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I’m always on the lookout for hair conditioning treatments, but rarely find any that really work for me. They make big promises that fall flat, or they provide only short-term improvement.   My ideal hair treatment would make my hair shiny, manageable, and lively, and would help diminish the effects of winter dryness, and summer water/sun/wind damage. My hair is long, so it doesn’t take much for it to feel brittle, and get hopelessly tangled (as in one step away from dreadlocks).

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So, dissatisfied with what’s on the market, I decided to do some research and make my own.  I love the results! The combination I came up with revitalizes my hair and reduces tangles for weeks. It also adds shine and brightens my natural highlights. The first time I used it was right before going to the beach for a 5-day camping trip. In the past, by the end of this trip, I felt like I was living in the middle of a spider web. But this time I didn’t have to do anything special to counteract the effects of a week of hair abuse. It was just a great vacation!

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So, my winning combination is:

1 oz jojoba oil

1 oz carrot tissue oil

11 drops lavender essential oil

11 drops basil essential oil

11 drops sea buckthorn oil

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Combine these oils in a two ounce bottle (a plastic, squeeze type is best, so it’s easier to apply) and shake vigorously to really mix the essential oils with the carriers.

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How to use:

• First, warm your oil:   Heat some water in a small pan, remove from the stove, and place your bottle of oil treatment into the pan of hot water for a few minutes to warm the oil.
• While waiting for the oil to warm, wet your hair and towel dry.
• Apply the warmed oil to your hair (those with long hair may need to use the full amount, but most will need less), and then wrap your hair with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Cover the plastic wrap with a towel (if you warm the towel beforehand, even better).
• You can leave the oil in for 45 minutes up to several hours. I like doing the treatment in the evening, since it often takes two shampoos to remove all the oil. I’ll wash my hair at night, and then again in the morning, followed by a normal conditioning.

What do these oils do?

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Jojoba is a wax and it helps moisturize the strand, as the molecules are small enough to penetrate the hair cuticle. It’s great for the scalp, too, and because it’s a wax, it won’t leave your hair feeling greasy.

Carrot Tissue is high in beta-carotene, anti-oxidants, vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and several fatty acids, and helps nourish, heal and regenerate damaged skin and hair. Plus, because it’s bright orange in color, it helps bring out any of your natural red or gold highlights.

Lavender essential oil is soothing to the scalp and hair.

Basil essential oil promotes growth by stimulating circulation.

Sea buckthorn is rich in essential fatty acids, carotenes, tocopherols, and phytosterols and helps promote collagen production in hair, skin, and nails. Plus, like the carrot tissue oil, its vibrant reddish color brightens natural highlights.

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I have been applying a treatment monthly and I feel it has changed my hair, taking away that drab look that can so easily happen to long or treated hair. Even today I received a compliment on how healthy my hair looked!

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“You smell amazing,” she said as she began scanning items again.  Then she stopped.  “Do you mind if I ask you where you got it?”

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“I made it.”

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Her eyes widened.  “You made it?  How?”

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I didn’t tell her that I’d messed up an order, and made patchouli lotion instead of patchouli massage oil (one of the perks of working with essential oils–you get to enjoy your mistakes).  Instead, I explained how easy it is to make your own aromatherapy lotion, and how basically, with some unscented bases and essential oils, anyone can create their own personalized bath and body products.   She was very excited at this idea, and thanked me profusely for the “recipes”.

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If you want to experiment with making your own scented lotions, you can add around 30 drops of an essential oil or essential oil blend to 8 ounces of unscented lotion.  You may want to add your essential oil to half the lotion, shake vigorously, add the rest of the lotion, and again shake well.  That way you won’t end up with lotion that isn’t evenly mixed.

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Some nice essential oils to use singly are Lavender, Rose, Jasmine, Neroli, Patchouli and Ylang Ylang.   It’s also fun to experiment, and create your own blends.  It’s best to stay away from citrus essential oils in lotion, though.  Even though they smell wonderful, they can increase  your sensitivity to sunlight, so aren’t the best choice for skin care oils.

