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. 

Purchasing Oils

Essential oils companies seem to be a dime a dozen. Many claiming only they provide the purest and most therapeutic oils. Some make no such claims, but offer similar products at a super low price. When starting on your essential oil journey, you can get a migraine reading the back and forth about which oils to use. This was me not too long ago. I did my research and wasn't impressed with some of the more expensive companies, because although they made bold claims about their oils' purity and quality, never did they actually offer any data on why their oils offer more. So, for years I just went to my local Sprouts Farmer's Market and bought the cheaper oils there. After using them for several years, the only thing I was ever successful in using them for was improving colds. Now I know that the reason they didn't work is because they lacked the potency necessary. They were also not appropriate for internal use.



 Finally, I became introduced to a new essential oils company that is revolutionizing essential oils: Améo. Améo travels the world to find the best sources of plants for oils, only uses first distillations, and makes each and every batch pass rigorous testing. This testing includes making sure each oil enters human cells and works within them. No other essential oil company on the market does that. In addition to ensuring that the oils do in fact work, Améo shares the results of all the tests completed on each batch with you. These are not made up certifications that other companies have placed on their oils, but actually scientific tests! Dr. Joshua Plant (who has a PhD from Harvard Medical School), Vice President of Research and Development at Améo has explained what these tests are. You can find this explanation here.

(To see the tests conducted on my personal bottle of Améo's True Lavender follow the directions in the picutre)

After I began using these oils, I have realized I am never going back. The results I have seen have been phenomenal. In additional to the rigorous standards that Améo has, they are the most affordable quality oil and have many different ways to purchase them. So here's the breakdown:

Wholesale pricing:

Wholesale pricing is the best option for purchasing these oils. You get 25% of retail prices and returning customers can earn reward points for free product. There are several ways to get these benefits when purchasing your oils.

Option #1 is to purchase a start-up kit. There are a few different options, but all kits include a free wholesale membership (worth $20), a free diffuser (varies from $66-160), a free enrollment kit ($18), and discounted oils. After your initial kit purchase you can order whenever you like, with no monthly or yearly commitments. You can also earn extra reward points by setting up a monthly autoship and have your oils delivered to you automatically every month. 

Option #2 is to purchase a wholesale membership for $20. This lasts for a year and you can purchase your oils as you please. The downside is you don't get all the free stuff from the kits, but you still have the option of autoship, earning reward points, and no minimum monthly or yearly order. 

Option #3 is to purchase 250 product value and then be awarded a free membership. This choice is really for individuals who want to create their own kit, by choosing their own oils. 

Option #4 is to become a return order customer. A return order customer is a retail customer who gets wholesale pricing by setting up an autoship. You order whatever products you want each month and can order as little as one oil per month. This is a great option for those who don't want to pay a membership fee, want to earn reward points, don't have money to pay for a kit upfront, and have a little money to set aside for oils every month. If you fit any of those qualities, this is the best option for you. You can cancel any time, but you will lose your reward points and will then become a regular retail customer. 

Retail pricing:

Becoming a retail customer is not the most recommended option, but it may be appropriate for certain individuals. You will pay the full price of each oil, but you can order whenever you want. Just order from your distributors website and they will be shipped directly to you.  

No other company has so many purchasing options to make oils more affordable. To further demonstrate the difference between the three largest companies see this following picture:

To learn more about Améo or to purchase your oils go here.

Part 2: Healthy Eating and Journaling

After pondering my goals this year in regard to eating healthy, I have found a pretty cool tool to assist me in making better overall choices. There is an app called TwoGrand:Visual Food Journal and I am really impressed with it. Logging your food seems to be the biggest key to eating healthy that I have found and research supports this. We are more mindful about our eating habits after keeping track of what we eat throughout the day. However, with a one-year-old infant and a million other things to do, I can never remember to write down what I ate. TwoGrand has made this process so much easier for busy individuals, like myself. All you do is take a picture with your phone. You can add a description if you want, but you don't have to. It takes less than 5 second of your time and you can log snacks, drinks, water intake, meals, your weight, exercise, etc. It is also set up like another form of social media, so you can get together with a group of friends and follow each other and others on TwoGrand to keep up with your goals and get ideas from others. The app even has a meal idea feature. I can't say enough about it and I hope to continue to use it to keep up with my goals this year.

Hiccups In the Plan and Staying Positive

I have noticed that few things in life go according to plan. Despite all my good intentions, most of my goals so far this year have gone to the wayside. So many things get in the way. Right now, it's primarily school #gradschoolproblems (yes I just used a hash tag in a blog post). One thing I am going to do throughout my failures, is to not get negative about it. I typically continue to fail because I get frustrated and angry at myself and then stop working toward my goals. Life changes always come with hiccups, and if we recognize that when making life changes (be it diet, exercise, mental, etc.) there will always be lapses. However, in order to keep from going into a relapse, we need to recognize the lapses for what they are: a small set back but not a permanent road block. Lapses don't mean we have to wait until the beginning of the next week to start new, you only need wait until the next moment. So from here on out, when things don't go according to plan, my mantra is "start again".

To update on my progress so far, after having to start my immunity cleanse over, I am now on day 3. After 24 hours I noticed that my eczema from an allergic reaction I had to soap had begun to heal significantly. By 48 hours in it had healed completely. So I know it is working at least in one way. Yesterday I spoke with my doctor about using oils to treat my reoccuring infection and she was completely on board with it. So now that she has helped me come up with a plan of attack, I started using Tea Tree with her suggestions last night. It's too soon to tell if it's helping, so I'll report back on that later.

