Summer Skin Care

                   With summer approaching comes the constant battle with your skin. Whether it's dried out from the sun, or from swimming or it's sunburned, or you get burned while camping, or you get bit by bugs. There are a number of ways to help out your skin naturally.  I wanted to tell you about a book that I  really enjoy first though that is all about natural body care.

                                     Book: Organic Body Care Recipes

          This is an amazing resource, whether you are able to use the recipes right away or not. I love to look through it and get ideas on what would be a better option for my skin and hair then maybe the more conventional products. I bought mine at Barnes and Noble Bookstore, but you can also get it on Amazon. I highly recommend this book for every skin type.

            Coconut oil is the first natural product that I am going to mention. Earlier this year I wrote an article about all the benefits of Coconut Oil and why it's such a great product, but I want to give a few ideas today on how to apply it. I use it as a moisturizer for my face and hair. Every night before I go to bed I apply a little to my face and whatever is left on my hands I put in my hair. Because Coconut Oil is so high in vitamin D, it helps your body get what it needs, and reduces your sun burn succeptiblility. Coconut Oil has a natural SPF of 4, so it can also be used as a sunscreen. It's especially wonderful when you apply it with Essential Oils that are natural sun repellents as well. Coconut Oil also helps your skin fight acne.

        Lavender Essential Oil is a wonderful oil for your skin. It helps your skin battle acne, rashes, burns, and most other skin problems. Plus it helps you relax. On top of all the other great benefits of lavender oil it is a natural sunscreen. You can add it to Coconut Oil and the two together are wonderful!  And to make it even better you can add Carrot Seed Essential oil to the mix and you have a great natural sunscreen!

       Carrot Seed Essential Oil is not only a great natural sunscreen, but it also helps with joint pain and digestive complaints.

         While Frankincense Essential Oil doesn't protect you from the sun, it helps your skin heal from sun related skin blemishes. It helps fight skin and sun spots, cysts, warts, blisters, bug bites and stretch marks. My family has first hand experience with Frankincense taking away warts. My little sister had a cold and I was giving her Frankincense with some other oils for her cold, and she had a wart on her lip. Well a couple days after her cold was gone so was her wart.

           Another great oil for summer skin problems is the blend Purification. Purification has Citronella, Lemongrass, Rosemary, Melaluca, Lavandin and Myrtle Essential Oils. It relieves bug bites, blisters, it's a bug repellent, and it helps take away skin blemishes. It definitely smells like a bug repellent because of the Citronella. 

        You don't have to wait till summer to use these oils for their healing benefits for your skin. They do the same thing all year long. If you are interested in these oils or in any other Young Living product, check out their website. If you like what you see, and would like to order click on the member sign-up button at the top of the page and enter my member number in the enroller and sponsor number slots. (My member number is 1564241.) This is the best way to order from me. Also "Like" the Facebook Page! I will be posting there some fun stuff, like oil humor, great oil deals and oil events. 

       I am getting very excited because I am leaving for my first Joni and Friends Family Retreat next week! It will be the first of 3 camps that I am going to. Do you have any fun and exciting plans for the summer? What are they? Leave it in a comment below.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Essential Travel Kit

       Hurray!! Summer is almost here! And with it comes lot's of traveling. I am going to be gone a lot this summer and I was trying to think what would be good oils to bring with me on my adventures. I invariably get sick just before leaving on a trip and it's usually a cold. Because of this, I wanted to put together a "Basic Essential Oil Traveling First Aid Kit." This is a very basic kit. It's similar to the one band aid kit that you can get at the Red Cross. Well, ok its better then that kit, but as far as essential oils go it would sorta be similar. As I was doing research for this post one oil kept showing up. Thieves is our magic oil for traveling!

           If you don't have a bottle of Thieves already I highly recommend you get one. Even if all you did was bring the bottle with you and just topically applied it to everyone before going to bed it would do wonders. Thieves kills airborne germs, fights colds and the flu, fights sore throats and strep throat, relieves headaches, and fights bronchitis. Essentially this is the best oil you could take with you on a trip.

