Homemade First Aid Kit Part 2- Roller Bottles

Here is part two of making your own all-natural, non-toxic first aid kit with essential oils. If you missed part one, which primarily discussed making salves, you can view that post here. For this post, I want to focus on making roller bottles, both adult and kids versions. 

Roller bottles are a highly convenient method of applying essential oils. You don't have to deal with mixing the carrier oil and essential oil in your hand, they are much easier when dealing with struggling little ones, and they make your oils stretch further. I don't advocate putting every oil in a roller bottle, just the blends and singles that you use frequently. So here are my suggestions for great roller bottles to have on hand:

Immune Support Roller Bottle

Fever Roller Bottle

Headache Roller Bottle

Seasonal Support Roller Bottle

Wellness Bomb Roller Bottle

It's important to realize that kids roller bottles may be completely different than adult roller bottles, especially when dealing with kids under the age of 4. Kids need their oils to be diluted more than adults do and some oils that can be used on adults shouldn't be use on kids under the age of 2.5. I don't have child versions of all of these bottles, but I will note the ones where I make both, the levels of dilutions, and appropriate oils. 

First, you need to get your hands on some roller bottles. I like to have both 10ml and 5ml bottles. I use primarily 5ml bottles for the adult mixes (to save your oil) and 10ml on kids. However, for the Wellness Bomb, I recommend the 10ml for the adult as well as the child. 

The cheapest place I have found to order 10ml roller bottles is Amazon. You can find them here.Amazon, however, does not carry cheap 5ml roller bottles. Aromatools has a great selection of roller bottles and has 5ml bottles which are fairly inexpensive. They also carry 10ml bottles so if you want to purchase from the same place you can find the 5ml here and 10ml here.

Using quality essential oils is key when making and using your homemade first aid kit. Read this blog post to learn about purchasing quality essential oils. You can purchase those oils here.

Immune Support Roller Bottles

This is a roller bottle that I make both a kid version and adult version. I use the same oil, a protecting blend (I prefer Améo's Proshield), but dilute them differently. 

Adult Version

50 drops protecting blend

50 drops carrier oil

5ml bottle

Kid Version (under 4)

33 drops protecting blend

Fill the rest of the bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

Kid Version (over 4)

50 drops protecting blend

Fill rest of the bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

***Note if your child is under 6 months old, use frankincense instead of protecting blend or dilute even further*** Roll the bottle on the bottoms of feet and along the spine daily. 

Fever Roller Bottles

This is one where adults, children, and really young children not only have different dilutions, but different oils. Peppermint is really effective for reducing fever, but should not be used on a child under two and half years old.

Adult Version

50 drops Peppermint

50 drops carrier oil

5ml bottle

Kid Version (above 4)

50 drops Peppermint

Fill remainder of bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

Kid Version (under 4)

33 drops Lemon or Bergomot

Fill remainder of bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

Rub along the spine, bottom of the feet, and behind the ears as needed to reduce fever. All of these roller bottles can be used for acid reflux as well. 

Headache Roller Bottle

I only make this bottle for adults as we tend to get headaches more than kids do (primarily because we take care of ourselves less). If you want to make one for kids, just put it in a 10ml bottle instead of a 5ml bottle and only use for kids above 3. For kids under that age, omit the peppermint. 

17 drops Lavender

17 drops Frankincense

17 drops Peppermint

50 drops carrier oil

5ml bottle

Roll on temples, forehead, back of the neck, and the bottom of the feet as needed.

Seasonal Support Roller Bottle

This is one of those blends that shouldn't be used under the age of 3, because there really isn't a substitute for peppermint in this blend. 

Adult Version

17 drops Lavender

17 drops Peppermint

17 drops Lemon

50 drops carrier oil

5ml bottle

Kids Version

Same drops but put in 10ml bottle and fill remainder with carrier oil

Roll this on the chest over the thymus at the beginning of the day and then as needed after that to help with allergies. 

Wellness Bomb Roller Bottles

Again, this is one with very different oils and dilutions for different ages. Oregano is a hot oil and shouldn't be used on young children who have much more sensitive skin than older kids and adults do. 

