Natural & Organic Stuff

4 Ingredients to Relief: An All-Natural DIY Home Remedy for Headaches/Migraines

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Last week I shared an all-natural DIY home remedy for sinus congestion and colds that has been especially helpful to me during my pregnancy. Another issue I’ve had during both my pregnancies is migraines (I get them when I’m not pregnant too, but they are infinitely worse for me during pregnancy). My neighbor shared with me a recipe for an all-natural headache remedy and I wanted to pass it along to you.

In the last three or so years I’ve been dealing with migraines I’ve learned the hard truth that for me, there is no one cause, and there is no one right answer. So while this treatment was certainly helpful in easing the pain, it’s not the silver bullet I’ve been searching for (which I’m still hopeful I can find once I’m done with pregnancy and nursing). However, I have many “tools” in my arsenal against migraines, and I’m happy to add this remedy as one more thing I can use. If you have more of a “regular” headache this may be just the thing you’re looking for, and if you try it, I hope it helps you!

The recipe below will fill half of a small mason jar. Double the quantities to fill an entire jar. You can also adjust the amount of essential oils you use to suit your preferences.

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Ingredients

2 heaping tablespoons coconut oil

5 drops peppermint essential oil

5 drops eucalyptus essential oil

10 drops lavender essential oil

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Directions

In a small saucepan, melt the coconut oil. Add the peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender essential oils. Stir a few times to blend the ingredients together. Pour the mixture into a clean mason jar. Allow the oils to cool and solidify (this will take a few hours so I recommend making this when you don’t have any head pain; if you make it while you have a migraine like I did you’ll be waiting awhile).

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Once the oil is solid, rub on your forehead, behind your ears, and between your shoulder blades. I also rubbed it on other sore spots where the migraine causes pain such as my jaw, temple, scalp, and around my neck. Again, it wasn’t a cure-all, but when used in conjunction with other migraine remedies it was quite soothing. A secondary benefit I noticed was the skin on my forehead looked and felt great where I had rubbed in the oil. The smell of the lavender oil helped me to relax which can be difficult when your brain feels like it’s caught in a red-hot vice grip.

I love coconut and essential oils so much; they have enriched and enhanced my life. Here are some more posts I’ve written about both that you may find useful:

4 Practical Uses for Coconut Oil

A 5th Practical Use for Coconut Oil

7 Things to Do for Yourself as a Mom

Baby Dude’s Banana and Strawberry Smash Cake

These Aren’t Your Grandma’s Cloth Diapers: Modern Cloth Diapering 101

Ever Hear of Telo Efflu? Here’s What You Need to Know…

Baby Dude’s Ultimate Teething Toolbox

What are your favorite ways to use coconut oil and essential oils?

5 Ingredients to Relief: An All-Natural DIY Home Remedy for Sinus Congestion

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I’m about six-and-a-half months pregnant with my second child as I write this, and am currently recovering from my third cold. Cold and flu season is no fun, and it brings a special kind of misery to pregnant women, as the options we have for medication are extremely limited. My husband recently discovered a natural home remedy he uses to relieve sinus pain. I’ve used it during the last two colds I’ve had with this pregnancy, and this time it was such an extra huge help I decided to write this post and share it with you. I highly recommend it if you have a cold, sinus infection or other sinus issues, chronic or not, pregnant or not. The relief it’s brought this mama is priceless!

Ingredients

Water

3-4 cloves garlic

2-5 drops each of rosemary essential oil, eucalyptus oil, and tea tree oil

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Fill a medium saucepan two-thirds of the way full with water. Press the garlic cloves into the water (you can also throw in the skins for good measure). Bring the water to a boil. Add the eucalyptus, rosemary, and tea tree oils. Stir a few times to blend.

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I like to sit at my kitchen table with the saucepan on a pot holder. Set a timer for 15-20 minutes and drape a towel over your head. Breathe in the steam as deeply as you can for as long as possible, and repeat until the time expires. It helps to have a box of tissues nearby while you do this. If you’re too clogged to breathe through your nose, breathe through your mouth. Close your eyes if you need to. It stings and it burns, but I promise you it’s worth it.

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I found it especially helpful with this most recent cold to do the treatment in the evening before bed (which I followed up with an Espom salt and lavender oil bath), and then another one in the morning. I found immediate relief after the treatments, and then a half hour to an hour later and throughout the day I found they had helped even more. The oils work in your sinuses afterwards and continue to improve the symptoms. I feel it’s helped me to recover faster and if you try it I hope it helps you!

Potpourri in a Jar: Homemade Holiday Host/Hostess Gift

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I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. If you’re attending New Year’s Eve or Day festivities and looking for a last minute host or hostess gift, try this recipe for homemade potpourri. It’s easy, economical, and fun!