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I seem to favor oils that are very lush and grassy with floral notes, as evident in my first favorite, Geranium. While Geranium is pretty subtle, sometimes the extra lush scents are strong and take awhile to get used to.  My second favorite essential oil is Clary Sage with its nice floral, green scent.  It has a strong aroma, but you don’t need to use much to benefit from its relaxing properties. It turns out that Clary Sage is a great oil for women to use to ease menstrual pain and irregular periods (but shouldn’t be used during pregnancy).  It can also be used as an astringent in a diluted form.  Be careful though, as Clary Sage is said to have narcotic effects if used too often or in large quantities and should be avoided if drinking alcohol.  Just a drop in a candle diffuser smells good and helps me unwind and relax.

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Another oil that I didn’t like at first but have come to use quite a bit is Roman Chamomile.  Initially, the earthy scent was too strong and the floral notes were not strong enough. An incident  helped me change my opinion on Roman Chamomile, though, and actually made me an aromatherapy convert.  One afternoon in the shop, back when I was still pretty new, one of us (not me of course!) spilled a fairly large quantity of Roman Chamomile on the counter. Its strong scent filled the whole shop. Even after we cleaned up, it was very pungent and overwhelming. After awhile, we realized that we were all feeling pretty drowsy and decided it was best if we left for the day and let the shop air out. I went home and slept for a couple of hours, which was very unusual for me as I’m not a napper and never sleep during the day. This incident, more than any other experience so far, convinced me of the power of essential oils and aromatherapy. I now use Roman Chamomile to help me fall asleep when I have insomnia and it works every time. Just one or two drops on a bandana under my pillow does the trick. It is an amazing oil.

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Roman Chamomile and Clary Sage essential oils are my favorites for relaxing and for bedtime sleep aides. They are healthy, natural, non-addictive ways to unwind and get a restful night’s sleep.

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Aromatherapy:  A Lifetime Guide to Healing with Essential Oils by Valerie Gennari Cooksley

Cooksley is a registered nurse and aromatherapist, and a wonderful teacher.  Her book is practical, accessible and chock full of recipes.    Her chapters are organized by body systems, and she gives an overview at the start of each chapter of each system she covers, and then follows that with common symptoms and remedies.  For example, in her chapter on the respiratory system, she describes how the respiratory system works, and then goes into the oils most useful for the respiratory tract.  From there, she describes common  illnesses, such as bronchitis, or asthma, and treatments which may be helpful.  In addition to essential oil remedies, she includes other supportive treatments, including dietary, herbal, breathing exercises etc.    Her explanations and descriptions are always clear and simple to understand,  and she includes case histories.    This is a great step by step guide to using essential oils, and the back of the book includes a concise essential oil reference guide.

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375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols by Jeanne Rose

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A great book for summaries of essential oil properties.  Jeanne Rose profiles 375 essential oils and hydrosols, including botanical family, aroma, habitat and growth, chemical components, actions and uses.  She manages to do this without being dry or too technical;  many of the descriptions include fascinating historical and literary references.  And she includes chapters  that are fascinating, including one titled “Essential Oils are More Than Stinky” which helps us understand  the experience of aroma.  This is a useful addition to any aromatherapy library, and one we turn to often when we need a quick reference on an oil.

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The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood

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If I had to pick one book to recommend for the public, this would be the one.  Besides being fun to read, this book includes over 600 recipes, practical chapters on creating your own aromatherapy kits (basic kit, travel kit etc), and chapters dedicated to the specific needs/concerns of women, men, children,  and the elderly.   She also has information on using aromatherapy for celebrations, to beautify and clean your home, and in the garden.  The end of the book includes charts on which essential oils are most useful in different circumstances, which is handy.  The best part of the book are the recipes:  she has everything here, from athletes foot, coughs, toothache, headaches to anti-wrinkle creams,  face masks, air fresheners and furniture polish.

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Another favorite is Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit by Gabriel Mojay.  This is a beautiful book, which addresses the use of essential oils in the realm of emotional and spiritual matters.  Gorgeous illustrations, clear writing and new insights make this useful to anyone who is new to or already working with essential oils.  Mojay combines the wisdom of Chinese medicine with the use of aromatherapy,  and describes the energetic nature of 35 different oils. For example, in his discussion of Juniper, he writes:

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“Juniper works, therefore, to break through psychological stagnation and consolidate will-power.  It is suited to the individual who, feeling burdened and aloof, is deeply absorbed in their own thoughts – thoughts which revolve around worries, pressures and unpleasant memories.”