So here's where I really need to improve. I am eating terribly. With my birthday this month and my husband's job requiring him to work 12 hour days at the beginning of the month, I had little energy to cook and prepare meals. I can feel how terrible my body feels from eating so much restaurant food. I haven't come up with a great plan of attack yet, so that's what I'm working on this weekend. Find a good place to get easy whole foods recipes so I can eat right with minimal effort. I know how I should be eating and I prefer to eat clean, but sometimes life gets in the way and I admit I need help from outside sources. So, at that I'll close this blog post and post again when I've got a good plan set.

Part 1: Immunity Cleanse

So anyone who knows me knows how terrible my health has been the past two years. My pregnancy was not fun and was very rough and ended with a C-section. Within the first two months of my son's life I had several mastitis infections, a bladder infection, and thrush. From there the infections continued. All of the antibiotics and other medications really have done a number on my body and have made it almost impossible to pick myself back up from everything. So, to combat this, I am making a lifestyle change and doing a major immune cleanse.

An immunity cleanse essentially re-balances and strengthens your immune system. This is helpful  if you have allergies or other autoimmune issues, a history of antibiotic use, are riddled with stress, and experience chronic infections and illnesses. I meet all of these criteria, and I venture to guess that many people reading this meet one or more as well. So here is the plan:

Items required:

Lavender essential oil

Roman Chamomile essential oil

Spruce essential oil

Frankincense essential oil

Clove essential oil

Protecting blend essential oil

Tea Tree essential oil

Eucalyptus Radiata essential oil

Fractionated Coconut Oil

Empty 5ml amber glass bottle

Pipettes

Empty Vegetable Capsules

Instructions:

For the major parts of the cleanse, I need a protecting blend (I use Améo's Proshield) and a homemade immune balancing blend. To make the immune balancing blend combine 30 drops True Lavender oil, 30 drops Roman Chamomile, 20 drops Spruce, 15 drops Frankincense, and 5 drops of Clove in a 5ml amber glass bottle.

Every day I will fill 2 veggie capsules with 50% immune balancing blend and 50% coconut oil and 1 capsule with 50% protecting blend and 50% fractionated coconut oil. I will take 1 capsule with each meal.

After every morning shower while still damp, I will mix 2-3 drops of Eucalyptus Radiata with 2-3 drops of Tea Tree and apply topically to the parts of my body that have the greatest cluster of lymph nodes.

To further rid myself of infection (to take a break from the ridiculous amount of antibiotics I've been on) I will take 1-3 drops of Tea Tree essential oil in a veggie capsule 3 times a day as the same time as my immunity cleanse capsules.

Results Thus Far:

So far I've been able to start the Tea Tree part of this cleanse and I've noticed a significant difference in my chronic infection. I am excited to get started on the other part of the cleanse.

Additional Information:

There are many ways to tailor an immunity cleanse to your needs and the oils you have on hand. I suggest purchasing Integrated Guide to Essential Oils & Aromatherapy from here: http://integratedessentialoilsstore.secureshopcart.com/. I tailored my immunity cleanse from this book.

I encourage anyone who wants to try this cleanse to only use quality essential oils that pass rigorous testing. Yes, you can purchase essential oils at health food stores and on Amazon, but those oils won't give you great results.You can purchase quality essential oils here.

A Happy New Year

So, let's be honest, I'm terrible at keeping up with a blog. Facebook is so much easier for keeping people up to date and communicating with friends and family. However, I've decided to give this blog business another try. 

I have decided to try and keep a regular blog for one main reason: I want to start this year off right. I'm not a New Year's Resolution kind of person, but with all the health issues I've had in the past couple of years, I want to start this year off with some positive affirmations and vibes. This year my word is HEALTH. So, to hold myself accountable to these positive vibes, I want to document my journey (both successes and failures) here. This isn't going to be a health blog, per say, I'll continue to post random thoughts and updates on life, but I want to include the steps I'm taking so that during hard times and set backs, I can look back and see the improvements.

So here's my overall plan:

1. I'm going to cook more and eat cleaner. The holidays really killed our family's forward momentum with eating a healthier diet and we really need to be so much better. 
2. Document my meals. I'm not planning on counting calories, instead just documenting what my food choices are. Research has shown that simply journaling your meals throughout the day makes you more conscious about your food choices and therefore helps you lose weight. 
3. Immunity Cleanse. Although I've used a few essential oils for many years, I'm really starting to expand my usage. Scott and I are starting our year off with an immunity cleanse. Our immune systems have taken a hit and we need to get it back on track. 
4. Time management. This is an area that needs major improvement. Scott does a pretty amazing job at this, but I'm terrible. I put everything off to the last minute and my excuse is always how exhausted I am. The truth is, though, that if I just managed my time better and completed what I need to get done (homework, housework, errands, etc.) first, I'd be less stressed and better rested. 
5. Relaxation/meditation. I don't do this. Ever. I think I do when I sit in the bath tub watching shows on my Kindle, but I'm technically not resting when I do that. I'm filling my mind with garbage and I'm actually just wasting time and avoiding everything I should be doing. I'm going to schedule time for actual rest, which includes resting my mind. 

This is what I have so far, and I hope to come up with more as I go. I'll post about each step as I start it. Feel free to follow my journey or start your own...or not. Really, this is more for me than anything and we all know how obnoxious some mommy blogs can be and I'm not trying to achieve that here. So at that I'll end my thoughts and comments for today. Here's to a great, happy, and HEALTHY new year!