           For added help you can get the Thieves Spray and then you can spray everything in your hotel room or where ever your staying with Thieves and kill even more germs that way. Even though hotels and other places get cleaned on a regular basis, a ton people still go in and out of them that it's better to be safe then sorry.

          However if your cold persists there are such a thing as Thieves Cough Drops! This has got to be the best part of it all. The oil smells like Christmas, so imagine getting to eat the smell of Christmas while your sick! I am very excited about these. 

         The last item for the travel kit is the Travel Fan Diffuser. This is a great addition to any travel kit because it can be used anywhere. It can be plugged in and it can run on batteries. One way to really get this to be useful is to put some Thieves in it and plug it in as soon as you get to your destination. This starts the germ killing process right away.

         If you are interested in creating your own Essential Oil Travel Kit, check out Young Living's website. If you like what you see and you decide to check out enter my member # into the enrolled and sponsor # slots. Don't worry because this is the best way to order through me. (My member # is 1564241.) Also Don't worry I have not forgotten about the Bug Repellent Candles class, I will do it at the  beginning of June. Keep checking the Facebook Page for updates on it.

Where are you going this summer? Do you have any exciting trips coming up? Leave it in a comment below.

Soli Deo Gloria!  

 

Essential Books

                            "Rich men have large libraries, poor men have large TVs."
                                                               ~Anonymous


          I love to read, and I love acquiring new books,  whether they are new or used it doesn't matter. Another thing that I really love is when someone shares a book that they really enjoy with me. This week I thought I would share with you a few books that I have read about essential oils that I have found extremely useful and I really enjoyed. And since summer is coming up and all the Summer Reading Programs at the Libraries will be starting soon, what better time to share some good books. One of the books is not strictly about essential oils, but it is about an oil so it counts.

                                   Book #1: Quick Reference Guide for Using Essential Oils

This particular book probably isn't the most exciting read, if you read it straight through, but it is extremely useful.  It has helped my family and I so much since I got it. You can look up essentially any ailment and it will give you a list of oils that will help your body fight whatever sickness it is your dealing with. You can buy it through Abundant Health, they also carry all sorts of essential oil equipment.

                                                     Book #2: Healing Oils of the Bible

Healing Oils of the Bible was the first book I read about essential oils. It is an extremely fun book! In a couple of chapters he walks you through the counting process of how many times essential oils are mentioned in the Bible. And in other chapters he tells you how the popular oils of the time were used for then and what they are used for now. The book isn't that big and it's an easy read. I think I got my copy off of Amazon.com.

                                       Book #3: The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils

The man who wrote this book also developed the Aromatherapy course that I am working through right now. I really like his style of writing. He is very easy to follow, he presents the science in an understandable way, and makes essential oils exciting. While I don't agree with his views about the age of the earth, I really like what he has to say about essential oils. And he's actually way less New Agey then the guy who wrote Healing Oils of the Bible. I think I also got this book off of Amazon.com.

                                                      Book #4: The Coconut Oil Miracle

While Coconut Oil is not an essential oil, it has a ton of health benefits. I was already convinced of the benefits of Coconut Oil before I read this book, but after reading the first 2 chapters I went and bought myself a bottle of Coconut Oil. It's absolutely amazing what this oil can do! If you are interested in learning more about this oil, or if you already know some about it and just want to learn more, I highly recommend this book. I bought my copy at Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

       I hope you enjoyed this! I am just curious, do you have a favorite blog or book about essential oils or healthy living? If so please leave a comment below with the title of the book! Also check out my other blog Confessions of a Redhead for more books that I love!

Soli Deo Gloria!

         

Spice Excitement

          In April I started doing a correspondence course in Aromatherapy through Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy. When I finish it I will be internationally certified as an Aromatherapist, it's very exciting! The course comes with a box of oil samples, the text book and a study guide. When you feel ready you can send for the final exam. Well, I was studying the other day and they wanted me to put a drop of Oregano Essential Oil on the inside of my elbow, to see what it felt like. All the samples come in small bottles and I was having trouble getting one drop out so I tapped it petty hard and the entire sample bottle of Oregano spilled onto my elbow. The point was to test a small amount of an abrasive oil on my arm, not the whole bottle! Needless to say I smelled like oregano all day and my arm had a huge red spot on it for a long time. On the upside my sinus were cleared like never before. I won't be getting sick anytime soon either.

