Archive for the 'Peppermint' Category
I am a single parent who is trying to get her daughter through college. My daughter is in her second year of college, studying bio chemistry. Since the cost of tuition keeps going up at amazing rates every year, I have to pinch pennies, literally. I am making my own hair rinses, body scrubs and facial scrubs now. This step not only helps me to save money; these homemade skin products really work! My skin, hair and complexion is brighter, smoother and healthier. I am saving quite a bit of money making my own products,(which goes toward my daughter’s tuition), so I want to share them with all of my readers – YOU!
Below is a do it yourself recipe for a minty hair rinse, which will boost your hair’s body. I don’t know about you, but my hair gets limp from time to time. In fact, I need to use body builders. Sometimes my scalp gets itchy and dandruff appears. According to Janice Cox, the writer of the book, “Eco Beauty,” this is a perfect pick-me-up. The mint tea and the vinegar, mixed together, gets your scalp tingly and fresh-feeling, and your hair will be residue-free and full of body.”
To make your own hair rinse, this is what you’ll need:
- 2 mint tea bags (organic, if possible)
- one-half cup boiling water
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Steep the tea in boiling water for 2 to 4 minutes. Remove tea bags and cool. Stir in the vinegar and pour into a resealable bottle. Shampoo, condition and rinse your hair as usual, pour the mint 
rinse into hair and scalp. Massage in and style as usual without re-rinsing. This recipe yields one application.
This is the time of year that I love; yet, I hate it too because my allergies really get triggered during the late summer and early autumn season. I am allergic to ragweed and as much as I love the colors of autumn, it gives me painful sinus headaches. Maybe you can relate to what I’m talking about. Anyway, I try not to take sinus decongestants because they dry me up and my heart starts racing faster, which is scary.
I use guided visualization. I envision my head pain and pressure vanishing and that seems to help somewhat. It doesn’t take all the pressure away. So, I have tried taking peppermint oil and saturating a cotton ball with it. Then, when I start to drive my 16-mile commute back and forth to work everyday, I stick the peppermint-soaked cotton ball in the heating vent so I sniff in the soothing oil, and, voila, it takes away the edge off the pressure and pain.
Be mindful that I combine this way of treating the headache with use of a netty pot and saline solution, along with inhaling of eucalyptus too. I avoid taking pain killers and I use the alternate treatment of natural herbs and plant medicine whenever possible. Peppermint 
and lavender are very soothing in combination with each other too.
By the way,Dr. Fred Pescatore, M.D. and director of the Centers for Integrative and Complementary Medicine in NYC and Dallas, reports that people who load up on pain killing meds when they are fighting viruses actually stay sick three days longer because those medications suppress the fever which actually kill the viruses. So, the next time you are sick with a virus, lay in bed and welcome the presence of a fever, since that is what will kill the virus that made you sick in the first place.