Adult Version

6 drops Oregano

6 drops Frankincense

12 drops Protecting Blend

12 drops Lemon

12 drops Tea Tree

Use 5ml or 10ml bottle depending on desired strength

Kid Version (over 4)

17 Tea Tree

17 Lemon

17 Protecting Blend

(Add a few drops of Oregano when they are old enough to handle hot oils)

Fill remainder of bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

Kid Version (1-4 years)

11 drops Tea Tree

11 drops Lemon

11 drops Protecting blend

Fill remainder of bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

Infant Version

11 drops Tea Tree

11 drops Lemon

11 drops Lavender or Frankincense

Fill remainder of bottle with carrier oil

10ml bottle

Use these bottles when you are feeling under the weather and need to get back on your feet quick. Put on bottom of feet and spine every 4-6 hours as needed. 

Homemade First Aid Kit

With a now walking toddler in the house, I have become increasingly concerned over the types of chemicals sitting in our cabinets. Our little guy loves to get into all of the cupboards and pull things out. Outside of being both annoying and cute, it can be extremely dangerous if he gets a hold of the wrong products. We are in the process of putting child proof locks on them, but even then I just feel like the products I use needs to be safer for him. So I have started to rid myself of harmful and toxic chemicals and replacing them with safer, non-toxic products. Unfortunately, most of the products that fall into this category are extremely expensive, considering that toxic, synthetic chemicals are about $2 for a large bottle. So to combat this costly expense, I have started making my own products. To start, I made my own homemade first aid kit.

Salves:

 All-purpose Skin-healing Salve

Pain Salve 

Antihistamine Salve

Kid's VapoRub

Ault VapoRub

Roller-bottles:

Immune Support

Fever 

Headache

Seasonal Support

Wellness Bombs

Spray Bottles:

Hand Sanitizer

Sunburn Relief Spray

Cut, Scrape, and Rash Relief
Throat Relief Spray

All of these items were extremely easy to make. For the sake of not having an extremely long blog post, I'll focus on the salves for the rest of this post. To make the salves I used a basic salve recipe. 

Basic Salve:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons beeswax pellets (purchase here).

5- 2oz glass or plastic salve jars (purchase here or here).

Combine coconut oil, olive oil, and beeswax pellets in a double boiler. If you don't have one, you can use a glass bowl or mason jar inside of a pot of water. Heat (on low to medium) until all are melted. Stir with a metal spoon.

Pour into your chosen salve jars and add your chosen essential oils. Make sure your oils are ready as the mixture cools quickly. An assembly line would be best  (have one person pour the mixture while another person puts in the oils).  Swirl the jar to mix in the oil. Leave salves uncovered until they harden and let cool for a few hours.

Here are the recipes for each type of salve and their uses. To purchase quality essential oils that are tested and proven to work, see this blog post or purchase here. 

Antihistamine Salve

5 drops Lemon

5 drops Peppermint

5 drops Lavender 

This salve is great for skin allergies and a great companion for a camping trip. Poison Ivy ain't got nothin' on this salve. 

Pain Salve

30-40 drops Soothing Blend (I use Améo's Muscle Mend)

Use this salve in place of Icy-Hot or Bengay. It has a cooling affect that will have your muscles and joints thanking you for. 

Natural Adult VapoRub

30 drops Respiratory Blend (I use Améo's Soothing Aire)

This salve is great for replacing that store-bought VapoRub with all the nasty chemicals. Plus, I think this smells much nicer and works far better. This blend contains peppermint and eucalyptus, so not appropriate for small children. See the next recipe for small children appropriate natural VapoRub. 

Natural Kid's VapoRub

5-7 drops Lavender

5-7 drops Rosemary

5-7 drops Frankincense

Eucalyptus and Peppermint have a very small chance of slowing breathing dangerously in small children if placed on their chest and back. Although the chance is very slight, why risk it when there are other alternatives? Another option to this blend is to put 10 drops of Frankincense with 10 drops of Spruce. 

All-Purpose Skin-Healing Salve

10 drops Frankincense

10 drops Lavender

10 drops Tea Tree

This salve can be used for a myriad of things. It is an excellent replacement for Neosporin. You can use it for burns, cuts, scrapes, eczema, and many more! It is a must have in your first aid kit.