              Oregano Essential Oil is very abrasive, so you will definitely want to use a carrier oil (Coconut oil, Extra Virgin Olive oil, Young Living's V6 oil) when you apply it. Be careful when you smell it or diffuse it too, it's a little tough on your sinuses. You can diffuse it, but only for 10 minutes 3 times daily. As I found out the hard way myself, you will want to keep it out of reach of children. Not to scare you away from Oregano oil the list of benefits out weighs the list  just gave you. Oregano Essential Oil is anti fungal, antibacterial, anti parasitic, anti infectious, immune stimulant, antirheumatic, antiviral and an antiseptic. And if you like italian food your in luck! That's what it smells like. You probably won't be applying as much as I did, and I certainly don't recommend applying that amount.

                The soap making class that happened a couple of weeks ago went really well. We had a lot a fun and our soap turned out really nice! If you are interested in doing a hands on class like the soap making with us, there will definitely be more in the future. Then next class that is going to take place is a Make Your Own Bug Repellent Candle with Essential Oils. I don't have a date yet but I will keep you posted. Please like my Facebook Page, I will be posting more about events there and other oil fun! Also if you are interested in any of Young Living's products, check out their website. If you like what you see and wish to order, simply click on the member sign-up button at the top of the page. I highly recommend you sign up as an independent distributer. The way Young Living is set up is that their distributers don't have to take inventory. The way they earn money is that when someone goes onto the website and creates an account and uses my or any other distributor's member number in the enroller and sponsor number slots the distributor gets payed every time you order. I have included a video on

the Facebook page to explain it. (My member # is 1564241.) I also wanted to let you all know that I will be starting a Youtube channel for Thoughts From Oakdale in June! I am very excited! I will try to post the videos to the Facebook page so that they are easier to find.

What's your favorite spice? Would you want to smell like it all day? If yes, then why?

Soli Deo Gloria!!

May Day with Essential Oils!!

     

 

         Happy May Day everyone! In honor of the day I am going to highlight 3 oils that are from flowers that are some of my favorite. Today's oils are Geranium, Lavender and Jasmine essential oils. Spring is definitely one of my favorite seasons, followed closely by Autumn and Winter.

        Geranium Essential Oil is excellent for skin, and the nervous and circulatory systems and has a wonderful flowery smell.

         Lavender is a miracle oil. It helps your skin heal from burns, cuts, rashes, any kind of skin blemish, helps to boost your immune system, helps your body fight colds and the flu, is wonderful for helping your skin fight poison oak and poison ivy, helps your body not bruise, helps with sore muscles and bones, and pretty much makes it on the list for many more ailments. I absolutely love the smell of pure, therapeutic grade Lavender essential oil. Plus fields of Lavender are beautiful.

         Jasmine is one of my favorite flowers! It doesn't matter what species of Jasmine it is, I like them all. It is great for the skin, it's calming, helps with respiratory congestion, cirrhosis of the liver, and helps to fight many other conditions.

I love everything about the flower of Jasmine. I love the smell and just how graceful it is. It was really hard to choose a picture for this flower.

It's just so feminine and petite.
          If you are interested in any of these oils or in any of Young Living's other products check out their website. If you decide to order while your on click on the member sign-up button at the top of the page. I highly recommend signing up as a wholesale distributor. Just because you sign up as this does not mean you have to sell anything, you simply get wholesale prices. They will ask you for your SSN because you will have the opurttunity to make money, but they are a secure site and they do not sell or give out your information. Don't worry I still get payed for these orders, in fact this is the Young Living is set up. Simply enter my member number in the enroller and the sponsor number slots. (My member number is 1564241.) Also for more information about upcoming events check out my Facebook Page. The soap making class last Saturday was a lot of fun!
     

    What is your favorite flower? And why?

Soli Deo Gloria!