add equal parts indigo to get a medium brown hair colour.

**optional

Instructions

Mix henna and indigo each with water to make a paste with a ratio of about 1:1 (adjust as necessary). Add a squeeze of lemon to the henna mix and a dash of salt to the indigo mix. Let henna and indigo sit for about an hour to release dye. (You would normally let henna sit much longer if using for the main purpose of dying your hair. I find even letting it sit for a bit gives colour back to my greys.) After an hour, mix all ingredients together in a glass bowl using a non-metal stirring utensil. It is important not to use metals to mix the ingredients as they will interact!

In the picture above, I had just mixed the henna and indigo so you will notice they are green. The henna will eventually turn brown and the henna will turn a metallic purple/blue colour.

I normally use lavender in my mixture but today I am trying geranium. You can also adjust all quantities based on your hair length. Mine is very long – more than halfway down my back – so I tend to use a lot.

Enjoy!

M.

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