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Ingredients

1 orange, quartered

1/2 cup cranberries

3 cinnamon sticks

1 apple, cut into slices

3 springs of pine (look for these in your yard!)

Directions

Put all ingredients into a mason jar, then fill the jar with water. That’s it! If you want to get fancy, you can decorate the jar with some ribbon or put a label on the lid. We made multiple jars to take to our family Christmas gatherings and used “Merry Christmas” labels on the lids.

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All the recipient has to do is dump the jar into a saucepan, bring to a boil on the stove top, and then simmer on low to fill the air with the fragrant smells of oranges, cranberries, apples, cinnamon, and pine. As the water boils off, more water can be added. We found this could be used about three times.

Wishing you all a happy, safe, and blessed 2015 from The Chipper Writer!

A 5th Practical Use for Coconut Oil

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Coconut oil is one of my new favorite things in 2014. Besides cooking with it, coconut oil saves me money on:

  • Hand and body lotion
  • Lip balm
  • Shaving cream
  • Diaper rash cream (for my son, not for me!)

I love coconut oil so much I wrote a post in April called 4 Practical Uses for Coconut Oil, with recipes for a hair mask and lip scrub. Since then I’ve discovered a fifth practical use, which surprised me: it stops mosquito bite itching and speeds healing. When I first read it, I was skeptical (although I don’t know why, given coconut’s oil track record), but I had two large bites on my forearm that itched pretty bad. I rubbed in a little whenever I felt the itch, and I’m here to tell you it worked!

So I can add calamine lotion to my list of things to eliminate and replace with coconut oil (not only does it save money but so much better for your health with it’s all-natural properties). What about you? What are your favorite uses for coconut oil?

 

 

 

Image courtesy of rakratchada torsap/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Flower Water: Fresh Chamomile Cold Infusion

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photo (3)Along with my husband, I’ve made a conscious effort to cut sugary sodas and other drinks out of my diet. Although we’ll occasionally drink Sprite or ginger ale, for the most part we stick with water and tea. Water is the best thing we can drink, and it’s fun to flavor it to help meet hydration goals. We grow herbs that can be used to brew fresh teas such as nettle, lemon balm, and chamomile, and a couple weeks ago discovered the chamomile flowers can be used to flavor water in a cold infusion. Chamomile is easy to grow (in fact, you want to plant it somewhere you don’t mind it spreading), and the cold infusion is a snap to make.

Clip about a 1/4 cup of the chamomile flower heads.

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Put them in a strainer and rinse.

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Pour the flowers into a 32 oz. mason jar.

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Fill the mason jar with water (preferable filtered), and cap.

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Place the mason jar in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.

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The finished infusion

 

Strain or scoop the flowers from the jar, and enjoy! The slightly sweet and delicate flavor of the water is so refreshing!

You can use the flowers you removed from the mason jar to make hot chamomile tea. Place the flowers in a saucepan, fill the pan with 32 oz. of water, and bring to a boil. The water will begin to change color, and it depends how strong you like your tea, as to when you want to turn off the burner. I then scoop out the flowers to add to our compost pile.

 

 

4 Practical Uses for Coconut Oil

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From the kitchen to your skin care routine, there are thousands of uses for coconut oil. It hydrates and moisturizes hair, skin and lips. Coconut oil is a fantastic natural all-over moisturizer (use it like lotion after bathing), and when combined with other ingredients, makes a great base for hair masks and lips scrubs. Here are two recipes to try.

Coconut Oil Hair Mask

Ingredients

Directions

  • Slather into hair. Make sure to massage your scalp and focus on your roots.
  • Leave the mask in your hair for a minimum of 30 minutes. Wear overnight if possible.
  • Wash with a mild shampoo and style as usual. This leaves your hair soft, shiny and smooth!

The lip scrub recipe is courtesy of Brandie Gilliam, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Organic Beauty Talk.

Brandie Gilliams’ DIY Lip Scrub Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon Nutiva organic coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon all natural raw or organic honey
  • 2 teaspoons organic brown sugar (or organic white sugar or coconut flakes)

Directions

Mix ingredients. Use a toothbrush or your finger to gently apply to your lips with a back and forth motion. Rinse, pat dry and then condition with a bit of coconut oil for soft smooth lips!

I also use coconut oil on my infant to treat and prevent diaper rash and in a homemade teething oil.

Coconut oil is an easy, affordable and fun way to moisturize your skin, hair and lips. Do you have any coconut oil tips to share?

Image courtesy of Keerati/FreeDigitalPhotos.net