Peppermint and Frankincense or Christmas Time!

I LOVE PEPPERMINT!!!! Okay now that I have that off of my chest I can explain. December is one in my top times of the year because of Christmas, I still love the holidays, and peppermint. Peppermint candy canes, peppermint hot cocoa, peppermint chap-stick  peppermint Andes mints, need I go on? Imagine my surprise when I found out that peppermint essential oil helps with headaches!

I already knew that peppermint could help with opening the airways, but finding more uses for peppermint is a life changing experience. Can you tell I love peppermint? I was suffering from a headache last weekend and had a sore back from cooking all day Thursday, did anyone else hurt after cooking all day? To deal with that and the fact that I am nearly always cold I ran myself a bath. We have a large jetted tub, can you say heaven? I filled the tub all the way with hot water added about 1c epsom salt and 3 drop peppermint essential oil. My headache disappeared the aches eased up and as a bonus my sinus' cleared themselves. We have used peppermint with the kids when  their asthma acts up and love that we don't have to have them puff on the inhaler. As a side note I am not a doctor so consult yours before you drop medications especially those that are meant to be used in an emergency like a rescue inhaler!!!!!


Today I made some vapor disks that I found the recipe for on pinterest. This link should take you right to her recipe. I did make a few modifications though, I only used peppermint, I'm a purest that way :), and like her, I didn't measure a thing. I have a really bad habit of not measuring unless; I am using a recipe for the first time, or I am baking.

I poured a bunch of baking soda into my normal mixing bowl until it was about as much as comes in a muffin mix box and added water until it was the pasty mixture she describes. I then added 15 drops Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade (CPTG) peppermint Essential Oil (EO). I then scooped the mixture into a muffin pan with the cupcake liners in it. I ended up with enough to make 12-1 inch thick disks of the regular muffin size. I wanted to use one tonight when my kids got in the shower and I am not really what you would call patient. I baked them in my oven at the lowest temperature of 170 for about an hour. I baked it at such a low temp because most of the CPTG EO's have really low smoke points. The smoke point is where you start to loose a lot of the benefits from it being a CPTG EO, among other things. My house smelt amazing while they were baking.

After I pulled them out I allowed them to cool and unwrapped one and stuck in in the kids shower. I will post the picture when I'm done because I took the picture with my phone. They have been barking all afternoon and it stopped. That could be the warm steam from the shower but knowing that peppermint works like it does I'm inclined to believe that they worked together to get the result experienced! I'm looking forward to all the ways I can use peppermint to help my family.

The other oil I wanted to try and work with is Frankincense. Does this oil name sound familiar? It is one of the three gifts brought by the wise men to the Christ-child. It is one of the oldest therapeutic oils known to man. This oil has a ton of uses, most of them are for brain health, anti-aging or it antiseptic properties and as a bonus it's a sedative.

Last night I once again found myself with a headache. I really should go to bed around 9:30 to be ahead of them and be a productive mommy the next day and not zombie mommy. The biggest problem last night? NBC's new show Revoltion, Eric Kripke writes some of the most compelling stories and I fear for us all should he team up with Joss Whedon and Steven Moffat, but that is a post for another day.

I diluted 2 drop of Frankincense EO in about 1/4 cup coconut oil (again, I don't measure just eyeball it). I rubbed some on the soles of my feet. I did it a bit stupidly though, I did it in the kitchen on my tile floor! Then I had to walk to my bedroom and not fall. The only way I made it was through a minor miracle. It really didn't take long for my skin to absorb it and by the time I was done brushing my teeth I was able to get into bed and not leave oil on my sheets. Yay!

My younger child who we should call Monster has had a hard time adjusting to being in school this year. He's had a few discipline issues and in talking to the teacher its more than normal behavior for that age group. This morning I rubbed my coconut oil and frankincense EO concoction on the bottom of his feet and will continue to do so. I'm hoping it will help calm him in that environment as one of the indications in the book I referenced in my last posts states that frankincense can help the user have a better attitude! I sure hope so!

May you each find a way to use the "Christmas oils" in your house!

Do you love peppermint? Have a new way to use it? I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and I will respond.