Tag Archives: oregano essential oil

Using Essential Oils in the Time of Covid 19

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Hello natural beauties! Keep calm and use essential oils. If you are an essential oil enthusiast I know you’ll be making your own anti-bacterial concoctions. And the words to note here are ANTI-BACTERIAL and Corona VIRUS. Some essential oils have been shown to exhibit antiviral activity, but so far we can’t say for certain that any oil will stop you from getting the virus. In fact, we cant say that at all. But by using essential oils for cleaning surfaces and hands, we MAY help limit our exposure to the virus and reduce exposure to other bacteria too.

 

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Dried lemon myrtle leaves – pic via http://www.abc.net.au

I’ve started making a re-usable hand wipe with essential oils and carrying it with me in my bag. I make a new one every couple of days, using different essential oils, and put the old one in the wash. This doesn’t have alcohol in it so I can’t say it has complete anti-bacterial capabilities, however, it’s the first line of defense and soft on your hands. And why not use essential oils if you have them? It’s definitely better than nothing.

Check out my little video:

A quick, easy, reusable and portable first line of defense for your hands on the go

What essential oils will be best to use? I love lemon myrtle best of all for an antiviral oil along with lemon-scented tea tree. I’d also go with thyme and oregano as antibacterial and include lavender and eucalyptus and tea tree – just for starters. Myrrh as well.

Which oils do some high profile aromatherapy experts recommend as having anti-viral activity?

Salvatore Battaglia recommends these oils:

clove, hyssop, manuka, patchouli, thyme, marjoram, peppermint, oregano, eucalyptus, tea tree, myrtle, sandalwood, rose and a few more too!

Patchouli leaf – pic via toptropicals.com

Dr E. Joy Bowles: gives some advice from March 12, 2020:

“So people are clamoring for a natural preventative for the new virus… Best of all is to do all the health-building activities you know about already: EAT HEALTHY, SLEEP ENOUGH, EXERCISE EVERY DAY, DE-STRESS… And really DO…

We don’t know which essential oils kill this new virus… It’s too new. By all means be a test subject for your own experiments, but please, keep a record of what you do and the results… Could be helpful later…”

Thyme is not vulgar! Hehe

Farida Irani notes these oils: lime, clove,

Dr Penoel refers to monoterpenols as having antiviral effects: lavender, melissa, peppermint, basil, oregano, marjoram, sage, clary sage, and thyme among others.

Patricia Davis says: bergamot, eucalyptus and tea tree.

Sylla Sheppard-Hanger lists quite a few and here’s some for you: rosewood, cinnamon, myrrh, palmarosa, eucalyptus, melissa, helichrysum, eucalyptus, lemon, thyme, hyssop, ravensara, niaouli…

I used patchouli, lemon scented eucalyptus, myrtle and oregano in my surface and hand sanitiser

I also made my own surface and hand sanitiser with perfume grade alcohol and oregano, lemon eucalyptus, patchouli and myrtle (I ran out of lemon myrtle). I used 26 drops in 50mls, but 20 drops would be enough. Be careful when using alcohol on your hands for extended periods of time because it will really dry them out. A great base to use is aloe vera gel – but it can be a bit sticky and does not contain alcohol, therefore much less effective and is not great for surfaces! It’s more like a hand softener and conditioner if you’ve been using drying and harsh hand sanitisers. See pic above.

I hope you take this all on board and use these beautiful gifts from nature, to help your immunity and help everyone at the same time. May The Force be with you and wash your hands.

Essential Oils from Herbs are Spectacular!

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oh lovely peppermint!

oh lovely peppermint!

The Lamiacae family of plants groups together lots of great herbs we know and use frequently. It used to be called the Labiatae family (and sometimes still is), but I’m glad we’ve upgraded the name!

You may never have guessed it but these plants, that make wonderful aromatic oils, belong together:

Basil

Clary Sage

Hyssop

Lavender

Melissa (lemon balm)

Marjoram

Oregano

Peppermint

Patchouli

Sage

Spearmint

Thyme

So when you smell lavender, even though the flowering tops are used in the distillation process (as well as other parts of the plant), it really is a herb. Try smelling hints of marjoram in the oil and it can give you a very different opinion of it.

thyme

thyme

Thyme and oregano also have those marjoram notes too, even though they are very strong oils and less user-friendly than marjoram in massage and skincare.

Hyssop has a spicy scent, and once again very herbaceous. It smells similar to sage, lavender and marjoram.

Basil is quite distinct, but two or three seconds into a good long whiff, you will also detect hints of the other herbs.

Clary Sage is a very heady oil and quite different to Sage – but you can almost smell a little hyssop in there.

patchouli - looks a bit like mint

patchouli – looks a bit like mint

Patchouli is another oil that tends to stand out in this group as it has very individual notes. The earthiness however, connects a little bit to the sages, and even thyme.

melissa - can you see the similarity in the leaves of all these herbs?

melissa – can you see the similarity in the leaves of all these herbs?

Melissa is a premium oil and is the only lemon scented herb of the group. It is a lot more subtle than other lemon scented oils like lemongrass, may chang and lemon scented tea tree. I would definitely consider it to be quite special and very talented.

The mints are very different and spearmint often gets a bad wrap because of its use in toothpaste and gums. Some people find it hard to relate to as an essential oil but I love it in mists and use it in skincare too. It’s great to use when peppermint is too strong for an oil blend for the body, and when you want a herb that’s sweet and light.

This lovely Lamiacae family deserves our praise and thanks for serving us for thousands of years. And now we have the beautiful aromatic oils they provide, yay for us!

We live in a scented paradise!