Insect Bites: If the bugs will stay away, we won’t get bitten! Essential oils can be added to diffusers, sprays and linens to help keep bugs at bay. If you find the cloying smell of fake fragranced candles annoying, try using natural essential oils instead. Bugs have been found to hate these essential oils: Citronella, patchouli, peppermint, clove, bay, lemon, eucalyptus, cedarwood, sweet basil, and litsea cubeba.

To reduce the pain and itchiness associated with bug bites, an application of peppermint, tea-tree and lavender directly on the bite usually reduces the severity of the pain. Apply several times daily until the bite no longer “bugs” you. If the oils are too harsh on your skin, try mixing them in a carrier oil first before applying to your bite. If you’ve been “eaten alive,” try an oatmeal bath with lavender or chamomile added to the water to help reduce all-over itchiness (this is a tried and true Manitoba recipe!).

Sunburn: Preventing the burn is the best course of action. But if the sun’s rays prove too much for your skin, here are a few suggestions. First-aid treatment starts with cooling down the skin. Using a cool bath, cloth or hydrosol spray from the fridge helps reduce the heat from the burn. Application of soothing, cooling gels helps, too. Those who can tolerate Aloe vera gel report good results. An aromatherapy gel with peppermint, lavender, helichrysum, chamomile and/or tea tree can also be helpful. Organic Honey will help reduce damage and nourish the skin; honey is an old folk remedy that has been used for skin care and wound healing for thousands of years.

Once the burn is under control, replenish the skin with highly nutritious creams and lotions that will give back a healthy look. If you can, add some Sea Buckthorn, Calendula, Carrot Seed or German Chamomile essential oils to the cream or lotion. These are proven skin rejuvenators.

Summer can be comfortable and enjoyable. Mother Nature has given us the means to stay happy and healthy, so let’s accept her help.

Normally, we have few issues with the aromatherapy blends we apply to our skin, as the sun intensity on the West Coast is generally a mild-moderate rating. Last week’s heat wave was a reminder that we need to check the ingredients in our lotions and creams. There is a very specific sun sensitivity reaction between UV radiation and specific components in essential oils. This reaction occurs when essential oils with lactones, and specifically furocoumarins, are used on the skin.

What, you may ask, are lactones and furocoumarins? These are specific phytochemicals that if applied to the skin, will create a skin sensitization reaction when they are exposed to sunlight. The reaction looks like a rash sunburn combination – and yes it is itchy, burning and painful! Some people have had severe blistering to the point of scarring. This is no picnic!

The essential oils with the highest levels of furocoumarins are those oils expressed from citrus peels. This includes orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit and bergamot, amongst others. There are a few miscellaneous essential oils that can also cause this reaction, but the main culprits are citrus peel essential oils.

Does this mean that we must put away these essential oils until the rainy days return? Not at all! However, we must be careful with how and when we use them. Applying blends with these oils in the evening will be safe. Using them in diffusers or room sprays will be fine, as long as the mist doesn’t touch the skin. If these fruit peel oils are used in bath soaps or shampoos, rinse well before leaving the shower or bath. Some aromatherapists will switch to essential oils from the fruit pulp of these plants instead of their peels. There are virtually no furocoumarins in the pulp, therefore they are safe to use in the sunshine. However, the therapeutic value of these pulp oils is different from their stronger fruit peel cousins. But it is an option during the sunny weather.

One more note: this skin reaction can also occur if citrus peel oils are applied to the skin and the person uses tanning booths. It is the UV component of the light spectrum that creates the reaction.

Be safe – know your products and your essential oils.

As Spring begins awakening its bounty of wonderful plants and flowers, I turned to the book to see what Valerie Ann Worwood had to say about Hyacinth, a flower that is showing up in gardens around town. Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) is categorized in AromaGenera as a Floral aroma. Here is an excerpt of what she says.

Character of this Aroma: gentle, trusting, soothing, enlightening

Used to counteract these negative attributes: instability, stress, repression, apathy, lovesickness, dejection, distress, grieving, sorrow, powerlessness, regret, unforgiving, naivete, dependency, apprehension

Used for these positive attributes: calming, forgiving, high self-esteem, perseverance, equilibrium, trust, faith, courage

“The Hyacinth Personality is trusting and forgiving, and this personality’s gentleness and good nature is apparent in everything they touch. They love beauty and beautiful things and can decorate a room exquisitely simply by using their ingenuity, artistry and a few pots of paint, taking immense trouble over every little detail. …

Having an unshakeable belief in people, Hyacinths think that good will always triumph over evil. Needless to say, they are often disappointed. Their faith in the human race is a virtue that is easily taken advantage of, particularly by those with no scruples. … Hyacinth is just the personality to choose the wrong man or woman to be their life partner – one who will strip them of all their emotions and their money! They try to make the best of it because that is how they are.   …

Negative Hyacinths often emphasize their fragile, delicate nature to get sympathy if all else fails, creating the illusion of a tragic personality. They can act out this role to the full, particularly if they find it working to their advantage. However, tension, stress and stress-related disorders are invariably genuine, common to this personality type. …

Hyacinths make good Samaritans – listening to people in trouble and being basically very charitable, would be happy working in any capacity in the charity field. Being very intuitive, and known as “sensitives”, these are nice, gentle, soft people who need space to breathe and be who they are – without any interference.”       (The Fragrant Mind pg.349-351)

Note:

AromaGenera is a tool to help us connect with things that make our life more meaningful. It is helpful when we feel stuck or unsure. The expansiveness possible with AromaGenera may help us see the roadblocks, restrictions and solutions we seek.

Pat is a Registered AromaGenera Therapist who offers this service at the Natural Comfort Wellness Centre in Tsawwassen