Body Care Extras
Skin and hair aren't the only pieces of your body care puzzle. Healthy and beautiful lips and nails are every bit as important to appearance—left untended, they can become quite irritated.CHAPPED LIPS
Rough, cracked lips not only feel uncomfortable, but also look unattractive. You can protect your lips from winter's wind and cold and summer's drying heat with a soothing herbal lip balm. The balm I recommend is a good alternative to petroleum oil-based ointment sticks that can dry out your lips more than moisturize them. Indeed, many people complain that lip balm sold in stick form makes their lips even drier, and they find themselves needing more and more of it. Herbal lip balm comes in a tasty selection of flavors, including orange, tangerine, lemon and vanilla. If your lips are very chapped, avoid essential oils that can sting, such as peppermint. Plastic lip-balm containers that snap shut can be purchased in stores that sell back-packing supplies.
Honey lip balm for Chapped Lips
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ ounce shaved beeswax
1 teaspoon honey
10 drops lemon essebtial oil or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heat oil in a pan, adding beeswax until melted. Stir in honey and essebtial oil or flavoring. (Expect a little residue at the bottom of the pan from the extract and honey.) Pour the balm into lip-balm containers while it is still warm (be sure the mixture is not too hot, or it will melt the plastic containers).
FUNGAL INFECTIONS
Fungal skin and nail infections can be extremely annoying—not only are they unsightly and uncomfortable; they are also difficult to eliminate. Ringworm, which causes athlete's foot and occurs most often on the feet, scalp, beard, fingernails and toenails, is one of the best-known, but there are many different types of fungal infections. Jewelweed, garlic, yellow dock, pau d'arco, the lichen usnea and the fresh husk of black walnut all contain compounds that deter fungal growth. (The tinctures of jewelweed and usnea are particularly good, but they are also extremely hard to find.) Many herbs high in essebtial oils are also antifungals, especially tea tree, oregano, lavender, eucalyptus , rose geranium and myrrh. Small amounts of peppermint relieve the itching associated with many fungal infections.
An herbal salve can be used on fungal skin infections, but your best bet is an herbal vinegar and/or a bentonite clay dusting powder to dry out the moist environment in which fungus thrives. Although dabbing a gourmet vinegar on your skin may seem odd, oregano and garlic vinegars make excellent remedies. Vinegar itself directly destroys fungal infections, and its effectiveness is increased by adding eight drops of tea tree essential oil per ounce of vinegar.
My friend Dave found great success using herbs to fight fungal problems. He had a terrible case of athlete's foot, which he thought he had picked up at the gym. He tried various pharmaceutical preparations, but they brought only temporary
relief. After a few days, these preparations always made his feet burn and feel worse than the athlete's foot itself. Because his feet were so raw and because herbal vinegar stung, he used a salve containing tea tree and lavender essential oils. At first, his feet did not look any better, but they certainly felt better—much better, in fact. It took only a few days for the crusty rings to start subsiding. Dave still needs to use the salve
every once in a while when the athlete's foot flares up again, but he says that the attacks are happening less often. Part of the reason for this may be his discovery that it helps to wear shoes that keep the feet well-ventilated and as dry as possible. He also noticed that the fungal infection becomes worse whenever life becomes stressful.
Antifungal Vinegar
4 ounces vinegar (for extra strength, use oregano vinegar)
2 tablespoons tincture of pau d'arco
¼ teaspoon each tea tree and lavender essential oils
1/8 teaspoon peppermint essential oil
Combine ingredients. Apply a few times daily with cotton balls or swabs or use a compress soaked in vinegar to cover a large area. I use oregano vinegar. You can make this yourself or buy a culinary oregano vinegar.
Antifungal Dusting Powder
¼ cup bentonite clay
1/8teaspoon each tea tree and lavender and essential oils
Combine clay and essebtial oils in a plastic bag. Drop in essential oils, tightly close bag and mix well by turning bag over a few times and breaking up any clumps. Let sit three days, then store in an airtight container.
NAIL CARE
Your fingernails are subjected to daily assault. Detergents, fingernail polish, glue for artificial fingernails, formaldehyde-based nail hardeners and household chemicals are just a few of the attackers. You can protect your nails by wearing gloves while washing dishes or hand-washing clothes, and by avoiding contact with gasoline, paint and other harsh chemicals. Nail polish, lacquers and especially nail polish remover are very drying to nails, often causing them to crack and split. If you use these products, choose formulas without formaldehyde and add half a teaspoon of castor oil to every ounce of an acetone polish remover to moisturize nails and surrounding skin.
Brittle nails that crack easily indicate possible dietary problems. Healthy nails need a sufficient amount of calcium, magnesium, protein and silica. Drinking a tea made of equal parts oat straw, nettle and horsetail or taking capsules or tinctures of these herbs daily can improve your nails from the inside out, since these herbs are high in silica and other minerals important for nail growth. Supplements of GLA in the form of evening primrose, borage or black currant seed oil also help.
How else can you achieve beautiful fingernails? Soaking them in herbal teas or oils of comfrey, oat straw and horsetail strengthens nails and cuticles, the thickened skin at the base of your fingernails. For fungal problems, first soak your nails in the Antifungal Vinegar (see above), then follow by rubbing in the Nail Soak Oil.
Nail Soak Oil
2 tablespoons jojoba oil
4 drops each lavender and sandalwood essential oils
Combine ingredients. Soak nails in mixture for 10 minutes. Buff nails to stimulate circulation and bring out a healthy shine.
PERSPIRATION
Almost all store-bought deodorants are laced with questionable ingredients and loaded with synthetic fragrances. Antiperspirants can also be bad because they actually block sweat glands—this may be asking for trouble since the underarm area is especially sensitive and is susceptible to irritation and rashes. Anyway, once an antiperspirant wears off, underarm sweat glands produce more perspiration to compensate.
There is an alternative. Sweat is odorless until it comes into contact with airborne bacteria. Antibacterial herbs such as chamomile and coriander inhibit growth of underarm bacteria and solve the problem naturally. If you do not perspire much, you may find that a simple aromatic body powder will do. Arrowroot, cornstarch or white clay are good bases for powder.
Natural Deodorant
2 ounces witch hazel
5 drops each sage, coriander and lavender essential oils
Combine ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake well before every application.
Natural Body Powder
½ cup cornstarch
5 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
Add essential oils to cornstarch. Put through a sieve and mix well. Let sit a few days to incorporate scents into the powder.