The Story of the Day I Carried This Little Bottle With Me:
Peppermint is WAY useful!!! Besides just smelling great and being useful in foods for flavoring, it can do A LOT of other things. Here is the story of the day we visited a farm.
There is one week a year in the spring that I sneeze my head off due to seasonal allergies. Sometimes I resort to antihistamines, but usually I just suffer through because I am a mom and I am already drowsy enough, thank you very much!! Even the ones that are not supposed to make you drowsy. ..well not so much with me.
So we were going to a farm in this very sneezy week, so I took this little bottle of peppermint. Why? Because I've found that putting a little just inside my nose takes care of the itchiness and sneezing for several hours -
-no drowsiness!!! I am so excited!!!! (Since then I have decided to put a drop on a cotton ball and breathe it in through my nose, because I believe it is the diffusion of it into my sinuses that calms my sneezing.)
USE # 1: It calms my seasonal allergies!
Also, I woke up with a
headache. I applied some to my temples (not too close to my eyes) and across my forehead. (In general if that doesn't stop my headache, I put a little on the back of my neck.)
USE # 2: It stopped my headache without the use of my usual pain killers!
This was more than enough to convince me that taking my peppermint to the farm was a good thing, but then another, unexpected use came up. As we were enjoying some time that evening with some family members, my son came to me complaining of
itchy legs. (He has eczema, so his skin is frequently itchy.) I put a little water in my hand to dilute it (it is recommended to dilute it for children and sensitive skin, but usually with a carrier oil) and put a little in the water. I rubbed my hands together and applied it to his legs. Within five minutes, his legs were no longer itchy.
USE # 3: It stopped the itching of my son's legs!
I LOVE MY PEPPERMINT!!
Post post note! ;) I now use the cotton/peppermint idea for allergies. If I breathe it in too fast, it can be irritating to the inside of the nose and sinuses, so I breathe slowly and deeply. I've found that a few drops on cotton, even allowed to dry, works wonders when breathing it into sinuses. I carry my little cotton in a ziplock snack baggie in my pocket all day long and use it when needed. :) )
YET ANOTHER POST NOTE (new year, new note!): Honestly, I felt silly breathing cotton, so now I use peppermint beadlets, which I let dissolve at the back of my throat and then breathe deeply through my nose to infuse the peppermint into my sinuses. It works almost as well as sticking peppermint just inside my nose and breathing deeply, but I feel silly doing that, too, and then have to wash my hands... Also, just putting peppermint into a diffuser works great!
*My reference book Modern Essentials Usage Guide cautions that peppermint possibly should be avoided with high blood pressure, and that oils containing a high proportion of phenols should be diluted and/or used only for short periods of time.
