Let' Get Oily
The average person is exposed to over 300 chemicals per day, many of which are coming from inside the home. Commercially available cosmetics, cleaning products, and personal care products are full of hidden endocrine disrupters, neurotoxins, and other poisons. There is a better way! The things we put in, on, and around our bodies matter and nothing compares to what God himself created.
My Story
This one is actually hilarious. When I experienced oils for the first time I was on a three-week trip to South Africa in college. I was having a stuffy nose and a few other similar symptoms, so someone else on the trip offered me three oils to help: lavender, lemon, and peppermint, which I now know as the "allergy trio." Unfortunately, I was not educated about proper placement and ended up with burning, red eyes after rubbing peppermint all over the bridge of my nose. Immediately following I was asked by my professor to share my testimony of faith at the church we were visiting - I looked like a crazy person. Suffice it to say, I was scared of oils after that.
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Fast forward a year or two and my would-be sister-in-law started sharing with me how essential oils had been helping her and how they could help me too. I consistently and vehemently declined her offer to show me the ropes, so to speak. Because I hadn't been educated about "hot oils", proper placement, or that quality matters, I was convinced that I must have had an allergic reaction and that it was in my best interest to stay away from essential oils altogether.
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It was this same sister-in-law that later introduced us to the natural health office that was helping her significantly improve some negative health symptoms that she had been dealing with for quite some time. This natural health office changed our lives and gave me the education I had been lacking my first encounter with essential oils. Since then, these little bottles of plant juice have worked their way into every facet of my daily routine, replacing so many chemicals that used to cause me so many ailments.
A Few Things We Have Learned
Oils
Distilled from shrubs, flowers, trees, herbs, and more, essential oils are the most powerful part of the plant. Oils have been used for centuries to support every system in the human body. They've also been used in beauty regimens, for emotional support, and for cleaning. Essential oils have been detected in the body within 3 seconds when inhaled and 26 seconds when applied topically. As with many other things in life, quality matters. Most oils on store shelves have been grown with pesticides and other chemicals and are extracted from the plants using petroleum solvents, meaning the oils are no longer pure and are actually dangerous. Unfortunately, the cheap price tag lures many unknowing shoppers every day. Choosing a transparent company with a quality and purity guarantee is imperative to success with essential oil use.
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Feelings
It only takes between 3 and 26 seconds for essential oils to reach the innermost parts of your body, including your brain, depending on the method of application being used. This is yet another reason why using cheap, adulterated oils is such a bad idea. Oil molecules are smaller than viruses, which means they can cross the blood-brain barrier to access the limbic lobe of the brain. In other words, essential oils have quick and easy access to the emotional control board of the entire human body. Every emotion has an energetic frequency and activates the endocrine system to distribute different hormones throughout the body. While our bodies certainly do let go of some negative or traumatic emotions, it also holds onto some that exhibit themselves as physical pain or dysfunction. Essential oils have their own energetic frequencies and have been used to elevate mood and assist with emotional release.
Kids
Until about 150 years ago, oils and herbs were the primary "go-to" in most homes, with every member of the household being trained to use them. We have used oils in our home to halt tantrums, soothe aches and pains, ease tummy aches, and so much more. Some children have more sensitive skin than others, so it may be a good idea to dilute your essential oils with a carrier oil the first time applying topically to your kiddos. Various oils can be applied down the spine and on the feet for immune support, diffused and applied to the back of the neck for help with focus, and applied behind the ear during an ear ache, just to name a few.
Home Care
In a study done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on 2,983 home care product ingredients, 884 ingredients were found to be toxic. 314 ingredients caused biological mutations, 218 caused reproductive problems, and 146 caused cancerous tumors. Why are these ingredients allowed in the United States when they are banned in so many other countries? This is why researching ingredients is so important. When our bodies are chemically overloaded, we can experience fatigue, inability to focus, unexplainable pain, brain fog, anxiety, and so many other symptoms of systemic dysfunction in the body. The number one perpetrator in the home? Laundry products. They fill your clothes with toxic chemicals that you are then soaking up on your skin. Chemicals are also off-gassing as your clothes hang in the closet, meaning you're inhaling them. Laundry is a great place to start with ditching toxins.
Skincare
Your skin is your largest organ. With 19 yards of blood vessels, 100 sebaceous oil glands, 1,300 nerve endings, and more in one square inch of skin, you can get a snapshot of a person's health by looking at their skin. In medieval times, skin care routines were combined with medicinal herbs. That's not the case anymore, though. Safecosmetics.org states that the FDA in the US has only banned 11 ingredients from cosmetics while Europe, on the other hand, has banned 1,328. Over 1,000 ingredients that are known to cause cancer, genetic mutation, reproductive harm, or brith defects that the US is allowing into the products we are slathering ourselves with. Lead, formaldehyde, phthalates, and coal tar dyes are among the top offenders. Cleaning up your food is imperative to having healthy-looking skin, but so is cleaning up your skincare routine.
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Animals
Essential oils can offer our furry friends the same wellness and emotional support that they offer us. They have been used on mammals, reptiles, and birds alike. Because animals are more sensitive to odors, they may find new scents too intense so it's best to start out slow when beginning to use essential oils with your pets. It's also a good idea to have a carrier oil on hand, such as almond oil or jojoba oil, in case your pet's skin is sensitive. Oils cannot be diluted with water, whether for humans or animals, as oil and water don't mix. Diffusing is one of the most popular and efficient ways to allow your pets to access the plentiful benefits essential oils are full of.
