Aromatherapy Newsletter

In this newsletter we will try to help you further your knowledge and use of essential oils.

Physical ailment

Analgesia – Pain relief to the rescue!

by Penny Keay

Talking about Pain! Pain can be caused from injuries to inflammation to unknown reasons.

It can involve the skin, muscles, bones and deep tissues. Pain can vary from mild to severe. A dull ache to sharp stabbing attacks. It can be constant or cyclic or worse yet chronic. Mostly you want relief.

Several essential oils have pain relieving properties. Determining the cause of the pain is very helpful and often time necessary before you start using essential oils.

As an example, you don’t want to use a deep penetrating heating oil on the pain of a burn. Is the pain on the surface of the skin? Is it deep in the muscles, from a bruise, infection or what is the cause?

Once you know the cause then you can pick or select a few essential oils that will more than likely help with your type of pain.

The oils listed in each category below are not listed in any particular order, as different essential oils will work better on individuals to varying degrees and you may need to experiment to find the right combination of essential oils that will work for you.

General analgesic essential oils include: The Chamomiles, both Roman and German , Clove bud , Eucalyptus globulus , Helichrysum , Bay laurel , Juniper berry , Black Pepper, Lavender, Sweet Marjoram, Niaouli, Peppermint, Spearmint, Oregano and Thyme, These are the most commonly used although there are probably over two dozen more that have analgesic properties and may work better for some folks.

If the pain is from inflammation the following essential oils may be more beneficial: Basil , Yarrow, Helichrysum , Lavender, German Chamomile, Fennel Myrrh , Frankincense, Rose, Sandalwood, Clary Sage, Blue Tansy.

Pain caused by an infection, you will need to look for specific essential oils for the type of infection. See our previousNewsletters, Health and Beauty Index or Recipes Index for help on specific types of infection. If you cannot find any article to address your situation, PLEASE e-mail us and we will try to give you a few suggestions.

For common muscular pain due to overwork or arthritic joint pain try a blend of Peppermint , Eucalyptus globulus and rosemary in a fixed or carrier oil of your choice. These three oils are very good at providing deep penetrating pain relief into muscles and joints. If you prefer you we have this blend already for use in our Joint Rub Massage oil .

For the pain from simple (first degree) burns, including sun burn, use Lavender and Helichrysum as needed. Blend about 15 drops Lavender to 5 drops Helichrysum or use Helichrysum 10% in Jojoba with Lavender added. This not only helps with the pain of the burn but the skin healing properties will help the skin tissues heal more quickly.

Emotional Concerns

NIGHT MARES and BAD DREAMS!!

by Penny Keay

This is not just for children, but adults too. The days activities are often replayed throughout the night and many children and adults will replay the ‘almost’ mishaps or confrontations of the day with the worse outcomes.

Hence, the night mare or night terror where often times your dream is replacing the person with an angry animal or maybe even the same person resulting in very scary scenarios. Nightmares can take on many ‘faces” that are not pleasant and can keep you from falling asleep again.

If a child or you have a problem falling asleep after a bad dream you can try using a little Frankincense, Melissa and Roman Chamomile along with the old standby Lavender. Just apply a few drops to the pillows on either end and then flip the pillow upside down. As you drift off to sleep the essential oils should help you to relax and calm down for a better rest of the night sleep.

If repeated bad dreams seem to be a problem try this great recipe from our recipe files and most recently published in our Aromatherapy tip of the week

“Sweet Dreams” - a pillow spray
15 ml of distilled water
2 drops of Lavender
1 drop Roman Chamomile
1 drop Orange
1 dropYlang Ylang
5 drops Emulsifier (optional - mix with the essential oil prior to adding the distilled water)
Put the essentila oils and the optional emulisifier in a 2 ounce PET plastic bottle.
Blend well, then add the 15 ml (1 Tablespoon) distilled water.
Shake well and spritz on pillow cases. Let dry. (This recipe can be made to fit a 2 ounce bottle - just multiply all the ingredients by 4).

Health and Beauty

Face Scrubs

by Penny Keay

Spring is just around the corner and you want your face to glow. To do this you need to remove the dead skin cells that may have accumulated over the winter months. You will need to do a little exfoliation.

Make a simple face scrub using ground oatmeal – put it in the blender and grind into a fine powder. Or you can also use brown sugar for the exfoliating material.

In a bowl put 1 tablespoon of either the fine oatmeal or the brown sugar. To this add 1 tablespoon of carrier oil. Some favorites includeSunflower oil, Jojoba or Sweet almond . Stir this mixture together then add one or two drops of Geranium oil. Geranium is great for small blemishes and helps to heal them quickly. Another option if you have problems with acne is to put 1-2 drops of our Fresh Face Blend, in this face scrub. Or if you have problems with wrinkles you can use our Smooth & Soft Blend.