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The first part of the book is devoted to describing individual oils, uses, cautions, indications, etc, and the last part describes remedies and blends which may be useful for emotional issues, such as depression, anxiety, anger, indecisiveness, and much more.    With each emotional state, he delves deeper.  For example, he breaks depression down into five categories, based on the Five Elements of Chinese medicine, and recommends blends based on the particular element.

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In the foreword, Robert Tisserand describes this book as “…dense with insight, and yet concise and easy to reference.  Every page draws the reader inexorably into an intricate web of holistic truth.”

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That’s it in a nutshell.  We highly recommend this wonderful book!

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Mix four ounces of unscented (our gentle, organic is our favorite) lotion base with:

• One teaspoon Tamanu Oil or Rosehip Seed Oil (a few drops of Sea Buckthorn Berry would also be nice)

• 20-30 drops of Lavender Essential Oil, Carrot Seed Essential Oil, Frankincense and/or (if you really want to splurge) Rose Otto.  You can use single oils, or mix several together, to equal the total.

Mix well, and apply to face and neck with light upward strokes twice a day.  This lotion is free of harmful ingredients and synthetic fragrances and keeps your skin healthy and glowing.

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Even though I’ve worked at Dreaming Earth Botanicals for going on five years, I still think of myself as an aromatherapy novice.  Sure, I’ve learned quite a bit about the aromatherapy field, but I still discover something every time I come into work that I didn’t know before.

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Dreaming Earth is my part-time gig. I work in the library at a small college full-time, I home-school my teenager, and I’m active at church, so I’m pretty busy.   People marvel. They say “I don’t know how you do it!”   Sometimes I don’t know either.   I do know that it helps to have one job that is like an afternoon walk in a flower garden in full bloom.  That is what it’s like working at Dreaming Earth. And I learn something every time I come in.   Like I said, lucky me!

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I thought I might start by blogging about my favorite oils, as I discovered them while working here.  My first “discover” was geranium. While mixing some Skatter one day, I was thinking how nice it smelled for bug repellent. I thought it was probably the Lavender, which has always been one of my favorite scents, but found that it was geranium.   Geranium essential oil is very green and lush… earthy and a little spicy.  It’s so fresh and summery that I started using it to clean with at home.  I add a few drops to some castile soap in hot water and I love the way it leaves the house smelling.  I use it in my candle diffuser, too.  It has anti-depressant properties and helps with skin aliments, as well as being a natural insect repellent.  Geranium is a great essential oil that is often over-looked.  It now stands next to lavender as one of my go-to all purpose oils.

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This month’s project is making handmade pillowcases for terminally ill children.  Learn more at about it and how you can participate at the Craft Hope site.

Here’s a small excerpt from a recent interview:

"Craft Hope is becoming a global movement of people helping others. We give people a direct connection with people who need them. It’s not about donating money; it’s about taking your time to make something handmade for someone who would never otherwise receive such a beautiful gift. I truly believe that time is one of the most precious gifts you can give another person." 

To learn more, read the whole interview.  We think this is a great opportunity to help others in a way that feels personal, and for those of you with young children, a wonderful way to get them involved.

We just received our latest shipment of beeswax candles and bulk beeswax, and they smell heavenly.  We’re lucky enough to have a family nearby who make their candles locally, and so they arrive here smelling incredibly sweet and fresh.  The bulk beeswax comes in one ounce blocks that stack neatly together, and make for easy measuring.  If you’ve never used beeswax before, read on for some tips and recipes.

General Guidelines for using Beeswax:
You’ll normally use about two parts of your chosen base oil to one part beeswax, and then adjust as needed depending on the consistency you want.  To make a balm, simply heat the carrier oils of your choice in a double boiler and add the beeswax.  Once melted, pour into a bowl, and mix well.  As the base starts to cool, check the consistency and add more oil or beeswax as needed. Wait until the base has cooled a bit to add your essential oils, to prevent them from evaporating.

Recipes:

Basic Lip Gloss Formula

1 cup sweet almond or olive oil