Once blended apply a small amount to your face and GENTLY smooth over face avoiding the eyes and eyelids. Set the timer or watch the clock as you do not want to rub any longer than about 30-45 seconds. This will be long enough.

Next using warm water rinse your face until all the ‘scrub’ has been rinsed off. Pat your face dry. If you want you can use a toner or astringent after you have patted your face dry. The easiest and simplest to make toner is to add a few drops of the essential oils or blend you used in your scrub to 4 ounces of distilled water Shake the mixture well , then apply with a cotton pad. Again pat dry. Your face should feel soft, smooth and moisturized. You can add more moisturizers if you want, but you may feel you won’t need them.

Please realize that often times folks that have not used scrubs on their face may experience a few days where the skin actually appears worse, this should change after a couple facial scrubs. Remember – scrubs should only be used every 2-4 days and not every day. After a few facial scrubs you should be able to just do it once a week and not have any problems with outbreaks. If you do not see improvement in your skin or should a rash develop discontinue use.

Glowing spring days and glowing faces made for pretty smiles and wonderful days! Happy Spring!

You’re sitting outdoors in the wonderful springtime air and ‘youch!’ something has just attacked you!

Yep, you got it! Those pesky flying bugs have once again arrived to begin their feeding frenzies. And what is on the menu? You of course!

Mosquitoes and other biting flies quickly appear once the outside temperature rise above 50 degrees and before long they are looking for their first meal. Since no one likes to be bitten you can use essential oils to deter these pests.

If you want to use something outside on your patio and deck, using a mixture of Lemongrass and Citronella in a sprayer may be the most beneficial. Mix a several drops of both of these with an Emulsifier and then add to our premade linen spray or distilled water. Shake well and spray the cushions and other areas around the patio. Be sure to test spray on a hidden area of your fabrics to make sure the blend causes no damage to fabric or colors.

Remember essential oils do not last for more a few hours so you will need to reapply as needed. If the temperatures are warm or if it is breezy you may need to apply even more often. Just remember essential oils are nature made and will not harm the environment.

For your own self, there are many insect repellent recipes available and of course we have three available ready made that work great.

Recipes to try

by Penny Keay

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

Happy Anniversary Days & Sale!

We are celebrating our 11th Anniversary and heading into our 12th Year of business.

THANK YOU!! Its readers and customers like you that keep us busy and growing!
We appreciate it!



Our Anniversary Sale is going on until April 21, 2008.
For those of you that are new, you may not know that we only have “3” big sales like this each year.

This Sale has a discount of 8% on most everything we sell. There are a few exceptions as some of the products we carry are already at the lowest we can sell them, so of course, they do not qualify. Don’t worry, the Shopping Cart figures the discounts and lets you know what items qualify.
AND don’t forget if your product total goes over $100.00 you will qualify for a shipping discount too!

Since our last issue we have added several new products so be sure to visit our
What’s New Page too.
We have new little Fine mist Sprayers – Mini Misters – perfect to carry in your purse with your very own perfume or body spray.
There are dozens of uses for these little sprayers

Also, new are the Body spray Linen spray , Hair De-tangler Spray and Hair Gel . All are unscented so you can add your own essential oils.

We also have new Frosted Cobalt Blue Lip and Perfume roll-on bottles. And last but not least are the plastic nasal inhalers. These last two items have been requested by our customers.

Coming within the next week will be 7 new Terra Cotta Pendants, your personal jewelry aromatherapy diffuser. I have to get their photos and 'add to cart' links put up. Also, several of you have requested we offer the Scentball and Carscenters in boxes. We hope to have those up and available in the next few days too. Please be aware when they are sold in boxes, the pricing will be higher than the prices of those sold in the ziplock bags.

A Special Note: Helichrysum from Corsica is in very scarce supply. Currently we have a fairly good amount but we had to pay double for this supply from what we paid back in August. We have spoken with our supplier and he tells us that Helichrysum is most likely going to be triple in cost the next time we order or it will be out of stock and when it does there will not be any more available until Late August or Early September. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this year’s crop will be more abundant. Helichrysum is such a wonderful essential oil and we use it in several of our blends too.

Just a reminder if you haven’t signed up for the “Aromatherapy Tip of the Week”, you can do so at any time.
What is it? A few paragraphs with some helpful information about an aromatherapy and essential oils related topic. We hope these tips will help all interested in Aromatherapy as we continue to educate you and also to help spark your interest in aromatherapy even further.

Or you can read more details and sign up on our Aromatherapy Tip Information and Sign up page located at http://birchhillhappenings.com/tipform.htm

So don’t forget our Anniversary Sale is on until April 21, 2008 and hope you can take advantage of this sale.

Thanks again for being our best Readers and Customers and helping us to grow.

As always, if you have suggestions, questions or comments please feel free to send us an e-mail to bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

‘til next month,

Yours in Aromatherapy,
Alan and Penny

E-mail us at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com

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For a listing of the Resources for information in this newsletter (including recipes) and others please visit our Reference page Click here